Life, 1886-09-02 · page 8 of 16
Life — September 2, 1886 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Carriage Architecture Satire This page satirizes the evolution of horse-drawn carriages through detailed technical illustrations. The top section shows "one horse brougham in correct present style" — a modern enclosed carriage — contrasted with elaborately decorated vehicles below. The middle section depicts a pair-horse carriage, while the bottom shows various carriage designs labeled "carriage (1860)" and "barouche on C springs." The satire appears to mock the increasingly complex engineering and ornamentation of Victorian carriages. Text references spring mechanisms and structural details, suggesting the piece critiques how carriage design had become needlessly complicated or pretentious. This reflects broader 19th-century Life magazine humor about technological excess and class-consciousness in transportation design. The heading "Concerning Carriage Architecture" indicates this is part of a longer feature on the topic.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ONE HORSE BRousHam iN CORRECT PRESENT STYLE. THE TROTER Herent FORK A BROUGHAM Honse 18:15 HANDS 3 ING) 17 HANDS ANIMAL? BECAUSE, 17 woULD TA’ . WHY THEN THIS ENORMOUS o ORDINARY IS HANDS Honses Jotpuit Twis WEIGHT, —-15 THIS WRIGHT \WEORSSARY ? No, Bur irs I NA “THE FASHION ABROAD, Ir BEING FouND ovt THAT, AFTER A SHORT SEASON, THE COACHING HORSES BECAME COMPLETELT BROKEN DOWN AND HARD To SELL, TMIS RESULT OF THe ENORMOUS WEONT Of ewe CONH; THE COMPANY WiLL IN THE FUTURE, HORSE THE on “LIGHTNING \ WITH TERCHERON DRAUONT CATTLE oF 4, THE HEAVIEST CLASS.—THE JOURNEY To “PARRY TOWN WILL BE RATHER SLOW. TRUTH, BUT THE PLACE WHLCBE REACHED - LI ORDINARY AMERICAN couré, AUF HANDS ANIMAL ALL surtciee Im wie ATTACH: XoRmayg IN, 1560, CARRIAGES CAME IN USE. THEY Wer ‘ , RE BIS S. AND ROLLED on ENORMOUS WHEELS. EVER SiReE TH SO ANE BOXES wiTHour SPRINGS OF BUILDERS To BUILD AS LIGHTLY AS PossiDLE.— AT DATE DOWN IT HAS BEEN THE MAIN AIM, THE Four WE ARE, NowavER, TRYING To RE CONCERNING CARRIMPARCHI comicbooks.com