Life, 1920-01-15 · page 31 of 36
Life — January 15, 1920 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page**, but rather a **product advertisement** for Warren Standard Printing Papers, disguised within editorial content in *Life* magazine (page 123). The "sore thumb" metaphor is literal advertising copy: the page argues that good printing paper makes catalogs and commercial materials "stick out" visibly—stand out conspicuously from competitors. The circular image at top shows a thumb, literalizing the metaphor. The left sidebar emphasizes "better paper / better printing," while the right column lists Warren's various paper products (Lasito, Cumberland Coated, Silverite, etc.) with technical specifications. **No political or social satire is present.** This is straightforward early-20th-century advertising, positioned as editorial advice about printing quality. The S. D. Warren Company (Boston) used *Life*'s credibility to market papers to commercial printers and merchants.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
better paper ticks Out like a Sore Thumb N inelegant comparison, maybe, but when a man is The Warren Standard getting out : alog or booklet which is to show Printing Papers are Warren's Cameo coated for artistic half-tone printing a picture of the goods he makes, he is best pleased with his illustrations when they stick out con- spicuously Wertes’s’ Lasito Effective printing which makes the reader see a thing as it is and be conscious of the personality of the goods, rather than of the picture itself, is largely a matter of the right: printing paper plus. printir brains Better paper means better printing. Better print- ing means better seeing, and in the case of commercial printing, better seeing means better selling. The object of the close and accurate standardization of the Warren. Standard Printing Papers is to enable the printer and the merchant who buys printing to pro- duce printing results that will be satisfactory to the eye of the beholder. Good printing is always-valuable. Poor printing is Wiarcea’s Gonhclesd Shacklie Book dependable, band-serted, Rngileh finish paper always inexcusable, because it is ugly and because it ‘ is wasteful, That which fails to please seldom con- a “, Warren's Artogravure vinees. eveloped expertally for offset printing Ss. D. WARREN COMPANY, Boston, Mass Palette ire reial printing ts of better py comicbooks.com