The Wasp — 1878 — page 117: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily an **advertising page** from a San Francisco publication, featuring business notices and commercial promotions rather than satirical content. Notable advertisements include: - **Bethesda Mineral Spring Water** (Waukesha, Wisconsin) — marketed for kidney disease treatment - **Humboldt Brewery** (San Francisco) - **Opera Glasses** at Muller's Optical Depot - **Muller's Optician** service The page also promotes back issues of *The Illustrated Wasp* at ten cents and announces railroad excursions and steamship schedules from San Francisco. The illustrated vignettes (woman with opera glasses, bearded man, decorative business card) are decorative commercial art typical of 19th-century advertising rather than political satire. The page demonstrates how satirical publications subsidized content through dense advertising.