Shaftesbury, Edmund [pseud. Webster Edgerly]:
INSTANTANEOUS PERSONAL MAGNETISM
Ralston University Press, Meriden, CT, 1929.

Long-winded crypto-scientific sermons by a disagreeable self-improvement guru, who ultimately found success as a manufacturer of breakfast cereals.

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[Underground Space Center, University of Minnesota]:
EARTH SHELTERED HOUSING DESIGN
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1979.

A handsome and confident technical resource for anyone planning a "below grade" home. (The finished examples look like basements without buildings on top.)

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[wine & liquor label album]:
"LABELS"
[blank journal, ca. 1970]

Remembrances of hangovers past: labels from over 100 sweet fizzy wines, flavored liqueurs, cheap gins, etc., lovingly pasted into an album. No text.

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n/a:
SWIMMING IN NEW CHINA -- THE MASS WAY
People's Sports Publishing House, Peking, [ca. 1976].

In a reactionary's nightmare, the rivers, lakes, and canals become a human soup, filled with bobbing proles paddling furiously toward shore. Illustrated with photos.

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Smith, Wilbert B.; Timothy Green Beckley (ed.):
THE BOYS FROM TOPSIDE
Saucerian Books, Clarksburg, WV, 1969.

"One of the most interesting aspects of the study of flying saucers, beyond the realization that they are real and extraterrestrial, is their philosophy."

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[Charles Cluthe & Sons]:
CLUTHE'S ADVICE TO THE RUPTURED
Cluthe Rupture Institute, Bloomfield, NJ, 1912.

Rein in your hernia with a truss manufactured by the Cluthe family, and perhaps you'll join the satisfied customers whose testimonials occupy 23 pages of this hard-selling promotional book.

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Hennessey, James, and Victor Papanek:
NOMADIC FURNITURE
Pantheon Books, New York, 1973.

A sensible and eco-oriented guide to cheap, portable and build-it-yourself furnishings for students and other urban gypsies; includes a description of an entire secondhand bookshop built from fruit crates.

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n/a:
POULTRY PORTRAITS: No. 1, ENGLISH TYPES
Canadian Poultry Review, Toronto, [ca. 1898].

For the devoted chicken fancier, a portfolio of 12 large-format engravings (Hamburg Hen, Minorca Pullet, Black Hamburg Cock, etc.), suitable for framing.

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Jowett, George F.:
MOLDING A MIGHTY GRIP
Jowett Institute of Physical Culture, Philadelphia, 1930.

A strong-man program for those who wish to hoist a barrel of nails using only the tips of their fingers; to our satisfaction, the first exercise involves lifting a heavy book.

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Wilke, Arthur:
DIE ELEKTRIZITAT, IHRE ERZEUGUNG UND IHRE UNWENDUNG [etc.]
["Electricity, Its Production and Its Application..."]
Verlag Otto Spamer, Leipzig, 1895.

The romantic spirit of Imperial Germany expressed as an electrified technological utopia, with over 800 engravings, diagrams, and photos.

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Bozzini, Lidio (ed.):
ITALIAN PRODUCTION 1961
Unitalia Film, Rome, 1962.

Catalogue of 130 not-so-famous Italian movies from 1961, illustrated with select stills. Sultry eyebrows, well-groomed moustaches, and roman sandals much in evidence; text in English.

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Henry, Alfred J.:
LOSS OF LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES BY LIGHTNING
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (Weather Bureau), Washington, 1901.

"The greatest fatality from a single stroke occurred at Chicago, where 11 persons, huddled together in a zinc-lined shanty under a pier, met instant death."

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Rohleder, Hermann:
TEST TUBE BABIES
Panurge Press, New York, 1934.

Historical Development of Artificial Impregnation; Technique of the Operation; Best Method of Obtaining the Semen; Artificial Impregnation with the Semen of a Stranger; etc.

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n/a:
THE PUPPET IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Ontario Department of Education, [Toronto], 1953.

"Mr. Puppet will sing, dance and clown his way into the hearts of all who meet him. His antics will enliven any social gathering."

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["Diet Book"]
WALKER'S PEARL DIARY 1929
John Walker & Co., London, [1928].

A partly-used datebook, smaller than an arrowroot biscuit, in which an invalid has catalogued his bland meals; the inauspicious final entry (Aug. 3) reads, "Pain about 5:00 o'clock."

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Browne, D.J.:
THE FIELD BOOK OF AMERICAN MANURES; OR, THE AMERICAN MUCK BOOK [etc.]
C.M. Saxton & Co., New York, 1858.

Animal manures (including human "nightsoil"); liquid manures; vegetable compost; and, most intriguingly, "Gaseous and Imponderable Manures."

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Bliss, Charles [with Shirley McNaughton]:
THE BOOK TO THE FILM "MR. SYMBOL MAN"
Semantography-Blissymbolics, Sydney, 1976.

The life work of an optimist who believed he could save the world by creating a "universal" pictograph language, and who subsequently became the subject of a 1974 documentary.

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Heriot, Angus:
THE CASTRATI IN OPERA
John Calder Ltd., London, 1960.

"...strange creatures mutilated in the name of art, but sometimes reaping rewards more glittering than any other singers have achieved..."

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MacFadden, Bernarr:
HAIR CULTURE
Physical Culture Corp., New York, 1922.

A quack's theory on hair health, illustrated with dozens of faintly obscene photos of young models brushing, towelling, massaging, and tugging at their thick manes.

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Tabak, Aelene, and Rochelle Savetman:
CB HANDLES
Dell Publishing, New York, 1977.

Even if you're not a trucker, you can still use these as gmail addresses, pet names, or insulting nicknames for coworkers.

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