Judge, 1918-06-08 · page 35 of 36
Judge — June 8, 1918 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page advertises a 16-volume encyclopedia of historical biography while using a morality tale as its hook. The two illustrations depict a seduction scene—a man and woman in compromising circumstances, with the text asking whether their "outraged honor and violated trust" was worth the price of their affair. The satire works on two levels: First, it exploits readers' prurient interest in scandalous history ("famous characters"). Second, it argues that real historical figures' actual moral failings are far more compelling than any fiction—that truth is stranger than invention. The advertisement promises that studying these "remarkable characters" (Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Henry VIII, etc.) provides moral education through their real crimes and follies. It's a clever marketing pitch: buy these books for edification, but really, you'll read lurid historical gossip. The "crying need in every home" framing suggests moral improvement while selling sensationalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CR PR" dt RD ‘WAS IT WORTH THE PRICE? Affrighted Nature recoils, Reason totters on its throne, Morality shrinks aghast! Was it worth all that this man and woman paid as the awful price of outraged honor and violated trust? Let all who would tread the primrose path first read and ponder. ARTA a Ay Is history after all, as reflected in the lives of those who have helped make it—as Voltaire cynically observes— little else than a picture of human crimes, follies and misfortunes? He called her “Enchanting Queen,” “Witch,” “Great Fairy,” “Serpent of Old Nile,” “Thou Potent Charm.” She dazzled his faculties, bewildered his judgment, bewitched his fancy with her gypsy sorcery and Oriental voluptuousne: We read it all with a kind of fascina- tion against which our moral sense rebels, but from which there is no only one of the many marvelous and true stories told in the 16 volumes of the mmortal Edition of FAMOUS CHARACTERS OF HISTORY ws so convincingly that Fiction ever lags after Truth, that the wildest imaginings of the romancer after all fall far facts of History. romantic facts that the authors have brought out in strong relief in this series, giving the lives of the world’s most , demonstrate how unfruitful i and how cold and barren is imagination, in contrast with what life itself can show’ in those ever circumstances that make of every ful nee. The heights and depths, the I and shadow a the lives of historical characters > instead of being ereatures of cireumstanc ¢ moulded circumstances to their will, are full of valuable lessons, aside from affording that variety of ever the mothe: nent. 4800 Pages - Large, Clear Type Extra Heavy Paper Rich Cloth Binding 16 Volumes—Each Volume 8 x5! Inches 48 Full-Page Illustrations in Sepia of books ever written Remarkable Characters All JULIUS CAESAR Prussian mili ALFRED THE « th Ting history ory of hia 0d Perens THE GREAT of the Czars; the type of man most needed 4 go . to ure whose AFFAIRES d°AMOUR sie ee her subjects and hail the courts of Europe in lay i STAT COMB ERO a caaramcs Bh pOnly $1.00 Now, With the Couper : i eam come true. ° din th must be advanced if the immediate fesponse f a startling illustration of the a quick eale ¢ on character Mig thes ve a >, nurse of manly sentiment and heroic — MAIL THIS COUPON TODAY __ astity of honor which felt a stain like a is hose lofty traits of character that shine most Fanuvswick SUBSCRIPTION COMPANY 4 1 116 Brunswick Building, New York City oriously in the annals of the Anglo-Saxon race, as shown in in the 16 volume. fi not a few of these volumes Whone story reads Uke a tale from the Arabian OF HISTORY Example is the great school of Mankind. He will larn the HANNIBAL = prea She fall Tate 3.00, at the r: \c ‘The great Carthaginian general; the hat all men foe of Rome HE Gi Iwation in no show placabte and women “ > side of their nat m= ies : nd the gr y ite have wrecked many a brilliant carcer eg Zd then the objects ofits ambition seemed just within its asp. Mightiest of the Eastern despots. Old Testament fa ats, &