Long ago and far away — well, a few dozen blocks from here — Nan Talese took Jackie Onassis to lunch at Serendipity. As one of the few seasoned pros in publishing who also happened to be a woman, she was asked to give the fledgling publisher some pointers. But she learned something, too.

Mrs. Onassis, the industry novice, inadvertently gave Ms. Talese a helpful lesson in business etiquette, she remembered of their lunch. “We didn’t get a check, and I realized either she had given them her credit card or she had an account here,” she said. “I learned from that, because at that point there were not many women in publishing.”

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 at 10:30 am.