Le Chat Noir Exposed is now available from Black Scat Books! This extraordinary work of scholarship exposes the liveliest fin-de-siècle bohemian cabaret and paper in Paris. Le Chat Noir was a playground for painters, writers, poets, pranksters, and musicians, all gleefully demolishing the standards of art and good taste. Caroline Crépiat examines such eccentric personalities […]

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The Children’s Hour was a monthly magazine edited by Timothy Shay Arthur. Arthur was a fervently industrious writer in the middle of the 19th century, turning out dozens of novels preaching morality and temperance, as well as publishing some 14 magazines. He’s best remembered today for his novel Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What […]

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Although I’ve posted many examples of children’s card games, I’d never seen an ad for them before. The games, with their liminal designs and cheap prices, seem to stay on the lowest rung of commerce, too forgettable and disposable to be marketed. This ad, though, gets into the spirit of things with its clumsy artwork, […]

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