An illustration from an 1886 issue of Century Illustrated magazine.  The caption reads: "Shakspere in the shoe store. Clerk,  who has played Hamlet:  '2B or not 2B—that is the question.'"

An illustration from a 1909 issue of Century Illustrated magazine.  The caption reads: "'You won't know till afterward,' it said.  'You won't know till long, long afterward.'"

An illustration from a 1900 issue of The Strand magazine.  The caption reads: "The parrot had over-eaten itself on the bonnet of the lady superior."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

Staring into the depths: an illustration from a 1916 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Moments of depression and discouragement came, of course, but her iron will carried her beyond them."

An illustration from a 1903 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "The second pullet got possession of the child by a well-directed peck."

An illustration from an 1861 issue of Harper's magazine.

An illustration from an 1867 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "The unspoken curse."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

Reminiscent of a famous scene in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, here's an illustration from a 1902 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "From the smaller organ raved up a pandemonium of ghoulish execrations."

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

An illustration from an 1898 issue of Wide World magazine.  The caption reads: "She played air after air."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

An illustration from an 1858 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "What Aunt Betty saw."

An illustration of senatorial decadence, from a 1906 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

An illustration from an 1898 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Eats a butterfly."

An illustration from an 1855 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "Reveries of the cigar."

An illustration from a 1902 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "The great cat hurled itself at the white throat of the woman I loved."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

A genie illustration from a 1900 issue of The Strand magazine.  The caption reads: "Through the smoke he dimly discerned the figure of a stranger."

Here's a percursor to the paranormal-erotica craze, from a 1906 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Hardly had my shaking hand found the door-knob when—merciful heaven!—I heard it returning."

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

An illustration from a 1910 issue of Hampton's magazine.  The caption reads: "Who can ever doubt the magic potency of black?"