Life, 1885-12-10 · page 33 of 34
Life — December 10, 1885 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **holiday shopping advertisement page**, not a political cartoon. The small illustration at top left shows a domestic scene where a woman admires an "Imperial Burner" lamp—a gas lamp accessory that provides brighter, steadier light than competing options. The humor is gentle: the man claims superiority while the woman expresses delight, depicting the product as a desirable gift. The page consists mostly of luxury advertisements for affluent New York shoppers: fur rugs and Oriental carpets from W. & J. Sloane, a ladies' tailor, and extensive sporting goods from Spalding's (ice skates, pocket knives, chess sets, rifles, bicycles). These reflect late-19th-century leisure pursuits and consumer culture. **Context for modern readers**: This shows how Life marketed to wealthy audiences through aspirational gift suggestions, with gendered assumptions (lamps for wives, sporting equipment for men).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“cc | hee ! isn’t it, dearest.” “Not at all, it is the Imperial Burner CHEAPEST: it gives a brighter and steadier light than any dozen lights you can procure: the Burners can be attached to any kind or size of Lamp in use, and best of all, if you purchase one and it does not give you entire satis- faction, your money is returned.” BENNETT B. SCHNEIDER, 37 Park Place, New York. LADIES’ TAILOR, 1g East 21st St. NEW YORK. LONDON. NEWPORT. Floliday Presents. W. & J. SLOANE Have just opened a superb collection of TIGER, LEOPARD, BEAR AND OTHER FUR RUGS. Also, a splendid assortment of ORIENTAL RUGS, Including many fine examples of EASTERN ART, BROADWAY, EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH STREETS, NEW YORK. The best place to settle the much vexed question of a Suitable Christmas Gift is at S=P <A .L Del NevG 3S, 241 BROADWAY. There you will find all varieties of Skates. Those asseen by the following cut, at $5.50; if this price is too high, there are twenty other styles at from 25 cents to $4.50. PATENTED AUG. 11. 1888. Superb assortment of POCKET CUTLERY, RAZORS, MANICURE CASES, MAGIC’ LANTERNS, TOOL CHEST, Games of the most interesting kind from the SoLIp CARVED Ivory CHESS MEN to the 25 CENT Box oF Jack Straws; Doc COLLARS, PARLOR AND AIR RIFLES, TENNIS RACQUETS; BICYCLES, a great specialty, and indeed everything else pertaining to sports and pastimes. Call and look over our stock 241 BROADWAY, 108 MADISON STREET, N.Y. CHICAGO. comicbooks.com