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.

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[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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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n/a:
SPECIMEN OF PRINTING TYPES AND ORNAMENTS, IN USE AT THE PRINTING OFFICE OF LOVELL & GIBSON [etc.]
Facsimile of the 1846 edition. Bibliographical Society of Canada, Toronto, 1975.

To decontextualize language and free your mind of preconceived meaning, try staring at type specimens for half an hour.

<-- "fifteen-line antique"

Perard, Victor:
HANDS AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION
Pitman Publishing, New York, 1940.

Exemplary illustrations of human hands in every conceivable posture, from pointing, wringing, and clapping, to pouring martinis.

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Klebinder, Paul (ed.):
KRONPRINZENS IM FILM
Verlag Paul Klebinder, Berlin, 1914.

The pride of Prussia, photographically portrayed: Kaiser Wilhelm's eldest son rides, hunts, parades, and poses on the brink of World War I. Text in German blackletter.

<-- p. 34

Thane, Edith:
MARIONETTES ARE PEOPLE
Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1948.

"Perhaps to you marionettes are crude grotesques with exaggerated noses and awkward stylized movements..."

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Francatelli, Charles Elmé:
A PLAIN COOKERY BOOK FOR THE WORKING CLASSES
Facsimile of the 1852 edition. Scolar Press, London, 1978.

From the indigestible to the austere: baked cod's head, giblet pie, toast water, etc.

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Cauldwell, D.O.:
NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS -- A STUDY OF WET DREAMS
Haldeman-Julius Publications, Girard, KS, 1948.

It turns out that dreams featuring self-fellatio, with predictable results, are more common than previously supposed.

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Dixon, Royal, and Brayton Eddy:
PERSONALITY OF INSECTS
Charles W. Clark Co., New York, 1924.

In the struggle to bring science to a general readership, flagrant anthropomorphism is sometimes permissible.

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Carey, David:
HOW IT WORKS... THE COMPUTER
Ladybird Books, Loughborough, 1979.

As with every sophisticated pleasure: "There is something about computers that is both fascinating and intimidating."

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Bloch, Iwan:
ODORATUS SEXUALIS
Reprint edition. Brandon House, North Hollywood, CA, 1967.

"No amorous assimilation is as prompt or as radical as that proceeding via the nose."

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Caldwell, W.V.:
LSD PSYCHOTHERAPY
Grove Press, New York, 1969.

I am he as you are he as you are me as we are all together.

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Jones, Rosa E.:
THE WONDERLAND OF COMMON THINGS
A. & C. Black, Ltd., London, 1938.

Reassures children that the basic constituents of British economic life -- housewife, fishmonger, coal-merchant -- exist in a happy web of interdependence.

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Bock, Richard:
CAMPER COOKERY
Lorenz Press, Dayton, 1977.

You don't need a fixed address to enjoy a paper plate of Festive Cheese Balls, Chicken Luau, or Hamburger Stroganoff.

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Hornaday, William T.:
TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1905.

"The sight of a particularly fine animal, either alive or dead, excites within me feelings of admiration that often amount to genuine affection..."

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Hutchison, Harold F. (intro.):
LONDON TRANSPORT POSTERS
London Transport Board, 1963.

Five decades of soothing, even bucolic, artwork commissioned to promote a crowded urban transit system.

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