A spokesman for Collier's legal department at the national office in New York declined to comment on the company's grounds for appealing the FTC decision while the appeal still is before the courts.

Collier's "unlawful" sales presentation, the FTC said, "included the solicitation of testimonials, the offer to place the basic volumes in a home as an advertising premium and the request for a ten-year commitment by the purchaser to keep the set up to date by purchasing Collier yearbooks at a nominal cost per day."

The sales presentation I was taught at the Louisville office of Collier's included all those features.

But a spokesman at the Collier's national sales office in New York said the current appeal of the FTC decision is "an academic case because we've made extensive changes in our sales presentation." He declined to discuss the changes.

The company's public-information director, asked if the unnamed changes had nullified the FTC objections, replied, "Have you stopped beating your wife."

"The sales presentation, in our mind, is an ethical one," she said, but added that "it would not be appropriate" for her to comment on specifics. "To my knowledge we are not using that method [the one criticized by the FTC] now."

Her knowledge, at least concerning practices in Louisville, is woefully in complete. And a Collier's regional manager, in charge of sales in one-sixth of the nation, was in the local office during my training and even attended some of the sessions at which we practiced our sales pitch.

"First, Collier's will place the big 24-volume library here in your home as a direct advertising premium," the salesman is trained to warble, smiling all the time. "It would be yours to keep. The nationally advertised price would be marked 'paid in full' and charged off to our advertising."

The family must write a testimonial letter after receiving the encyclopedia, the salesman says, but the letter and permission for Collier's to use it "completely pay for" the encyclopedia.

"Secondly, we will further obligate ourselves to keep your library brand new up-to-date" through yearbooks and a reference service, the salesman continues. The reference service provides families an opportunity to write in questions to Colliers, but it is very rarely used, according to Collier's supervisors.

"The company does ask you to maintain the production cost" on the yearbook and reference service, the salesman goes on, but that is only a matter of "roughly a dime a day."

That's the catch, and it's a big one. The "dime a day" -for ten years-is $588.98, actually more than 15 cents a day. Ten payments of $4.95 for the yearbook can be paid annually, but the balance-about $540-must be paid within three years.

As icing on the cake, Collier's throws in 30 volumes of "classics" -including a 20-volume mutilated version of the Harvard Classics-and a bookcase, your choice of dark or light wood.

But the deal is only for "advertising families," the salesmen are told to say, "two or three families in each area." These are families whose testimonial letters may be used in future sales campaigns.

In fact, a telephone call to the Louisville Collier's office inquiring about buying an encyclopedia produces an identical offer for the same price-without the requirement of a letter praising the encyclopedia. The Boston office of Collier's offers the 24 volumes for $339.50, but also offers the combination deal for the same base price-$479.50-as in Louisville. Additional tax, interest, and yearbook charges push the total about one hundred dollars higher.