The Wasp — 1892 — page 29: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic strip depicts a commercial rivalry between two clothing stores: "Isaacs" and "Abraham." The repeated visual gag shows customers attempting to purchase items at one store, only to be redirected to the competitor's location with signs reading "No Connection with Next Doors." The humor relies on the absurdity of this back-and-forth misdirection—customers shuttle between shops seeking coats and pants, while each proprietor denies any affiliation with the other despite their adjacent storefronts. The caption notes this involves "a double dummy and the odd trick," suggesting a card-game metaphor for commercial deception. This appears to satirize competitive retail tactics and false advertising claims of independence between rival businesses, likely neighboring establishments engaged in misleading customers about their actual relationship.