Stranger than fiction

A companion piece to this (recently pinched by my mate Tolstoy).

Both of these fine cartoons are, believe it or not, genuine examples of - surprisingly surreal - late Victorian advertising. I found them in an album of reproductions of such adverts which used to be one of the great browsing favourites in my university buddy The Bookseller's secondhand bookshop (often kept under the counter for his own amusement). It disappeared some years ago, alas. I presume somebody must have bought it. I'm disappointed I never got around to doing so myself.

One of its most hilarious, most credibility-straining items was a full page advertisement for a charitable organisation for young men named The League of Health and Strength. I gather that the League had broad aims of improving the physical and moral robustness of Britain's youth, but this advertisement was directed more specifically at the evils of masturbation - or 'beastliness', as it was obliquely termed - and included dozens of testimonials from grateful youngsters who had escaped from this vice and transformed their lives by joining the League. I used to have a photocopy of the page, but it's long since lost now.

Tremendous stuff, honestly. I wouldn't make something like this up, you know.