lord_whimsy ([info]lord_whimsy) wrote,
@ 2008-01-23 17:52:00
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Entry tags:curiosities

THE SECRET MUSEUM OF MANKIND
This from the desk of Ian Macky:

"Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index. Published by "Manhattan House" and sold by "Metro Publications", both of New York, its "Five Volumes in One" was pure hype: it had never been released in any other form.

"Advertised as "World's Greatest Collection of Strange & Secret Photographs" and marketed mainly to overheated adolescents [...] it consists of nothing but photos and captions with no further exposition. This was not a book published to educate (despite appearing on some public library's shelves), but to titillate [...] it's emphasis was on the female form ("Female Beauty Round the World") and fashion, and it featured as many National-Geographic-style native breasts as possible. But anything lurid, weird, or just plain unusual is fair game. This was a book to gawk at by flashlight under the bedcovers.

"[...] Presented here is the Secret Museum in its entirety, all 564 pages scanned and transcribed-- nothing is omitted or censored."

Enjoy.


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[info]swirl_girlx
2008-01-23 11:49 pm UTC (link)
Thank you.

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[info]livia_llewellyn
2008-01-24 01:57 am UTC (link)
I have this book. The photos are fascinating, and by no means is the emphasis on "female beauty". Yes, there are a few breasts here and there, but believe me, it's a small percentage of the photos. Men, women and children of all aboriginal cultures are represented in fairly equal amounts, many in spectacular native clothing, with nary a nipple in sight. :) However, I'm sure it was advertised with a wink-wink emphasis on "female beauty" in order to generate sales.

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[info]vonbruckhousen
2008-01-24 03:52 pm UTC (link)
I found this to be so.

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[info]malkhos
2008-01-24 03:12 am UTC (link)
Very interesting. Too bad I have to do my taxes tonight.

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thank you!
[info]rattlecatcher
2008-01-24 07:50 am UTC (link)
Bookmarked!

... I may never do housework or leave the couch again, but this looks to be a suitable trade, don't you think?

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[info]petrusplancius
2008-01-24 03:24 pm UTC (link)
Thank you, this great fun, and actually quite interesting at times. I love the prose style ("Andamanese are specially interesting to the anthropologist as representing the last pure remnant of palaeolithic man. They are frizzy-haired, dark-skinned people, averaging four feet ten inches in height, and are a merry, good-humoured folk among themselves, living in extremely elementary conditions of civilization."); ideally it should be read aloud by one of those people who used to read the commentaries for pre-war newsreels.

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[info]vonbruckhousen
2008-01-24 03:50 pm UTC (link)
so telling, historical sociological accounts and history's take on its own history

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[info]vonbruckhousen
2008-01-24 03:54 pm UTC (link)
i've got a pronounced love/hate for those captions clearly fictional

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[info]oakenking
2008-01-24 05:03 pm UTC (link)
I keep getting an error, stating that I'm not allowed to view this page - any idea what I'm doing wrong?

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[info]lord_whimsy
2008-01-24 05:53 pm UTC (link)
Got me--even tried without using the link, to no avail. Worked fine before.

Show's over?

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[info]oakenking
2008-01-24 06:21 pm UTC (link)
I wonder if somebody sent a cease-and-desist? Dunno!

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[info]lord_whimsy
2008-01-24 08:27 pm UTC (link)
You'd think if it was posted, they'd want people to see it...but yes, perhaps the fellow got some unwelcome attention?

Edited at 2008-01-24 08:28 pm UTC

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[info]vonbruckhousen
2008-01-24 06:34 pm UTC (link)
well, poop

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[info]lord_whimsy
2008-01-25 02:11 am UTC (link)
Apologies.

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[info]oakenking
2008-01-25 10:04 pm UTC (link)
I tried it again, and apparently it HAD been down, but is now UP, on another server:
http://74.50.10.50/ian/secretmuseum/

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What Is Proactol
(Anonymous)
2008-03-04 03:58 pm UTC (link)
Hello, of course I came to visit your site and thanks for letting me know about it.
I just read this post and wanted to say it is full of number one resources. Some I am familiar with. For those who don’t know these other sites they are in for a treat as there is a lot to learn there.

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