The urge to look was so great that some people couldn't even wait until they got outside. On the other hand, they didn't want to look too excited either.
So they hung around the display unit, pretending not to be too interested, furtively tickling the pages until they arrived at the object of their heart's desire.
Maybe it hadn't occurred to them that the reason they were guests at the launch of Who's Who in Ireland was because they are mentioned in the book. Or maybe the honour of inclusion was so thrilling, they simply had to check it was true.
Sensibly, the publishers have shrink-wrapped the copies on sale in the bookshops. There must be plenty of people out there willing to risk €50 to find out if they've made the cut. Happily, all is not lost for social climbers and the potentially influential who did not receive invitations to last night's bash. There are a further two launches left in this reference book before Christmas - one in Cork and the other in Galway.
Edited by social diarist and shopping expert Angela Phelan, the book aims to provide "a snapshot in time of contemporary Ireland". Appropriately, the launch took place in Brown Thomas, the department store where "the influential Irish" like to flash their cash.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern did the honours, arriving straight from delivering an eve of ardfheis pep talk to new Fianna Fáil candidates at the Citywest Hotel. He was on a tight schedule, moving straight on to a function in the Royal College of Physicians as soon as was decently possible.
He may have millionaire pals, but man-of-the people Bertie left Brown Thomas by the back stairs. Sightings of him in the second floor designer section would do nothing for his all-important street cred.
There was, of course, a little gift on his way out. The Taoiseach had joked in the course of his speech that Brown Thomas might give him a discount for turning up. Then he sighed heavily and said if this happened, he would have to declare it to the Standards in Public Office Commission and the tribunals.
Mr Justice Frederick Morris - of tribunal fame - laughed heartily. (He's in the book.)
Former taoiseach Albert Reynolds popped in for a while before heading off to celebrate his 74th birthday with his family. Are you in it, Albert? "Dunno, I didn't look at it."
Any nice birthday presents, Albert? "Dunno, I didn't look at them."
To be fair to him, he was just back from a funeral in Mullingar.
The Taoiseach was trying to be cool about his inclusion in the book too. But he didn't quite carry it off.
Are you in it, Bertie?
"Oh, yes. I'm on page 3. Page 3. Not bad, what?"
And so he is. The smiling page 3 pin-up boy, looking across the fold at the smiling page 2 pin-up boy, Gerry Adams.
Given that almost everyone at the launch had an entry in the book, the publishers were shifting copies at a terrific rate. Didn't even have to lay on any canapes, just some ladies flitting around with trays of cocktails. "Stoli Cosmopolitans" and "Stoli Elderflower Specials".
Editor Angela sat at a table, in front of the Gucci collection and between Moschino and the Diane von Furstenbergs. We wondered about the selection process. Questionnaires were sent out to the chosen ones, most, but not all, of whom chose to return them.
"Nearly everyone picked themselves, it wasn't a difficult process," said Phelan. "Take Gerry Downey, for example. He's the hairdresser in the Berkeley Court Hotel, and because he dispenses advice to captains of industry and the like, he is influential in his field."
This is the fourth edition of the Irish Who's Who, the last appearing in 1999.
Since then, billionaires have appeared, and, according to Phelan, "women have really begun breaking through at every level".
She said a number of well-known businessmen did not want to disclose their age, while one woman didn't want to give her date of birth because her husband thinks she is 10 years younger.
"Enya, by the way, filled in her own form and sent it in. She didn't give her age, but we were able to ascertain it."
The Taoiseach lists his hobbies as sports, gardening and reading. And discloses he is a recipient of the Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit (Germany) and the Stara Planina (Germany).
Paddy the Plasterer didn't make it.
