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"

Supf, Peter:
DER LUFTKRIEG IN POLEN ["The Air War in Poland"]
Junker und Dünnhaupt, Berlin, 1941.

Over 180 photos of heroic Nazi airmen defending the fatherland in 1939 by bombing the crap out of those menacing, militaristic Poles. Text in German.

<-- frontis and title page

Grumme, Grete:
DANISH FOOD
Chr. Erichsen's Forlag, Copenhagen, 1964.

Creamed liverpaste, pale meat jelly, spiced lard... and that's just the chapter on "Dishes for a Danish Cold Table."

<-- front cover

Zimmerschied, Gerd:
NATURAL STONE AS AN ELEMENT IN DESIGN
Standard Catalogue Co., London, 1961.

The hypnotic geometry of stonemasonry, as revealed in some 400 closeup photos of walls, chimneys, garden paths, etc., from around the world.

<-- front cover

Tapson, Frank:
TAKE TWO!
Pantheon Books, [New York], 1977.

Parlor fun on the cheap: 32 different game boards in a single spiral-bound album. (You supply the buttons or coins for counters.)

<-- front cover

n/a:
THE SECRET MUSEUM OF MANKIND
Manhattan House, New York, [ca. 1935].

Gawking at "the Other": over 700 anthropological photos of semi-naked natives, gloomy peasants, and bearded tribesmen, with only the briefest of captions for context.

<-- frontis and title page

Zaffo, George J.:
YOUR POLICE
Garden City Books, New York, 1956.

Only rarely does pro-cop propaganda achieve a state of grace through sheer beauty and elegance of design.

<-- front cover

Kyei, Kojo Gyinaye; Hannah Schreckenbach (phot.):
NO TIME TO DIE
Catholic Press, Accra, Ghana, 1986.

Poems inspired by the personalized slogans painted on Ghanaian "mammy lorries" (i.e., jitney buses); with many photos of the fanciful vehicles themselves.

<-- front cover

Ellis, Edward S. (ed.)
1000 MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS BRIEFLY DESCRIBED
Hinds & Noble, New York, 1899

A handsome and compact book; but as far as the content is concerned, this looks like a case of quantity over quality.

<-- front cover

Heppenheimer, T.A.:
COLONIES IN SPACE
Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1977.

"It is possible that space colonization will become a generic subject, like Ecology or Women's Lib, which everyone knows something about and has an opinion on."

<-- front cover

Fowler, Murray E.:
RESTRAINT AND HANDLING OF WILD AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Iowa State University Press, Ames, 1981.

The grittiest and most intimate expressions of mankind's mastery over animals: nets, nooses, cages, anesthetics...

<-- p. 186, "Marsupials"

Gardiner, Catherine:
DOGS, AN ATLAS OF THE MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM
Canine Consultants Publishing, Milton, ON, 1974.

Includes 13 enormous color transparency overlays of dog anatomy, and a set of portable dog-measuring instruments in a separate vinyl pouch.

<-- "Skeletal System" (detail) with dog-measuring rod

Gulick, Sydney L.:
EVOLUTION OF THE JAPANESE: SOCIAL AND PSYCHIC
Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1903.

Tolerant author concludes that the exotic Japanese race is actually capable of abstract thought, moral judgement, and aesthetic refinement.

<-- front cover

Hawks, Ellison:
THE ROMANCE OF TRANSPORT
George G. Harrap, London, 1935.

The colorful history of getting from A to B -- whether by camel, horse-drawn omnibus, steam carriage, motorcycle, Zeppelin...

<-- frontis and title page

Knowles, Christopher:
TYPINGS (1974-1977)
Vehicle Editions, New York, 1979.

Artistry? Insanity? Exploitation? Eccentric pages from an autistic poet who was "discovered" by avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson.

<-- "Rock the Boat"

n/a:
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GUIDE FOR SHIPS
World Health Organization, Geneva, 1967.

In over 400 pages of text, only two paragraphs are devoted to seasickness: "The condition is so well known that a description is not necessary."

<-- front cover

Cornell, James, and John Surowiecki (eds.):
PULSE OF THE PLANET: A STATE OF THE EARTH REPORT FROM THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION CENTER FOR SHORT-LIVED PHENOMENA
Harmony Books, New York, 1972.

A dizzying digest of earthquakes, meteorites, whale beachings, forest fires, volcanoes, algal blooms, landslides, caterpillar infestations, oil spills, tsunamis...

<-- front cover

Petersham, Maud and Miska:
THE STORY BOOK OF OIL
John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, 1935.

Have you heard the news? "Now, if the supply of oil were cut off, our manner of living would change completely until something to take its place was found."

<-- front cover

n/a:
HOW TO MAKE A VENETIAN BLIND
[no place or date; ca. 1950].

Formerly a book, now a hollowed-out novelty "book box," done up as an aggressive visual pun. (The knocked-out "eyes" are painted coffee beans.)

<-- interior of box, with eyes

Auld, William:
ESPERANTO, A NEW APPROACH
Heroldo de Esperanto, Brussels, 1969.

"If one cannot immediately find an experienced Esperantist to give advice on pronunciation, there are gramophone records available..."

<-- front cover

Röttger, Ernst:
CREATIVE WOOD DESIGN [Creative Play Series 2]
Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1960.

Certain vulnerable aesthetes, when exposed to earthy Nordic handicrafts, experience an excruciating sense of admiration and longing.

