AS THE population grows, the number of its successful people grows. As Marquis Who's Who in America, too, grows (two volumes, by now; $259 the set), the latest edition's shelf presence in crowded offices or libraries may have become less a matter of course.
How then (supposing for the moment that you are indeed a Marquis biographee) are the people you care about to learn of, and be reminded of, your eminence? Some biographees just say it, of course; but boasting's so uncivilized.
This question applies, naturally, to the full range of Marquis biographical dictionaries -- to anyone listed in Who's Who in the East (South and Southwest, Midwest, West), Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in the World. These volumes may be even less commonly at hand.
There is an answer. The publisher is prepared to help out. Marquis Who's Who (the subsidiary of a Dutch company) also publishes a sort of self-gift catalog.
And you order from it: a crystal paperweight, say, or mantle clock, or mahogany wall plaque, tastefully engraved with "Who's Who in America / 49th Edition 1995 / [your name]."
The product range is ample, from the quiet lapel pin to the acrylic desk sculpture (reproducing "your Marquis Who's Who entry, printed on gold parchment . . . a sophisticated display of your achievements"), from silver key ring to Tiffany & Co. letter opener, from black marble pen set to Roman column bookends, from brass paperweight to brass pedestal clock.
The lapel pin, in silver, is $39.95; the mantle clock, $150. The other Lasting Symbols of Achievement are of intermediate cost.
For the robust persona, more than one of these testimonials may be appropriate. Whatever your other choices, do go for the wall plaque ($75), with its accolade ranking you among "those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their own fields of endeavor and who have, thereby, contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society."