Fad diets and nutritional trends are not a thing of the twenty-first century as this 1845 publication, Fruits and farinacea the proper food of man. Being an attempt to prove, from history, anatomy, physiology, and chemistry, that the original, natural, and best diet of man is derived from the vegetable kingdom, demonstrates. Continue reading

This 1916 Analyzing character book is interesting not only in its own right, but from a publishing history point of view. It was published in New York by the Review of Reviews Company, which was an American take on a British publishing endeavor begun by journalist W T Stead in 1890. Stead was best-known for having written a series of articles called “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” exposing the contemporary sex-trafficking trade in underage… Continue reading

The psychology of advertising is probably as old as advertising itself, but the codification of it as a field of study is not. This 1915 text, Psychological advertising, offers itself as “intended for students of advertising, business men, and and all those who are interested in the commercial life of our country.” Continue reading

S Weir Mitchell is probably best known as one of the major proponents of the “rest cure” in nineteenth century American medicine. This was a particularly popular treatment for well-off white women suffering from a wide variety of complaints. It involved, in its most intense form, total bed rest and a very full diet. But Mitchell was also a novelist: Continue reading