Judge, 1916-09-16 · page 27 of 28
Judge — September 16, 1916 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page**, but rather a **book advertisement** from Judge magazine. The page promotes a 20-volume encyclopedia titled *Famous Characters of History*. The single image—a portrait labeled "Cleopatra"—serves as marketing. The surrounding text employs rhetorical appeals common to early 20th-century advertising: it argues that real historical figures like Cleopatra and Mary Queen of Scots embody drama superior to fiction. Their lives supposedly demonstrate moral complexity—beauty paired with dissolution, strength with weakness—making them irresistible subjects for educated readers. The ad emphasizes the edition's physical grandeur (5,250 pages, gilt binding, 60 sepia illustrations) and lists famous historical figures to demonstrate scope. A coupon at bottom enables immediate ordering at a discounted pre-publication price, with urgency messaging: prices will rise once the limited "remaining sets" sell out. **This is fundamentally a sales pitch**, not satire or political commentary. Judge's editors inserted it as paid content among editorial material.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CLEOPATRA STRANGER THAN FICTION no matter how costly —was ever written that w vill © and instruction ¢ entertainment ruc. Is it any wonder 1 after edition thout the 1 “These twenty volut ¢ see them as re be fore es where, 1 warriors played d nd ions reddened the pa 20 Gold Top Volumes Rich Cloth Binding Each Volume 8x5, inches Partial List of Famous Characters Every One a Wonderful Personality Alexander the Great . William the Conqueror Cyrus the Great Hannibal Pyrrhus . Peter the Great Genghis Khan . Hernando Cortez . Marie Antoinette Romulus . Mary Queen of Scots Henry 1V | Xerxes 17. } Julius Caesar 18. lero 19. Cleopatra 20. veers Pena ys Darius the Great Josephine Queen Elizabeth Alfred the Great -and the that the appetit no home or school Tibi p with hearts, fi es of history; ners of state dragged out their wretched lives was never so strikingly shown as in the lives of Cleopatra and Mary Qucen of Scots. Heiresses of a kingly line, of rare mental accomplish- ments, unequalled beauty, and with all the irresistible allurements of their sex; sublime in their strength, pitiful in their weakness; they mingled in their characters the most irreconcilable contrasts—paltry arts and dissolute passions with magnificent spirit and royal pride, fickleness and falsehood with tenderness and truth—all that we most de- plore with what we most admire. Each quaffed deep of the cup of life, of its joys and agonies. Each paid the price in the coinage of the wages of sin. Where in the pages of the great masters of romantic fiction do we find stories that, in depths of folly and heights of heroism, can compare with the true stories of these tragic lives, that are told as never before in the 20 volumes of this beautiful new edition of Famous Characters of History GREAT HISTORICAL EVENTS which were the turning points in the careers of these famous characters, and whose effects were far rea in shaping the course of civilization, are vividly cribed in these volumes: Decisive Battles which wiped out empires and are pictured ¥ all the strong dramatic interest which the attending them excite:—the Battle of Arbela, which sealed the ¢ of the Persian Empire; Marathon, the Waterloo of I Canna, that put an end to H cam of in which Cxesar displaye changed the whole current of English ada, which made England undisputed “ Mistress of the which marked the rise of Russia as a great power—all these . and hundreds of minor ones, are seen revolving around rs who will ever continue to hold the center of the stage 5250 Pages Large, Clear Type Extra Heavy Paper 60 Full Page Illustrations in Sepia Joth bound ‘of the rich in- perfume and Pultow await- these famous charac SENT NOW brings volumes, deliv UY pare of this x f History, which we are offering at a discount of from the publisher's price, has already been en for, and the PRICE “MUST BE ADVANCED after the few remaining sets are Kone that were made before the ; : 7 naterials. The price of Hen binding board has increased 10s can obain HO more sets in price THEREFORE SEND COUPON TODAY U navsswice scascrirtioy co. 407 Bro: A WONDERFUL BARGAIN DUMAS; GIVEN If You Are Prompt abled volumes 6's 8 4feinches.) Inatl you Name LD Adiress D Occupation } comicbooks.com