Sometimes it is painful to look at the past. Case in point, this 1882 catalogue, New York Publishing Co.'s Mammoth illustrated Catalogue of Useful Hand Books, Joke Books, Magic Books, Comic Books, Song Books, and Interesting Miscellaneous Works. Among the many titles explaining to readers the ins and outs of wooing fair maidens, how to ice skate, how to perform various magic and conjuring tricks, how to hypnotize, and how to swing clubs and dumbbells, are a variety of racist tomes detailing ethnic jokes and skits -- usually targeting Blacks (or "Darkies," as the catalogue points it), but also the Irish, Italians, and just about any other put-upon minority at the time you could list. And then there's Hints on Courtship, Marriage and the Toilette. Flirtation Made Easy, or The Art Revealed includes a section on parasol flirtation (something I may want to master). Simple Method of Dog and Horse Training includes this section: "TRAINING OF STEERS -- Recipes." (Wait. What?) There are books on party games, ventriloquism, conumdrums, and a number of books detailing the life and history of various sideshow and circus freaks (The Bear Man, The Smallest Chinese Dwarf, The Four-Legged Girl, The Living Skeleton,. The Magnetic Boy, The Tattooed Lady, The Gentleman Born Without Hands or Feet, The Wonderful Dwarf and Her Child (That Was Never Born), etc., etc., and etc.). Truly, there is something here for every lack of taste.
Check it out. But please, for the love of all that's good in this world, don't try to order any of these books.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=87417&comicpage=&b=i
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