Herter's was a Waseca, Minn. mail-order company that offered a complete line of adjustable chokes, ventilated ribs, finished and unfinished stocks, cleaning supplies, boots, clothing, and other fishing, shotgunning, shooting, and hunting-related paraphernalia.

George Leonard Herter, manager of Herter's, Inc. until about 1970; was one of the all-time great catalogue writers. His descriptions of merchandise made Herter's seem like the only supplier of quality products. A slightly-built balding man who wore rather thick glasses, Herter deigned to appear in photographs, lest his customers see him as something less than a second Paul Bunyan.

In addition to making somewhat exaggerated claims, Herter also fabricated the North Star Guide Association, a fictitious organization of equally fictitious Alaskan and Canadian guides who endorsed Herter's products.

Herter's being a connoisseur of the quality things in life and having a tendency toward hyperbole is what makes his books so engaging. You keep wondering what he'll come up with next. On the one hand he might give a fish recipe from Old Maxim's restaurant of Paris, France and then pages later he tells you How To Skin And Clean Catfish And Bullheads.

Below see pages 86-87 where Herter is telling about Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Caption reads: Bourbon Street Bars show their offerings on their fronts. Some are pretty exotic.

Of New Orleans Herter says, New Orleans is about sixty-five percent Catholic but this does not keep the city from being naughty, or even slowing it down a bit. The oldest convent and cathedral in North America is in New Orleans. Drunkeness is not a crime in New Orleans unless you get disorderly. Liquor can be bought every hour of everyday including Sunday.

Try Herter's recipe for-- Bananas Alexander the Great, Creme De Menthe Gelatin- Hors D'oeuvres Turkistan, Prunes Maxim's, Rhubarb Jubile Francis Joseph, Clarence Birdseye Salmon, Lake Trout or Bullheads, Italian method of cooking Lobster, Salmon Soup Oscar, Buckingham Palace Brown Beef Gravy, Hush Puppies La Nouvelle New Orleans, Danish Lettuce from a recipe Over 600 years old, Titty Sauce Yams, Belgian Mocha Cake Frosting, How to make Dandelion Wine, Ramos Gin Fizz, German Beer, How To Avoid Alcoholism and Still Drink, Praire Dog Masterson, Snapping Turtle Stew, How to make Jerky, etc.

Read about- Wyatt Earp (and how to make Doves Wyatt Earp), Escoffier (Liver Escoffier), Joan of Arc (Pate de Foie Gras Joan), Mendel (Fried Eggs Mendel, Boiled Eggs Mendel),Antoine Van Dyck (Cheese Sauce), Thomas Jefferson (Scalloped Potatoes), etc.
Visit Bookbinders (Philadelphia), Maxim's (Paris), Ivar's (Seattle), Space Needle (Seattle), Antoine's (New Orleans), Galatoire's (New Orleans), Arnaud's (New Orleans), Ursuline Convent (New Orleans), etc.