A Practical Book for Practical Men
“My endeavor has been to assemble only such information on every detail of the plumbing business as will meet the exacting requirements of the times.” John W. Johnson in 1905
So begins Johnson’s New Handy Manual on Plumbing, Drainage, Sewerage, and Streamline: A Practical Book for Practical Men. And while not a practical man myself, I can still appreciate a manual as handy as this one.
Now that people know I collect ephemera, I am often offered old books to use in my collages. But here’s the thing: old books are very easy to come by. I rarely use printed matter, except when I find exceptional pocket manuals like this one. Pages from Johnson’s Handy Manual form the ground of one of my Orange Trees. The ground is built out of plumbing diagrams, kind of like an irrigation system.
My favorite illustration is of one of the author’s own inventions. It is called the O.K. Shower and is billed as “the only shower whereby a person can sit and shower and be at ease.” The O.K. Shower seems to be some sort of tubing contraption that you hang around your neck. The water comes out of the spigot, flows up and around your body through tubes, and eventually pours down on your head.
I’ll be honest, it’s not very practical, but that’s what I love about Johnson’s Handy Manual. Every invention is an absolute banger.
