Mangin's Great Secret of Success P. T. Barnum somehow intuitively knew the first law of advertising, and he knew it before it was ever expressed as a law: Get attention. One of the people who reminded Barnum of this secret was Monsieur Mangin, a famous French businessman who sold the best pencils in all of Europe. Mangin would appear on a street corner dressed in unusual royal garb, riding a team of large horses. He would park, open his wagon with a great deal of pomp and circumstance, and slowly begin to put on a theatrical performance. A crowd would always form, wondering what was happening. The French entrepreneur would then demonstrate his pencils, involve members of his audience, entertain them, and end by selling his product to nearly everyone present. Years later Barnum met Mangin and complemented him on .".. your manner of attracting the public. Your costume is elegant, your chariot is superb, and your valet and music are sure to draw." Mangin ended their meeting by saying he was planning "a grand humbug", which "shall double the sale of my pencils."

Mangin the Pencil-Seller from M. Charles Yriarte, Celebrites de la Rue, 1864 Mangin sold his pencils for 20 centimes a single pencil or half a dozen with a medal and a portrait of himself for a franc. Mengin died sometime between 1864 and 1868.

This practical type of street character in Paris was exemplified by "l'illustre Mangin", the pencil-seller, who as an orator, adequately sustained the traditions of Tabarin [a 17th century Paris street charlatan]. He is said to have taken a university degree, a belief which may have had no surer foundation than his fondness for classical illusions, but whatever the extent of his learning there was no denying his fluency of speech. "Ladies, gentlemen, children, enemies and friends! Buy my pencils. There are no other pencils like them on the earth or in the spheres. Listen! They are black! You imagine, of course, in the immensity of your ignorance - it is wonderful how ignorant people are capable of being, especially about pencils - that all pencils are black. Error! Criminal error! Error as immense and fatal as that of Mark Antony when he fell in love with Cleopatra. All other pencils are grey!."