Cobb, Ivo Geikie:
THE GLANDS OF DESTINY
Wm. Heinemann (Medical Books), London, 1936.

The mysterious thyroid, the commanding pituitary, the urgent adrenals, the cherished gonads: apparently their secretions have determined the course of human history.

<-- front cover

Armstrong, Charles:
CUSACK'S MODEL DRAWING
City of London Book Depôt, [1893].

"Examples of faulty drawings are given, but lest beginners in casually glancing through the diagrams should mistake them, they are carefully branded WRONG."

<-- "What to Avoid in Drawing the Square Plinth"

Kneass, Jack:
HOW TO BUY RECREATIONAL VEHICLES
Trail-R-Club of America, Beverly Hills, 1969.

The author's previous work -- a series on California's taxation of trailers and mobile homes -- was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

<-- front cover

[yearbook]:
RUBICON '69
St. Michael's School of Nursing, Toronto, [1969].

Like flocks of angels: one hundred oval portraits of student nurses, floating in formations of perfect symmetry.

<-- "Graduates"

Yankowski, John S., and Hermann K. Wolff:
THE TORTURED SEX
Holloway House Publishing, Los Angeles, 1965.

"The man who engages in homosexual acts may be a mental, moral, and/or psychological cripple..."

<-- front cover

n/a:
SOLVENTS AND PLASTICISERS FOR THE LACQUER, ARTIFICIAL LEATHER AND RELATED INDUSTRIES
J.M. Steel & Co. Ltd., London, [ca. 1938].

Concludes with a very seductive suite of industrial photos, entitled "Apparatus Used in Testing, Making and Using Lacquers."

<-- "Can-Stirring Apparatus"

Baker, G. Cornelius:
INDOOR GAMES AND SOCIALS FOR BOYS
Association Press, New York, 1923.

Wholesome activities for Christian youth: Rooster Fight, Potato Joust, Hottentot Tackle, Skin the Snake...

<-- front cover

n/a:
CATALOGUE OFFICIEL DES PIECES DE RHABILLAGE POUR MONTRES SUISSES [Official Catalogue of Swiss Watch Repair Parts]
Les Fabricants Suisses d'Horlogerie, Bienne, 1955.

When a bookseller turns 45, he owes himself a gift that celebrates the transient beauty of time.

<-- section divider, "Chronographes et Compteurs"

Bagneris, G.:
ELEMENTS OF SYLVICULTURE
William Rider & Son, London, 1882.

"... the whole body of observed facts which relate to forest vegetation, arranged and combined into a system in so far as they apply to the treatment of forests."

<-- front cover

Blake, Dick:
DISCOTHEQUE DANCES
World Publishing Co., Cleveland, 1965.

Illustrated instructions for steps like the Hitch-Hiker, the Mashed Potatoes, and the Camel Walk; plus photos of Phyllis Diller doing the Temper Tantrum.

<-- front cover

Cheskin, Louis:
COLORS: WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOU
Liveright Publishing, New York, 1948.

"Because of ignorance of the nature of color, we have much avoidable discomfort in the home, unnecessary irritability, emotional instability, considerable loss in industrial production..."

<-- front cover

n/a:
THE BEAVER AND THE MUSKRAT
Ginn and Company, Toronto, [ca. 1940s]

In this school reader, the exploitation of natural resources is a noble pursuit, engaged in by noble Indians, noble fur traders... and even noble rodents.

<-- front cover

Reich, Edward, and Carlton John Siegler:
CONSUMER GOODS: HOW TO KNOW AND USE THEM
American Book Company, New York, 1937.

In late-stage capitalism, the highly informed shopper is a moral equal to the scholar or the priest.

<-- frontispiece

n/a:
WELCOME ABOARD AMERICAN ASTROJET
American Airlines, [n.p.], 1961.

This in-flight brochure for the jet set addresses pressing concerns ranging from the efficiency of fan-jet engines to the physical dimensions of stewardesses.

<-- front cover

Allen, Ellen Gordon:
JAPANESE FLOWER ARRANGEMENT IN A NUTSHELL
Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland, VT, 1961.

Don't let yourself be duped like we were -- you're actually supposed to arrange the flowers in a vase or bowl.

<-- front cover

Storm, Wayne:
INTERNATIONAL MONEY POWER BEHIND WORLD REVOLUTION
Storm Publishing, Shreveport, LA, 1966.

Why are the illustrations in anti-Semitic conspiracy literature always rendered so ineptly? Does pathological paranoia interfere with a person's ability to draw?

<-- front cover

Chevalier, Denys:
CAR STRIPTIZA
Slavko Krušnik, Ljubljana, 1971.

Titillating, pretentious, opaque: the Slovenian edition of a French photo-illustrated study of strippers (original title: "Métaphysique du Strip-Tease").

<-- frontis & title page

Smith, James Reuel:
SPRINGS AND WELLS OF MANHATTAN AND THE BRONX [etc.]
New-York Historical Socity, 1938.

Another laudable obsession: from 1898 to 1901, the author bicycled all over New York City to measure and photograph its surviving mineral springs and wells.

<-- plates 2A & 2B [Upper West Side]

Hartmann, Newton H. (phot.):
QUEER BIRDS
Edward Stern & Co., Philadelphia, 1934.

"Not all of Mother Nature's children are graceful and good-looking, as most of these photographs prove."

<-- front cover

Brown, Adolph M.:
MODERN PLASTIC SURGICAL PROSTHETICS
Grune & Stratton, New York, 1947.

The dreadful intersection of pathos and revulsion, thoroughly illustrated.

<-- Figure 24, "Prosthesis Being Applied"