Life, 1889-08-29 · page 16 of 16
Life — August 29, 1889 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **primarily advertisements**, not editorial satire. It showcases late-19th-century consumer products targeted at middle and upper-class Americans: **Key advertisements include:** - **Caligraph typewriter**: Boasts speed records (179 words/minute) to compete with other writing machines - **Pears' Soap**: The largest ad promotes soap as essential travel luggage, implying hotel soap is dangerously poor quality - **Delbeck wine** (1884 vintage) - **Wright & Ditson tennis equipment**: Marketed to affluent sports enthusiasts - **Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup**: A 50-year-old children's teething remedy - **Emerson pianos** and heating furnaces **The satire, if any, is subtle**: The Pears' Soap ad gently mocks travelers' assumptions that provided toiletries are adequate, suggesting genteel consumers bring superior products. The typewriter ads subtly mock competitors' claims. This reflects Life's dual purpose: satirical editorial content mixed with high-end advertising for an educated, wealthy readership.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CALIGRAPH| GREATEST SPEED ON RECORD ! T. W. Osborne wrote 179 words In one single | |] minute, on the CALIGKAPH, the Champion | |] Machine of the World. To or the seashore, wher. the mountain 100,000 DAILY G. A. McBride wrote 129 words in a single minute, BLINDFOLDED, thus in each case proving the falsity of many of the statements | | of our competitors. For fall and correct account of above test, address THE AMBRICAN WRITING MACHINE CO., HARTFORD, CONN. BRANCH OFFICES: 237 Broadway. 14 W. 4th Street, Cincinnati, O.; tbod Arch Street, Philadelphia. DELBECK OF THE FAMOUS 1884 VINTAGE. WRIGHT & DITSON Fine Lawn Tennis OUR SPECIALTIES: jopted by the U Th Associations Marking Tapes, Colum- Taylors Patent Poles, Pettitt Shoes, Teanis Clothing, 580 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. Send for complete catalogue. GEO. MATHER’S SONS RINTING INK 60 JOHN STREET, N. Y. THIS PAPER IS PRINTED WITH OUR SPECIAL - LIFE - INK. <i a ee Kowa yr ever you go, your hair-brush and_ tooth.[f brush unfailingly ac. but why not your soap? The that is provided for your use at the hotel company you, article or in the cabin or in the car is quite likely to be of the vilest de. scription, burning and skin poisoning the and destroying _ its smoothness and _ beav- ty. If, on the other fi and, you take with you a sufficient supply of Pears’ Soap, whic is the best of all soaps, you insure refreshing baths and a clear, whole some, and beautiful complexion. And, by the way, gentlemen should remember that Pears’ Shaving Stick is the acme of all shaving-soaps. THE INCLENOOK WINES SOLD IN CLASS ONLY. Bottled at the Vineyards in California. Purity guaranteed by the pure Wine Stamp of the State. Also bottles wired, PRICES, $4.50 TO $7.50 PER CASE, ACCORDING TO AGE. DISCOUNTS TO THE TRADE. H. B. KIRK & CO., Sole Agents for the cities of New York & Brooklyn. 69 FULTON STREET, 9 WARREN STREET, BROADWAY AND 27TH ‘RE! bial HOW TO MAKE y druggtate. 2519 Ladlooe 8q~ Phileds., Pa. 1883. FOR FIFTY YEARS! MRS. WINSLOW'S SOOTHING SYRUP For fifty years, has been used by mothers for their Childra while Tecthing. “It Soothes the Child, Softens the Goxs, Allays all Pain, Cures Wind Colic and is the Best Remety for Diarrhoea. ‘250, a bottle. COMBINATION— HEATERS a WARM-AIR ——— FURNACES‘ J-F PEASE FURNACE CO: SYRACUSE,NY. NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO, a for Catalogue. EMERSON FINES TONE Press of Fleming, Brewster & Alley, New York. comicbooks.com