The Wasp — 1881 — page 366: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is **primarily a classified advertisements section** from *The Wasp*, a San Francisco satirical magazine. It contains no visible political cartoons or satirical commentary. The ads showcase late 19th/early 20th-century San Francisco commerce: rubber goods manufacturers, champagne importers, piano rentals, a hotel restaurant, patent medicines (African Stomach Bitters, Pepsin Wine), fur wholesalers, and machinery sales. Notable is the prominent advertisement for **Dr. Thomas Hall's Pepsin Wine Bitters**—a patent medicine claiming to cure various ailments. Such tonics were common in this era, often containing alcohol and unregulated ingredients. The page reflects the magazine's business model: satirical content subsidized by advertising revenue from local merchants and manufacturers.