Life, 1899-05-18 · page 17 of 20
Life — May 18, 1899 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertising page** with no political cartoons or satire—just vintage product promotions from approximately the 1890s-early 1900s. The page features six advertisements: 1. **Ruinart Champagne** — Uses historical cachet, claiming the founder was "the first maker of Champagne in the world" and appealing to luxury/royalty. 2. **Rambler Bicycles** — Emphasizes quality manufacturing at $40. 3. **Columbia/Hartford/Vedette Bicycles** — Lists models and prices ($25-80). 4. **Portable Houses** — Prefabricated cabins marketed to families. 5. **Rae's Lucca Olive Oil** — Italian import stressing purity and quality. 6. **The Prudential Insurance** and **Krementz Collar Buttons** — Financial services and haberdashery. The page reflects Gilded Age consumer culture: products marketed through appeals to tradition, quality, and respectability. No satire is evident—these are straightforward commercial pitches targeting middle/upper-class readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-RUINART run easily because they are correctly and care- fully made, has ancestry. aisseecuet ular because it is "good form" to ride them and the price is fair. Price $40 GORMULLY & JEFFERY MFG. CO. Chicago. Boston. Wash- q =< ay, ington. New York. ~ Bicone. Detroit Butte a <@f lor e sincinnati. Cleveland. > : ON pws Portable Houses | ff En dow ment ; Policies . . are a very attractive form payable only during pe- . : f riod selected. Nicholas Ruinart | ge=|" = aye Example Was the first maker of | 2024 = ett BY i arsias sees eee Qampagne in theWorld | “== yh (Prudentia ‘° Buy your children a Play House; your | The choice of Royalty | poy ttre, "Foy putas ries for.170 years has been | masulacure portatie houses’ for Tfunters . Cabins, Summer Resort Cottages, and a dozen other purposes, RUINART | “nsestions nomey SAGINAW, MICHIGAN ' woul publ Hartford and Vedette Lucca | Macatee BICYCLES. Olive | The Prudential — Oil \ Insurance Co.of America An experience of 22 years in the application of the best methods of cycle building, and our unequal-u manufac- Combines JON ¥, DRYDEN, President. Nome OBee: SEWANK, 5. d, oer the purchaser the mos myl Perfection) | “Cozrar BUTTON DESIGN, QUALITY AND af Of Quality; | 2VSURANCE GIVEN WITH EVERY PRICE. NEW MODELS. REM ENTZ mmbla Chalk. apt K One-Piece Collar Button soe ee 8B . i Vedettes . . . G Purity Made of One Piece of Metal a. Without Seam or Joint......... eal er ( You get a new one withont charge in caso of accident POPE MFG. CO., Hartford, Conn} | Bae | | esate Peri adie st eal ed chiens Established 1836. re Postal us‘for it. All jewelers Krementz KREMENTZ & CO., 60 Chestnut St., Newark, N.J. ~~ comicbooks.com