Sterling’s Gold—the fictional memoir/symbol of empty hubris written by Mad Men’s V.P. of epigrams Roger Sterling—is about to become a very real book courtesy of Grove Publishing, who announced today that it's “forthcoming in cloth,” with a publishing date set for sometime next month. As seen below, Sterling’s Gold will retain the same tacky-classy cover design it had on the show, albeit with an added photo of John Slattery and the new subtitle, Wit And Wisdom Of An Ad Man.
Vulture spoke with Grove publisher Morgan Entrekin today to tease out some of the details on what’s being described as “a portrait of an era,” but which is mostly a compendium of lines already familiar to Mad Men fans like “Remember, when God closes a door, he opens a dress”—although Matthew Weiner is said to have written an all-new intro using Sterling’s voice. As Roger himself once said, “Aren’t you curious whether there’s a chapter called ‘Joan’?” Well, there’s not—only chapters titled “Clients,” “Women,” “Drinking,” and so on—and Entrekin says it won’t deliver any “full-on juicy anecdotes from Roger’s colorful past.” However, hopefully it still includes that story about how Roger likes chocolate ice cream, but his mother only let him eat vanilla, because chocolate was too messy. That's poignancy. Anyway, all in all, it should make for an excellent bathroom companion to, say, Chris-In-The-Morning: Love, Life, And The Whole Karmic Enchilada (but honestly, it will probably lack the scintillating narrative structure of Mr. Sterling Gets Angry).