The Wasp — 1888 — page 290: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily a **title page and advertising section** rather than a satirical cartoon page. "The Wasp" was a San Francisco weekly magazine, and this April 1888 issue (Volume XX, Number 15) showcases the publication's masthead with ornate lettering alongside numerous local business advertisements. The advertisements span diverse San Francisco services: dentistry, photography, piano sales, whiskey, shoes, investment banking, and patent water closets. One notable ad features **Wilson's Vaporizing Inhaler**, promoted as "The Only Diplomatic Catarrh Specific in the U.S." with a mustachioed gentleman's portrait—typical period medical-patent marketing, now recognized as quackery. The page demonstrates how 19th-century satirical magazines sustained themselves financially through advertising rather than relying solely on editorial content.