Vintage Rejection

Check out this vintage rejection slip from the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company (1907-1925), famous for their production of Charlie Chaplin movies.  (Photo originally posted on NPR).  Rejection always hurts, but Essanay seems particularly hard to please! Which "reason for rejection" do you find most amusing, appalling, or surprising?

But to keep you from getting too discouraged, here are a few excerpts from rejection letters of now beloved and classic works,  from publishers who probably still have their foot stuck in their mouths!

Lord of the Flies by William Golding..."an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull."

The Deer Park by Norman Mailer..."This will set publishing back 25 years."

The Diary of Anne Frank..."The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level."

On Writings by Anais Nin..."There is no commercial advantage in acquiring her, and, in my opinion, no artistic."

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame..."an irresponsible holiday story."