Our Latest Catalogue of Surprising Novelties, Puzzles, Tricks, Joke Goods, Useful Articles, Etc. Catalogue No. 133

576 pages plus 2 leaves of color printing advertising Parker Pens, small section cut out from leaf 201-202, closed tear to 307-308, 7 ¾ x 5 inches, wrappers, laid into printed cloth cover, some soiling and wear to covers, paper yellowed in certain sections but overall a very nice copy.

Johnson Smith & Co. was a mail-order company established in 1914 by Alfred Johnson Smith in Chicago selling novelty and gag gift items such as x-ray goggles, whoopee cushions, fake vomit, and joy buzzers. The company would put ads in magazines devoted to children and young adults such as Boy's Life, Popular Mechanics and Science Digest. Their ads appeared on the back cover of many historically significant comic books, including Action Comics #1, June 1938. The company moved from Chicago to Racine, Wisonsin in 1926, to Detroit in the 1930s, and from the Detroit area to Brandenton, Florida in 1986. The company closed in 2019 after 105 years in business.

The original offered for sale here was reprinted in 1970 by Chelsea House Publishers. In the introduction to the publication, Jean Shepard noted that the catalogue "might well be the Rosetta Stone of American Culture."