Life, 1912-02-01 · page 37 of 48
Life — February 1, 1912 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising content**, not satire or political cartoon. The page promotes *The Century Dictionary, Cyclopedia & Atlas* (a revised edition). The opening section uses a rhetorical strategy: it poses questions a newspaper reader might encounter—references to war in Persia, a Louvre painting theft, the American Tobacco Company case, the term "radium," and clothing terminology—to argue that readers lack necessary reference materials to fully understand current events. The advertisement's pitch is that *The Century* serves as a practical daily reference tool, not merely a library decoration. It emphasizes the work required a "one-third" content overhaul since its original publication "twenty years ago" to keep pace with scientific and world developments. There is **no political satire** here—just marketing that leverages readers' intellectual insecurity about understanding the news, positioning the encyclopedia as essential for an educated person following contemporary events and pursuing professional or personal interests.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SIRES The Day’s News and The Century One-third new matter was required to bring The Century up-to-date The Atlas contains 123 maps and an index of 180,000 place ames with latest popalatioas. HEN you read your morning paper, do you not find an allusion which you do not fully com. prehend? There is war in Persia. A picture is stolen from the Louvre. Who painted it and what is its history? Where is that town at which the battle was fought? The President’s message alludes to the decision in the American Tobacco Company’s case. What is that decision? You speak glibly of ‘‘radium.”’ your new suit. What is “‘radium’’? Do you say the “‘sit’”’ or the “‘set’’ of the suit? Can you define it? You are speaking of Do not think of The Century as a set of books to round out your library. Think of it asa daily help in reading your newspaper, in following your vocation, in enjoying your hobby, or sport, or recreation. The Century Dictionary Cyclopedia & Atlas (Revised and Enlarged) The Century is our greatest work of reference because it can be used by you in more ways than any other kind of cyclopedia. The information it contains is not only the latest and the most accurate, but it is the most accessible. When The Century was planned over twenty years ago it was based on an idea that had never been tried—the idea of putting into one work all the kinds of books of reference that had been found necessary to the intelligent man, and arranging these on a system by which every fact contained in its volumes could be found instantly. That is why it is something more than a cyclopedia, just as it is some- thing more than a dictionary and something more than an atlas. It ts a cyclopedia arranged on a dictionary plan; it is a dictionary arranged on a cyclopedia plan; it is an atlas arranged on the plan of both. It is the last word of the most eminent authority on each of the subjects which it covers, and it covers every subject known to art, Science, literature and history that can be expressed in printed words. All this has been gathered together, carefully edited, intelligently condensed, copiously illustrated and permanently bound so that it is a set of books of which any library may be proud and a neces- istant to both the practical man and the special student. |, he new and enlarged edition of The Century Dictionary, Cyclo- . Pedia and Atlas has required nearly one-third new matter to bring it up-to-date.” Im-the twenty years since its first publication this world developed so rapidly, so many discoveries, inventions, explorations and investigations have gone forward, that the sum of the world’s knowledge has increased one-third. This is the real world. While you live, work and have your being in it you need this knowledge to help you to understand it better. Education is largely the understand- ing of such things as The Century explains. This work is so great that no advertisement can begin to ive an idea of its scope. A mere description of what The Century is 5S occupies a good sized book. No one should finish reading this advertisement without having arrived at the determination to send for this book which, with its complete list of general subjects, its specimen pages of illustration in black and st white and in color, its list of the names of the noted 2 editors who have made The Century possible, and with its sample pages taken from different parts of The Century, will give you some idea why the purchase of The Century is the next most important step that you can take. Use this Coupon to ask for informatsen Union Square, New York City Send me to-day full in formation about the new gation of ‘The ‘Century Dice tionary, ia and Atlas, with the understanding that this request. incurs no obligation of expense on Ty part. For full infermation about The Century detach this coupon and send it to- day. Neme___ THE CENTURY CO., Union Square, New York