Cantine, Holley, and Dachine Rainer (eds.):
PRISON ETIQUETTE: THE CONVICT'S COMPENDIUM OF USEFUL INFORMATION
Retort Press, Bearsville, NY, 1950.

Personal experiences and advice from American war resisters incarcerated during World War II; though lacking in hardened criminal street-cred, this is a unique document of protest and moral indignation.

<-- front cover

Muslin, E.:
MACHINES OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Mir Publishers, Moscow, 1974.

"...mainly deals with such modest unassuming hard workers as rolling mills, excavators, lathes, presses and turbines..."

<-- front cover

Graham, Harry:
RUTHLESS RHYMES FOR HEARTLESS HOMES
Edward Arnold, London, [later reprint, ca. 1949].

Illustrated verse, gleefully describing hideous accidents and sadistic cruelties visited upon stiff Edwardian families. Is this where Edward Gorey learned his shtick?

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[folding wall ruler]
McDONALDLAND METRIC & INCHES GROWTH CHART
McDonald's Systems, [U.S.], 1978.

Allows devotees of corporate fast food to track the metabolic conversion of cheeseburgers into children. Unfolds to 5 feet (1.5 meters); illustrated with insipid McDonaldland characters.

<-- top panel

Mershon, Wm. B.:
RECOLLECTIONS OF MY FIFTY YEARS HUNTING AND FISHING
Stratford Co., Boston, 1923.

A lifetime of decimation with shotgun and fly-rod, and never a moment of moral reflection: "I think it was in the fall of 1886 that I killed the last wild turkey in Michigan..."

<-- frontis and title page

Caprilli, Federico; Piero Santini (trans.):
THE CAPRILLI PAPERS: PRINCIPLES OF OUTDOOR EQUITATION
J.A. Allen & Co., London, 1967.

The writings and photo archive of an Italian cavalryman who, on the brink of the automobile age, revolutionized riding with his "forward seat" style (and later died by falling off his horse).

<-- front cover

Smith, William Wye:
THE NEW TESTAMENT IN BRAID SCOTS
Alexander Gardner, Paisley, 1901.

The gospels with a wee o' the Scottish burr: "Gie us ilka day oor needfu' fendin. And forgie us a' oor ill deeds, as we e'en forgie thae wha did us ill..."

<-- title page

Senn, C. Herman:
THE ART OF THE TABLE
Ward, Lock & Co., London, 1923.

Not an art at all, but an inflexible set of formalities for serving nine-course meals to demanding socialites. Includes many diagrams of elaborate napkin-folding.

<-- front cover

Talmage, T. DeWitt:
SOCIAL DYNAMITE; OR, THE WICKEDNESS OF MODERN SOCIETY
C.R. Parish & Co., Philadelphia, 1888.

All the usual dangers, including High License; Fashion's Follies; Watering Places; Sequence of Evil Companions; Dark Deeds; etc. Illustrated with numerous engravings.

<-- front cover

[library record]
MY BOOK LIST
Boots Book-lovers' Library, [London, ca. 1935].

Snapshot of print culture at its zenith: a want-list, issued by a pharmacy chain that rented books to its customers, entirely filled in with the titles of popular novels.

<-- pp. 4-5

Skeaping, John:
HOW TO DRAW HORSES
The Studio, London, 1944.

To encourage real beginners, the author gently compares the ways that children and adults differ when observing and representing equine subjects.

<-- Figs. 2-3 [drawings by five-year-olds]

Erichsen-Brown, Charlotte:
USE OF PLANTS FOR THE PAST 500 YEARS
Breezy Creek Press, Aurora, ON, 1979.

Suspiciously ambitious title lives up to its claim: an almost comprehensive catalogue of written historical references to the ethnobotany of Canada (plants eaten, smoked, used as medicines, etc.).

<-- front cover

Burt, Olive Woolley:
AMERICAN MURDER BALLADS AND THEIR STORIES
Citadel Press, New York, 1964.

"Mother believed in rocking her babies to sleep, but she seldom chose conventional lullabies." Includes complete lyrics, historical origins, and some musical notation.

<-- front cover

Graumont, Raoul, and John Hensel:
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF KNOTS AND FANCY ROPE WORK
Cornell Maritime Press, New York, 1944.

With 332 plates depicting thousands of knotted ropes and strings -- some useful, some decorative, some seemingly created by spiders on LSD.

<-- frontis and title page

[promotional brochure]
WORLD TRADE CENTER, NEW YORK: THE CLOSEST SOME OF US WILL EVER GET TO HEAVEN
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, [ca. 1982].

Foldout leaflet opens to more than 30 inches wide, to accommodate a dizzying observation deck photo panorama of New York -- a view nowadays attainable only from a helicopter.

<-- front panel

"Koresh" [pseud. Cyrus Teed]:
THE CELLULAR COSMOGONY, OR, THE EARTH A CONCAVE SPHERE
Guiding Star Publishing House, Chicago, 1899.

The inside-out doctrine of a Florida cult leader, who maintained that all terrestrial life actually occupies the inside of a hollow sphere; with elaborate geometric evidence to prove his point.

<-- front cover

Bled, C.E.:
UNDERSTANDING CHINA THROUGH CARTOONS
Canadian Society for a Better Understanding of China, Ottawa, 1985.

Even accompanied by translated captions and an earnest cultural analysis, these badly-drawn didactic cartoons (culled from Beijing's "People's Daily") come across as comically inscrutable.

<-- front cover

Crespo, Merlito S.:
THE PAPER AIR MACHINES
Dorrance Publishing, Pittsburgh, 1993.

Blueprints for air superiority on the playground: "It only takes one 8.5x11 sheet of paper to make an accurate copy of the latest military aircraft flying in the skies today."

<-- front cover

Scott, Claude L.:
THE SCIENCE OF PORNOGRAPHY, VOL. 2
Editions Erectus, [no place or date; ca. 1970].

A rigorous discipline, requiring the graphic portrayal of onanism, orgies, homosexuality, bestiality, and the "grotesque fringes" of sexual behavior. (We'd love to know what Vol. 1 covered.)

<-- front cover

Blunt, Wilfrid, and Will Carter:
ITALIC HANDWRITING
Newman Neame, London, 1954.

For connoisseurs of elegant form and decontextualized content, this collection reproduces 44 random excerpts of handwritten letters in italic script.

<-- p. 5