This issue began when Eggers drove by a cigar store that was giving away cigar boxes. He stopped, took some boxes home, started experimenting a bit with them, and thought the package might make a good concept for an issue of McSweeney’s. Then we tried to match the form to some appropriate content and started thinking of people who keep old mementos in boxes like that. Meanwhile, Eggers had long been developing the idea of reprinting a collection of strange old propaganda, government pamphlets and the like. So we collected a bunch of such materials via auctions, archives and flea markets, and we collected stories that explored similar concerns. We called Michael Kupperman, a guy we’ve worked with many times and one of the best artist-designers alive, and pretty much gave him the whole box to go nuts with. He did his usual brilliant job, incorporating some of the themes of the interior and marrying the content with the look and motifs of classic cigar-box design.

“An interesting and fun way of presenting a book—all the little extras bringing together images and words.”