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Ladies, mind your corsets … . and your AMATIVE DESIRES!

These delightful illustrations (note especially the fig-leaf decorated intestines) are from an anti-corset book by the esteemed phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler!  And boy was he concerned! 19th century ladies were getting all bold what with their wrist-flashing, corset-wearing, and most likely novel-reading ways.  What hussies!  

Fortunately, Fowler was around to shame all the “Miss Fastidious Small Waists” he could find, leading many, we are sure, to the fainting couch.  Plus, Fowler’s bold use of concern-trolling text and exquisite handling of all-caps type for crucial points suggest he would be right at home engaging in online political discourse today! (Impure desires! AHHHHH!!!!)

From “Tight-lacing, or, The evils of compressing the organs of animal life” (1844)

 

Tags: libraries special collections women corsets lol George Peabody Library orson squire fowler books 19th Century victorian
April 11, 2013
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Want to meet “The Great Lover Casanova of Today?”  Heck, yeah!  Not only does he get amorous with the ghost of the Empress Josephine, but he also sports some rather, um, whimsical ink.  Well, meet him and many more enticing materials in Special Collections at Dirty Books & Longing Looks! (2/14 from 6:30-8:30, Special Collections, Brody Learning Commons)

Want to meet “The Great Lover Casanova of Today?”  Heck, yeah!  Not only does he get amorous with the ghost of the Empress Josephine, but he also sports some rather, um, whimsical ink.  Well, meet him and many more enticing materials in Special Collections at Dirty Books & Longing Looks!

(2/14 from 6:30-8:30, Special Collections, Brody Learning Commons)

Tags: George Peabody Library JHU Valentine's Day lol Tattoos libraries special collections Casanova
February 11, 2013
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3 notes
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Here’s the original Bad Santa, a smoking, lascivious, be-suited beast of a man ready to corrupt adults with the smooth, smooth taste of ancient cigarettes! From the George Peabody Library’s The Smart Set collection!

Here’s the original Bad Santa, a smoking, lascivious, be-suited beast of a man ready to corrupt adults with the smooth, smooth taste of ancient cigarettes!

From the George Peabody Library’s The Smart Set collection!

Tags: Christmas Santa Claus The George Peabody Library The Smart Set ads lol tobacco vintage libraries special collections
December 20, 2012
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A cool read on a hot day? Hello “The Icicle: A Story of the Sexless Woman!” The Smart Set, March 1915 The George Peabody Library

A cool read on a hot day? Hello “The Icicle: A Story of the Sexless Woman!”

The Smart Set, March 1915
The George Peabody Library

Tags: vintage libraries women the smart set mencken lol
June 28, 2012
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OMG!!!! I think we may have just discovered the most creepy of creepers ever, or at the very least, the most creepy depiction of a baseball player ever. Thank you, Chadwick’s Baseball Reference (1867), for giving us one more monster to populate our dreams! Seriously, what are his muttonchops hiding? Call No.: 796.3 C432 1867

OMG!!!! I think we may have just discovered the most creepy of creepers ever, or at the very least, the most creepy depiction of a baseball player ever. Thank you, Chadwick’s Baseball Reference (1867), for giving us one more monster to populate our dreams!
Seriously, what are his muttonchops hiding?
Call No.: 796.3 C432 1867

Tags: baseball vintage muttonchops lol George Peabody Library libraries
June 22, 2012
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Is she demented or smiling at her own jesterly awesomeness? Let’s see what kind of jokes such a smiling and winning visage is promoting! “How is your younger brother, the surgeon, doing?”“First rate. He recently operated on his tenth patient and the man lived twenty hours.” Call No.: 808 .882 Sm 43 1915Location: George Peabody Library

Is she demented or smiling at her own jesterly awesomeness? Let’s see what kind of jokes such a smiling and winning visage is promoting!

“How is your younger brother, the surgeon, doing?”
“First rate. He recently operated on his tenth patient and the man lived twenty hours.”

Call No.: 808 .882 Sm 43 1915
Location: George Peabody Library

Tags: baltimore george peabody library jokes lol ottenheimer vintage libraries
June 08, 2012
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Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!  Let us honor you with a book title that both quotes a line from As You Like It and causes us library folk to giggle whenever we see it!  For those of you whose minds are not as silly as ours, the  book is actually about Italian paleography! Call No.: 652 .B659SLocation: The George Peabody Library

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!  Let us honor you with a book title that both quotes a line from As You Like It and causes us library folk to giggle whenever we see it!  For those of you whose minds are not as silly as ours, the  book is actually about Italian paleography!

Call No.: 652 .B659S
Location: The George Peabody Library

Tags: shakespeare George Peabody Library sweet roman hand lol book libraries as you like it
April 23, 2012
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1 note
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What? Bishops have a thing for St. George? Call No.: 427 G877DLocation: George Peabody Library

What? Bishops have a thing for St. George?

Call No.: 427 G877D
Location: George Peabody Library

Tags: weirdwordwednesday antiOED slang lol
March 27, 2012
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Based upon the cover art, intense concentration leads to visions of epic early 20th century make out sessions and bags of money. Call No.: 133.82 Z15 1926

Based upon the cover art, intense concentration leads to visions of epic early 20th century make out sessions and bags of money.

Call No.: 133.82 Z15 1926

Tags: crystal ball george peabody library hypnotism lit lol magic ottenheimer paperback vintage supernatural
February 16, 2012
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GPL Presents: Love Letter Advice from the Past! Though today it would be rather creepy to receive, say, an email or a tweet requesting a lock of hair, it used to be the height of romance! So popular indeed was the amputation of hair in the pursuit of love that stock letters were created for the terse of word! From: Frost’s Original Letter Writer (1867) Call No.: 808.6 F9296 1867Location: George Peabody Library

GPL Presents: Love Letter Advice from the Past!

Though today it would be rather creepy to receive, say, an email or a tweet requesting a lock of hair, it used to be the height of romance! So popular indeed was the amputation of hair in the pursuit of love that stock letters were created for the terse of word!

From: Frost’s Original Letter Writer (1867)

Call No.: 808.6 F9296 1867
Location: George Peabody Library

Tags: Valentine's Day love lol 19th century letter writing george peabody library history lit victorian
February 13, 2012
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11 notes

About

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From dandies in danger to the lusty dramas of educated fleas, the George Peabody Library proves that the past was indeed STRANGE! Visit us in Baltimore (don't worry, in addition to the strange things depicted here, we also have plenty of old and rare and classy books, too).

Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 9am -5pm; Friday 9-3

Address: 17 East Mount Vernon Place Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 410-234-4943

Libguide: http://bit.ly/g1UsTk

Email: peabody@jhu.edu

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