Life — February 23, 1911 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page announces Life magazine's "Peacock Number" — a special issue using the peacock (the magazine's mascot) as its theme. The title "Vanity, Vanity, all is Vanity" plays on the biblical phrase about human pride. The satirical text poses two contrasting personality types to readers: Are you vain, egotistical, and fashionable — or timid, shy, and shrinking? The joke suggests that Life magazine's "Peacock Number" will help readers discover their "proper happy medium," implying that neither extreme is ideal. This is self-promotional satire: the text jokes that some people think the page "praises LIFE" while denying it does so — a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the magazine's own vanity in publishing special themed issues. The bottom lists upcoming special issues (Easter, Burglar's, Travel, Dog numbers), showing Life's regular practice of themed editions.