Old Books

Yesterday one of my neighbors had a book sale, with a lot of novelty books. I bought 4 books for $2.75 and a full recipe catalogue for $2.00.

The books:
World Enough and Time
The OED of New Words
A Rage to Nosh
Bed and Bored

The illustration of the lovely young wife asking her husband for a "spring outfit" was from Bed and Bored. It's a 1945 text with jokes, tips on drawing cartoons, and puzzles. It's clearly written for men, with buxom women on almost every page. I believe it's targeted at military men who were probably injured in the war:

Perhaps it's just a product of it's time, with the war looming large in an America that was actually asked to make sacrifices for the good of the country. In the introduction it notes "This book is produced in full compliance with the government's regulations for conserving paper and other essential materials." Although, there is certainly some commentary on the republic's insatiable desire for commodities and goods:



The book also makes a statement about race, but it was too offensive to post. It's also interesting that every female depiction is either labeled a "seductive wench" (99) or a "little lady" (75). Anyway, it's an important "cultural text" that a Special Collections library in Oregon has among its WWII materials.

The other fascinating book was a 1966 cookbook called A Rage to Nosh that begins with this line: "If the American culture ever becomes extinct, it won't be due to the atom bomb; it will probably be because of overeating" (vii). A strange statement for a cookbook that then goes on to glorify "nibbling" and "noshing" by linking its recipes to famous figures, mostly the mothers or wives of prominent men. They even instruct the reader to "use this book with abandon and eat! eat! eat!" (viii).

I guess you'll have to come to J.D.'s and my next party, where we'll be serving "Picasso Party Mix" or "Mrs. De Sade's Smashed Smoked Sable Shmear" (OK, maybe not that one). How about "Macaroni Marco Polo" or "Mrs. Wilde's Saucy Artichokes" (I think they missed the boat there). In addition, there's a lovely recipe for "Stuffed Eggs Mrs. Darwin," and for fun, you can fight windmills after consuming "Mama Quixote's Wine Cooler." Although, here perhaps is the gem of the bunch:



Did you notice the syntax? At first I thought maybe they'd sampled Mama Quixote's recipe beforehand. Actually, now I think it's the voice of the immigrant grandmother they bullied for these recipes: "We convinced Grandma it would be selfish to keep these unusual recipes to herself... and selfish, Grandma never was. So with gray hair neatly in place, a clean apron around her long vanished waistline and rimless spectacles mid-nose, she began to tell us how to prepare noshes 'so delicious, the diet you can start tomorrow'" (viii).

Finally, there's the "American" recipe catalogue I bought for $2.00. Now I'll always be ready for any random County Fair, should I suddenly find myself in the midst of one. An entire section is devoted to that purpose:



Hmmm.... think I'll start with the pink one.