What words make you want to die?  Here's one, in an entry from The Dictionary of Ugly Words, a book attributed to us.

From Plamia, 1905.

From Yermah the Dorado by Frona Eunice Wait, 1897.

You don't get to the fruit until Book II of Cherry Ripe! (1878).

There's an ironic subliminal message in this book cover — the middle of the word "exposed," "pos," is highlghted by the box behind it, suggesting "positive."  Spirit Rapping Exposed by John Henry Anderson, 1860.  See Seance Parlor Feng Shui.

You've heard of a "walking encyclopedia," but have you ever seen a walking set of encyclopedias?  From Le Charivari, 1848.

From Wesleyan College's 1922 yearbook.

A bookplate from Northeastern's 1929 yearbook.

So silly, but we invariably wonder what folks are reading in their old photos.  This woman in Eastern Kentucky's 1975 yearbook is reading what appears to be quite a scarce book today: the horse and girl novel Taffy's Foal by Elisa Bialk.  The novel was already decades old in 1975, and we suspect that it wasn't required reading for a class.  Perhaps it reflects something about this dorm student adjusting to her new life?  The book tells of one Nancy Irwin, who lives in Kentucky with her grandmother on a horse farm until her father in Chicago remarries.  Nancy is forced to leave behind her beloved mare Taffy, who is in foal.  Nancy must adapt to living in the city, make new friends, love her mare from a distance, and learn to love her stepmother.  Note that this student is using her stuffed animal as a pillow and is flanked by more literature.

The Fireside Magician by Thomas Picton, 1879.

Every act of reading is an attempt to construct meaning.  From Satirikon, 1909.

Fairy Tales by Édouard René Lefebvre Laboulaye, 1887.