Life, 1914-12-03 · page 69 of 92
Life — December 3, 1914 — page 69: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **full-page advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It promotes "Old Hampshire Bond" stationery, marketed as appropriate for a gentleman's private correspondence. The ad plays on early 20th-century class distinctions: it positions this paper as suitable for personal letters where using business letterhead would be socially inappropriate—a distinction that mattered to the genteel classes of the era. The imagery shows the stationery arranged on a desk with period furnishings, establishing an aspirational, refined aesthetic. The humor is gentle and implicit: the ad assumes readers understand that using the *wrong* stationery could signal social inadequacy. This reflects the historical period's elaborate etiquette rules around correspondence. The manufacturer, Hampshire Paper Co., was based in South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SORRERE LIFE Saft Old PinnpshireHin ‘The, Stationery fa Gentleman i For his Christmas remembrance he will be delighted with a box or two of Old Hampshire Bond, the Station- ery of a Gentleman ag For private correspondence where a business letterhead would hardly be correct az At good stationers. If your stationer does not carry this line, write us for a sample packet and name of nearest dealer. Hampshire Paper Co. South Hadley Falls Massachusetts _ comicbooks.com.