Life — July 3, 1919 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a **Mimeograph machine advertisement** from *Life* magazine, not political satire. The image shows Mercury (the Roman god, depicted with winged hat and staff) personifying the mimeograph as a swift messenger of business communications. The ad's pitch: the Mimeograph is "the winged Mercury of the business world"—the speediest way to reproduce and distribute written documents (letters, bulletins, maps, forms) from headquarters to branch offices. The metaphor suggests rapid, efficient transmission of information. The text emphasizes the machine's value in scaling business communications inexpensively, enabling "policy and...sales propaganda" consistency across enterprises. This reflects early-20th-century office technology's importance to corporate administration. The ad directs readers to request "booklet 'W'" from A.B. Dick Company, the mimeograph manufacturer, in Chicago and New York.