RIVER CITY JOURNAL: EUREKA! THE ENTOMBED BOOK IS SET FREE

The folks at SIU Press are prompt and witty with a very satisfactory explanation. Well, almost.

Fair is fair.

This will be the final chapter in the mystery-book-in-the-ironclad-envelope saga.

Southern Illinois University Press, you will recall, mailed what felt like a slender, hardbound volume in a padded envelope with no obvious means of being opened -- at least not without sharp objects and the potential for generating shredded packing material all over my desk.

A few weeks ago I appealed to the SIU folks for assistance. No reply was forthcoming until I decided to return the unopened book envelope and copies of columns regarding my plight. I received a prompt, courteous and witty letter from Rick Stetter, director of SIU Press.

I don't know if you like reading other people's mail as much as I do, but here is Mr. Stetter's explanation.

First, let it be said that Mr. Stetter also deplores messy padded envelopes. That's why the SIU Press folks have abandoned them in favor of "shipping envelopes lined with a recycled material that protects our books but doesn't shower the recipient with an unwelcome surprise." To illustrate his point, Mr. Stetter sent along a piece of the very envelope I had returned. Sure enough, it would have been safe to open after all.

Of course, Mr. Stetter could do his pen pals a big favor by appropriately labeling his book envelopes. Something on this order would do: "NOTICE: The contents of this envelope are protected by an unoffensive material that won't make a mess upon opening." What would help even more is if the book envelope had an easy-open system like the FedEx package that Mr. Stetter chose to use for returning the book to me.

In my last column I tartly observed that no less a luminary in the book world than John Updike had joined, in a recent issue of New Yorker magazine, my battle against subversive padded envelopes. I suggested it would have been a mistake for SIU Press to send Mr. Updike a book in a padded envelope for fear of ruining any chance of ever publishing one of his works.

Mr. Stetter agrees with the potential disaster that might have occurred under those circumstances. "While you're quite right about our reaction to the prospect of publishing a book with the legendary Mr. Updike, we consider the enclosed book to be one of the finest we've issued in many a season."

Indeed, the enclosed book is a jewel. It is called "Wood-Notes Wild: Walking With Thoreau" and includes selections from Henry David Thoreau's writings chosen by Mary Kullberg of Cape Girardeau and illustrated with beautiful pen-and-ink drawings by Christine Stetter, who is described as a natural science illustrator at Texas A&M University.

So that settles it. I should have opened the envelope in the first place. And SIU Press should have told me outright that the padded envelope was safe. Case closed.

Well ... .

There is just one itty-bitty mystery that lingers. Did any of you astute readers catch the clues? Did you notice that Mr. Stetter, the SIU Press director, and Ms. Stetter, the natural science illustrator, share the same surname? Is there a possible connection? Is there more to this story than we've been told already?

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.