Just got some oldddd periodicals

[Noah Mercy]

I was just given a "Ladies Home Journal" Vol. II, No.10 from September, 1885 and a "Harper's Bazaar" Vol. XIII, No. 48 from November 27, 1880.

Holy moly! If you didn't have great vision, you weren't going to read these puppies. I've never seen such tiny print.

The HB has a joke section...let's just say humor today has virtually nothing in common with humor 124 years ago. It does have some very detailed descriptions of the latest fashions (cut, material, and colors) for men, women, and children, from hats to underclothes. It also has several story installments, as well as a couple of complete stories and some poems. It also has some wonderful illustrations of outfits along with detailed descriptions of the materials and colors.

The LHJ also has several stories and poems, including a ginger snap recipe in poem form. Also some other recipes and helpful hints for homemakers. There's also a chart showing how many cubic inches of gas are produced by one ounce of various brands of baking powder. 

Of course both of these have ads in the back for everything from patent medicines to pump organs. I love old books and literature. You can really get a feeling for an era by studying the popular press from the time. I didn't appreciate stuff like this just a few years ago, but as my wife and I get more involved in CAS and come to appreciate the Edwardian/Victorian era, we find old books and "magazines" (more like small newspapers back then) are full of information and pictures which are fascinating and informative. I highly recommend that any of you who strive for the utmost in authenticity in your "townie" costuming check out your local used book stores and "junk shops"and try to find a Harpers Bazaar or Ladies Home Journal from your chosen time period. They obviously don't cover what the cowboys wore, but city fashions are very well represented and explained in these periodicals.

[SIR WILLIAM]

Agreed!  I use the 60s reprints of Sears and Monkey Wards catalogues for reference.  I just had a firefighters widow give me some G&A and True West periodicals myself.  I tend to buy older pulp magazines myself.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Noah,
Could ya please post that ginger snap recipe? That sounds interesting. And maybe some of the "jokes"?

Slim

[Noah Mercy]

Shore, 'Creek.

Ginger Snaps

INGREDIENTS

A cup of brown sugar you add
To a pint of molasses N. O.,
A cupfull of butter (not bad)
Must next toward the mixture go.

A pinch of salt (very pure-
not the kind that you find on the beach).
And of ginger and soda be sure
To take a tablespoon each.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS

Stir the ginger in four cups of flour,
And while at this you are toiling,
The 'lasses and sugar and butter
Should heat just up to the boiling.

In a little hot water you next
The soda disolve-nor defer
At once (follow close to the text)
It in the hot mixture to stir.

When this has been carefully done,
The flour is slowly stirred in,
If the dough appears not a stiff one
Add more flour- and roll very thin.

Of cinnamon-if you prefer it
With ginger you half and half use,
A mixture so mild, I infer it
Would never the stomach abuse.

Bizarre, huh? Here are a couple of the jokes, or "FACETIAE" as the "Harper's Bazaar" calls them.

Feminine tenderness sometimes crops out in queer places. The widow of a French chemist, famous for his researches in toxicology, was on trial for poisoning her husband. It was proven that arsenic was the medium employed. "Why did you use that poison?" asked the presiding magistrate.
"Because," sobbed the fair culpret, "it was the one he liked best."


The other day, says a Western paper, about one o'clock, a boy of about twelve years of age went up a street at such a pace that every one was astisfied he was running for a doctor. A man with a kindly expression of countenance caught the flying boy by the arm, and asked him, "Sonny, is there anybody right sick at your house?"
"No, but there will be if you don't turn me loose."
"Who is it, bubby?"
"Will you let me go if I tell you?"
"I will, my boy."
"Well, then, it's my brother Bob. He will be a remains before night if I don't get home right off. You see, we have cucumbers, green corn, clabber, watermelon, and cabbage for dinner, and if I ain't there to get my share he will founder himself and die. Please let me go, so I can save my little brother's life."


For Welsh Readers- Mrs. Coodle was telling Mary Jane that the potatoes had an oniony smell, when Coodle suggested that perhaps they had been cooked in a saucepan with a leak in it.


I reproduced these as faithfully as I could, right down to the "e" in potatoes. It's obvious to even the casual reader that today's popular press bears precious little resemblance to their forbears. If anyone wants me to pass along anything else from these periodicals, don't hesitate to ask.

[Silver Creek Slim]

These are great. Thanks, Noah. I printed it for my wife.

Slim

[Tangle Eye]

Them jokes weren't bad - but then I have sort of a strange sense of humor I'm told. 

[Tangle Eye]

On the old magazine note - my son gave me an old Winchester catalog on CD for Christmas last year.  I really enjoyed reading through it.  Catalogs were more like reference books back then.  Lots of info on loads, etc.