Life, 1927-01-27 · page 4 of 35
Life — January 27, 1927 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**, but rather a straightforward advertisement for the Mimeograph machine, published in *Life* magazine (page 2). The ad promotes the Mimeograph as a revolutionary duplicating technology that replaced slow manual methods like quill pens. It claims the machine can produce 1,000 exact copies of documents "within a few minutes" at minimal cost, transforming work that previously took "days and weeks." The oval image shows the actual mimeograph device. The text emphasizes its importance for "modern business and educational activities" and invites readers to request a free booklet from A.B. Dick Company in Chicago. This reflects early-20th-century business enthusiasm for mechanization and office efficiency.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE QUICKEST WAY The old quill pen was a slow and inefficient tool with which to produce a thousand copies of a letter or a doc- ument. The Mimeograph is the speediest and most effi- cient instrument that human ingenuity has devised for doing that job—and doing it well. Two extremes! Type- write a letter, a bulletin, a form, or trace by hand a diagram, an outline drawing or a penwritten message, upon a Mim- eograph stencil sheet, and within a few minutes the speedy machine will deliver a thousand exact copies thereof—at al- most negligible cost. What was once the work of days and weeks is now done in minutes. Because it has so remarkably economized both time and money, the Mimeograph has become a tool of great importance in modern business and educational activities. Upon request A. B. Dick Company, Chicago, will send you free booklet showing how modern dup- licating work can be well and easily done—the quickest way. MIMEOGRAPH LITA Hn comicbooks.com