Bhanawat, Mahendra:
MENHADI RANG RACHI (FOLKLORIC STUDY OF COLORFUL MYRTLE)
Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal, Udaipur, 1976.

Henna tattoos have become a silly trend in the West; but this delectable little book redeems the original South Asian tradition. Text in English; illustrated with 22 enchanting colour plates.

<-- front cover

[Home Office]:
THE PROTECTION OF YOUR HOME AGAINST AIR RAIDS
His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1938.

Obviously, war was in the air: this worrisome public service pamphlet, with its special emphasis on precautions against gas attack, was issued more than a year before the outbreak of WWII.

<-- front cover

Hodgins, J. George (ed.):
AIMS AND OBJECTS OF THE TORONTO HUMANE SOCIETY
Facsimile of the 1888 edition; no publisher, no date [centennial reprint?].

Righteous Victorians had to confront a host of evils, from cruelty to horses and the wanton destruction of birds, to human street-waifs and the absence of public drinking fountains.

<-- front cover

Jennings, Thomas:
THE FEMALE FIGURE IN MOVEMENT
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1971.

Repetitive acts of mundane nakedness: through 1500 sequential photos, art models demonstrate the allure of carrying a box, talking on the phone, watering a houseplant, etc.

<-- p. 47

Cornish, G.A.:
THE ROMANCE OF CHOCOLATE
William Neilson Ltd., Toronto, [ca. 1933].

"The fretful cry of the helpless infant only a few days old is changed almost like magic to a look of satisfaction by the touch of a speck of candy to the red tongue between the toothless gums."

<-- front cover

Guthrie, John:
BIZARRE SHIPS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Hutchinson Scientific and Technical, London, 1970.

Many of these unlikely nautical innovations -- circular ships, ships with jointed hulls, ships on rollers, etc. -- were actually built as prototypes. But they all ended in glorious failure.

<-- front cover