Really? A Rather Disturbing Victorian Guilt Trip Advert

One of the most popular posts in the history of this blog was a look at a rather disturbing Victorian children's book, so, for fans of rather disturbing Victoriana, here's an advert I found in a little book of recipes for things like jugged hare and stewed eel. The cover is rather sweet and and decorative...

... but flip open the front cover, and the first thing you see is this:

No messing about from Fennings there. Nice of them to point out that their powder is not heroin, too.

I love the language in these old ads. By the time I'd finished reading this one, I really was ready to try their product...

Is it just me, or does 'Italian Warehousemen' sound like a euphemism for something?

Really? A Rather Disturbing Victorian Book for Children

This only came in yesterday, and has already sold this morning (along with three others in the same series, also illustrated by Frank Cox), so I'm glad I took the chance to photograph it last night. It's a little nursery rhyme book, circa 1890, and it's really a bit bonkers. Especially the last picture.

Here it is, in toto:

Let's just have a nice close-up of the final image:

Yes, that's children laughing at gravestones. Their own gravestones, from the other timestream this book appears to have going on, Sliding Doors style? So this is an early sci-fi nursery rhyme, to boot. OK, Victorian cautionary tale and all that, but laughing at gravestones? Really?