The Wasp — 1887 — page 180: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains four satirical illustrations depicting street vendors and working-class figures in what appears to be San Francisco: 1. **The Umbrella Man**: Shows a vendor selling umbrellas, exploiting rainy weather. 2. **The Wandering Jew**: Depicts a Jewish peddler with goods, illustrating period antisemitic stereotypes about Jewish tradesmen. 3. **The Peanut Vender**: Portrays a street vendor described as "perhaps the most numerous of all the sidewalk businessmen." The text notes these vendors are ubiquitous throughout the city. 4. An illustration of street workers/vendors. The satire targets urban commerce and street vendors as fixtures of city life, with particular ethnic stereotyping evident in the Jewish peddler depiction. The tone is observational rather than explicitly cruel, documenting working-class economic survival strategies.