Life, 1909-06-10 · page 31 of 32
Life — June 10, 1909 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a self-promotional editorial page from *Life* magazine announcing upcoming special issues. The satire targets educated pretension and information gatekeeping. **The Joke:** *Life* claims it rarely conveys information to avoid "establishing a precedent," because maintaining an air of superiority requires appearing above such mundane concerns. The sarcasm mocks the affectations of the educated class—those who lead "educated Life" must act bored and superior while knowing nothing interesting. **The Content:** The page announces a "Book Number" featuring bestsellers reviewed by literary expert Kerfoot, plus upcoming special issues on gardening and independence. Illustrations show figures buried under books and scattered reading materials, emphasizing the magazine's role as tastemaker. **The Point:** *Life* positions itself as the arbiter of what educated Americans should read and know, while ironically mocking that very pretension. It's both selling intellectual authority and satirizing those who buy it—typical of *Life's* sophisticated humor targeting its own audience's vanity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Once In a While We convey information. We don't do it as a matter of principle. We shouldn’t like to establish a precedent. = Why ? jccadilly,” he driver werstel Because information is the cheapest thing on the mar- A put ost ket. Have you ever led the educated Life? If you have, ping to a you know how dull and prosaic it is. In the first place, you have to maintain an attitude slightly superior to others. In the second place—but you know all the other reasons. t his pipe in’ to 0 At the same time, once in a while we get out A Book Number of Life In this number we don’t propose to spare any- body. Mr. Kerfoot, our literary expert, has been working night and day getting information about books. Every best seller in the country has been ringing his bell at all hours of the day, and night, asking for admittance to Our Page of Best Books Not every best seller has been taken in out of the There Are Others wet. But the result is highly instructive. Here ina Some other numbers of : ; ‘e-presentei ‘6 es . LIVE are a Gardening namber short space is presented a list of the best books pub whl h follows the next week lished during the last year. You can use it as a guide, after the Book number, : . : In this number the secrets of in case you want something to read that is really worth nature are laid bare. It Ail shows you how to plant and while, reap the benefit’ without - getting rheumatism, pains in the back As for the other part of our Book Number Foulin ot ely eanibers Weneeneine Ti to call it an Independence number and Out Next uesday then the thought occurred to us that LIFE isso inde- Chasles ingfiet ins aiacle coat This number is it is full of literary material of the highest order of ex- aang 20 Ted neath UARae ie hea ar cellence. When you have looked it over, you will ey ee jer come a conple: of general pumbers begin to believe that after all maybe we have a litera- i ives usa ture in this country concealed about our person some- chance to catch up and crowd the papers with that simply refuse to be put in s. Did you ever where. stop to think that all the brightest things in the country knock first at LIFE'S door? Being truly modest, \ tua e can only say that this is one of the reasons why LIFE i the best paper in the world. Buy it and be con: verted. It costs only ten cents, 10: you miss none of these goo things. Price in the United States and the Americas Possessions, $5.00; Canada, $5.42; abroad, $6.04 THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY. comicbooks.com