Bailey, Wellesley C.:
THE LEPERS OF OUR INDIAN EMPIRE: A VISIT TO THEM IN 1890-91.
Darien Press, Edinburgh, 1899.

The white man's burden, dutifully shouldered by missionaries at leper colonies throughout the subcontinent; with descriptions of morbidly disfigured natives pleading for divine mercy.

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Traylor, Joseph G.:
PHYSICS OF STEREO/QUAD SOUND
Iowa State University, Ames, 1977.

For the insatiable geek audiophile who demands the deepest possible involvement with this subject, each chapter concludes with a set of questions and exercises.

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Gold, Frances Joslin:
THE INSTANT DECORATOR
Clarkson N. Potter, New York, 1976

A spiral-bound tool for decorators: large-scale line drawings of 16 typical room layouts, with transparency overlays for testing combinations of fabrics, wallpapers, or colour swatches.

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Romans, John R. and P. Thomas Ziegler:
THE MEAT WE EAT
Interstate Printers & Publishers, Danville, IL, 1977.

Covers every aspect of the meat economy, from pasture to plate: slaughtering practices; packing-house by-products; inspection and grading; preservation and storage; merchandising; organizations that promote meat; etc.

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Sholl, Clarence Vreeland:
SHOLL'S HUMANITOME
Verbis Publishing Co., Flushing, NY, 1946

An anthropocentric thesaurus, methodically listing 60,000 English words to describe human physical attributes, mental states, and activities. (Every other class of word is omitted.)

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Costa, E. and S. Garattini, eds.:
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON AMPHETAMINES AND RELATED COMPOUNDS
Raven Press, New York, 1970.

Over 900 pages of useful clinical data. "In rats, amphetamine can elicit an abnormal stereotyped behavior consisting of continuous sniffing, licking or biting... in humans, meaningless, perserverative mechanical work on cars, radios, etc. was also observed."

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Brebion, H.:
THE LEGEND OF THE CARVED ROCKS OF ROTHENEUF
Combier, Mâcon, 1955.

A confusing guidebook to an irrational monument: 300 sculptures depicting a long-dead clan of pirates, carved into the rocky Breton shoreline by a hermit. Text in imperfect English; with 16 heliogravure photos.

<-- pp. 16-17

Kaspar, Karl:
VACATION HOUSES: AN INTERNATIONAL SURVEY
Frederick A. Praeger, New York, 1967.

Where austere modernists go to unwind: a low wooden lake cottage in Finland; a geometric split-level on an Italian hillside; even a cryptic prefab "plastic egg" from Japan. With hundreds of photos; text in German and English.

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Moore, Harry H.:
KEEPING IN CONDITION: A HANDBOOK ON TRAINING FOR OLDER BOYS
Macmillan Co., New York, 1919.

"A boy cannot continue to look upon immorally suggestive pictures, hear so-called 'smutty stories,' or indulge in sexual thoughts without a harmful physical reaction."

<-- frontis and title page

[Herford, Beatrice]:
BEATRICE HERFORD'S MONOLOGUES
Samuel French, New York, 1947.

Eighteen theatrical routines on mundane subjects (Choosing the Wall Papers; Man with a Cold; At the Optician's; etc.). An uncomfortable marriage of light chatter and existential hell.

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[Lovesick Lake Native Women's Association]:
THE RURAL AND NATIVE HERITAGE COOKBOOK
Burleigh Falls, ON, 1985.

Pan Fried Bear Steak; Raccoon Delight; Beaver Tails in Sauce; Muskrat Hash; Buffaloaf; etc.

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n/a:
SARAH BELL AND FANNY BLAKE
Religious Tract Society, London, [ca. 1839].

A gloomy abecedary in verse, each letter representing a lesson for Christian living, or cautioning against a dire sin. Diminutive vest-pocket format; illustrated with engravings.

<-- pp. 14-15 (D for Death; E for Eternity)

Aro, Pirkko:
ARABIA DESIGN.
Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, Helsinki, 1958.

Soulful artists who manufacture sensible housewares: here are brief professional bios of 26 designers at the Arabia factory in Finland, accompanied by highlights of individual craft specialties and disarmingly earnest photo portraits. Text in English.

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Carson, Byrta:
HOW YOU LOOK AND DRESS
McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1959.

"Mastery of wardrobe planning and clothing construction gives a young girl a feeling of security and poise which not only assists her economically but socially and psychologically as well."

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White, Edward T.:
A GRAPHIC VOCABULARY FOR ARCHITECTURAL PRESENTATION
Architectural Media, Tucson, 1972.

Over 800 line drawings (people, furniture, shrubbery, wall textures, etc.) to jazz up your architectural sketches... or to populate the glass penthouse of your imagination.

<-- p. 32, Human Figures

n/a:
CHINESE FOLK PAPER CUTS
No place, no date. [Taiwan? ca. 1970s?]

Not a book, but a folder containing nine ethereal images: theatrical figures and masks, cut from impossibly delicate sheets of tissue paper.

<-- cover of binder, with two cuts

Metcalf, Keyes D.:
PLANNING ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARY BUILDINGS
McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1965.

Viewed from the digital age, no other subject looks so hopelessly obsolete. (Special ironic bonus: this copy was discarded by the library of an Ivy League university.)

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Merkulov, A.:
AUTOMATION SERVES MAN
Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, [ca. 1960].

"One cannot help being enthusiastic about the wholly automated shop for the mass production of antifriction bearings at the First State Bearings Plant in Moscow."

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Paulsen, Chas.:
BASEBALL CURVES.
Warp Publishing Co., Minden, NE, 1936.

The science and technique of tricky pitching, "written for the experimenter, student and theorist as well as for the Amateur and Professional baseball player." With many photos and graphs.

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Ashley, Roberta:
SINGERS AND SWINGERS IN THE KITCHEN
Parallax Publishing, New York, 1967.

Unchallenging recipes gathered from pop stars: the Mamas and the Papas' "Chili Esperanza"; Simon and Garfunkel's potato pancakes; Paul Anka's "Party Spaghetti"; etc.

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