Judge, 1913-05-03 · page 9 of 24
Judge — May 3, 1913 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the publishing industry and vanity through personified objects and romantic mishaps. **"Meditations of a Best Seller"** uses a first-person narrative from a newly published book's perspective. The satire mocks the inflated expectations and ego of debut novels: the book boasts of critical praise comparing it to literary giants (Dickens, Thackeray) and predicts massive sales at $1.50, then deflates when it discovers the marketplace is crowded and sales disappoint. The joke targets both the publishing industry's hype and authors' unrealistic optimism about their work's significance. **"Right Impulse, But Wrong Foot"** depicts a domestic comedy: at dinner, George intended to flirt with his wife Ethel by pressing her foot under the table, but accidentally pressed her mother's foot instead—who interpreted it as flirtation from him, hence her pleased smile. The humor lies in the embarrassing mistaken identity and implied scandal. The bottom cartoon references the Biblical Adam and Eve choosing forbidden fruit, captioned "Twas Ever Thus," suggesting temptation's timeless nature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SPRINGTIME Meditations of a «Best Seller” When the Book Is First Issued «eQWELL, here Iam on the market, fresh from the printer and binder. I certainly am good to look at, with my beau- tiful red-and-gold cover and my six full-page illustrations by Harrison Dana Blister. I am by far the handsomest volume our concern has turned out this year; but that is not all, Ah, no! Iam more than a handsome book. I am THE book—the book that the public has been waiting for. You ought to see what the critics say of me! Really, it makes my cover redder still, I blush so at their kind words. They compare me to Dickens and to Thackeray, and even the most conservative claim that I am one book in a thousand and that I am sure to be read and re-read long after the great mass of novels of the year are thrown in the discard. Oh, I am so happy—so happy and proud! My publishers say of me, ‘Here is the great novel at last!’ And, in spite of that, all they charge for me is $1.50! Good- ness knows how many thousands and thousands of copies of me will be sold! Sometimes I quite dread the public’s mad rush to get me.”” When It Has Been Out a Little While ‘*Really, I never supposed there were so many books in the RIGHT IMPULSE, BUT WRONG FOOT George—Didn't you notice that I pressed your foot at dinner to-night ? Ethel—Why, it wasn't my foot you pressed. Ob, ’ George, I wondered why mother was smiling so sweetly at the minister! world! The firm that handles me handles a large number of books, but nowhere near as many, it seems to me, as there are in this place I'm in now. The public’s rush to get me wasn’t near as fierce as 1 thought it would be. In fact, I didn’t quite comprehend it. I was given to understand that people would almost fall over themselves in their haste to buy me. They "TWAS EVER THUS “No, Adam, none of these leaves will do. There are the ones I want.'” comicbooks.com