<-- front cover

Koschmann, Gale:
TURTLE-LORE FROM EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA
Everglades Natural History Assoc., Homestead, FL, 1965.

A book perfectly matched to its subject: humble, yet intriguing.

<-- front cover

Harrison, Bob:
NAKED NEW YORK
Paragon Associates, New York, 1961.

Master class in sensationalism: "Here are the swindlers and the swells, the babes who scheme and the pimps who outsmart them -- all conning their way in the greatest shell game on earth."

<-- front cover

n/a:
GÖPPINGER LEINEN
Göppinger Kaliko -und Kunstleder-Werke, [ca. 1960].

Sublime tactile object for the bibliophile: a catalogue of elegant bookbinding fabrics, with 56 swatches and 14 actual book covers tipped in. Text in German.

<-- front cover

Statler, David:
ROARING GUNS
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1938.

The oddest thing about this violent Western (written and illustrated by an 8-year-old, with original misspellings left intact) is that it was ever published at all.

-- front cover

Tart, Charles T. (ed.):
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1969.

In addition to dreams, meditation, hypnosis, and psychedelic drugs, this collection examines the "hypnogogic state" -- that mysterious twilight between waking and sleeping.

<-- front cover

Gay, Jan:
ON GOING NAKED
Garden City Publishing, Garden City, NY, 1932.

"The author has for years taken pleasure in going without clothes." Naturally, her book is illustrated with dozens of photos of frolicking nudists.

<-- front cover

Crowcroft, Peter:
MICE ALL OVER
Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield, IL, 1973.

A sympathetic (yet scientifically rigorous) behavioral study, illustrated with diagrams tracing the paths of mice as they meander around their cages in search of food or psychic comfort.

<-- front cover

Wilder, G.D., and J.H. Ingram:
ANALYSIS OF CHINESE CHARACTERS
North China Union Language School, [n.p.], 1922.

Organizational dilemma: How do you index written Chinese?

<-- index pages

Sizer, Nelson, and H.S. Drayton:
HEADS AND FACES AND HOW TO STUDY THEM: A MANUAL OF PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOGNOMY
Fowler & Wells Co., Publishers, New York, 1897.

Some 200 engraved portraits, demonstrating a spectrum of character traits (benevolence, sublimity, acquisitiveness, rectitude, etc.), as well as lots of elaborate whiskers.

<-- front cover

Di Maio, Dan:
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROSY ASTER
Citadel Press, New York, 1971.

A porn novel in the form of a rebus makes for an interesting literary experiment; but ultimately, the genre lacks heat.

<-- front cover

LaFetra, William:
CLIP AND GROOM YOUR OWN POODLE
T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, NJ, 1972.

Overheard in our shop, as a wisecracking 11-year-old examined the cover of this book: "Which one's the show dog?"

<-- front cover

Pirenne, M.H.:
OPTICS, PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
At the University Press, Cambridge, 1970.

Anybody can draw two converging lines, and call it a train track; but it takes some serious erudition to actually explain pictorial perspective in terms of optics and physiology.

<-- front cover

Robinson, Clarence C.:
CAREERS FOR BOYS
The University Society Inc., New York, 1933.

It seems irresponsible to direct youthful enthusiasm into farming, construction, law, medicine, banking, etc., while entirely omitting the popular and promising profession known as... Used Book Tycoon.

<-- front cover

Reed, Carl, and Joseph Orze:
ART FROM SCRAP
Davis Publications, Worcester, MA, 1960.

With many intriguing, if slightly forlorn, photos; and a handy "Projects & Materials" chart at the rear ("...Bark; Beads; Boxes; Burlap; Buttons...").

<-- front cover

n/a:
OUR LITTLE ONES IN HEAVEN
Sampson Low, Son & Co., London, 1858.

Despite the Victorian kitsch factor, these poems and sermons memorializing dead children could cause a world-weary bookseller to weep at his desk.

<-- frontis and title page

Kempf, Julius:
KLEINWOHNSTÄTTEN DER GEGENWART
F. Bruckmann Verlag, München, 1950.

Every Bavarian needs a comfortable place to hang up his lederhosen. Here are photos and floorplans for dozens of styles of folksy cottages.

<-- p. 108

Chu, H.F.:
HOW TO KNOW THE IMMATURE INSECTS
Wm. C. Brown Co., Dubuque, IA, [ca. 1970s].

Sure, they're cute when they're larvae...

<-- front cover

Sager, Raymond M., et al.:
THE SAGER WEATHERCASTER
Weather Publications, Pleasantville, NY, 1969.

Housed in an unassuming spiral-bound book, this circular slide rule is "an instrument based on meteorological science. It is in fact a handy computer."

<-- introduction and circular slide rule

Walker, Sara MacLeod:
HIGHLAND FLING COOKBOOK
Atheneum, New York, 1971.

Recipes for Scottish delicacies like Meldrum potted hough, Killiecrankie mince collops, Dingwall invalid toast... but oddly, nary a haggis in sight.

<-- front cover

Prus, Robert, and Styllianoss Irini:
HOOKERS, ROUNDERS, AND DESK CLERKS
Sheffield Publishing, Salem, WI, 1988.

Considering a career change? This study is so richly detailed, it could serve as a practitioner's guide to the hustling life.

<-- front cover