Lothrop Trade Card -- Magazines

Here is a trade card from D. Lothrop and Company. Lothrop advertised its
five magazines with this card. As you can see , each magazine is designed for a different group of readers. From older juveniles to babies, Lothrop has it covered.


The magazines for older children were great vehicles for Lothrop to showcase some of their authors especially Pansy.

Shown below is a copy of Babyland which was the magazine designed for the youngest readers.







The copy here is from February, 1890. At 5 cents it clearly was reasonably priced (even for 1890 dollars).

Of great interest to me are the advertisements. In a 2009 reader like this the ads would be for baby food, toys and other items for toddlers




















In this magazine however this is clearly not the case.
Here is a representative page of ads. Hospital remedies, Dr. Schenk's Pulmonic Syrup and others would not seem to be verey exciting for children. Other ads not shown for an Autoharp , hair curlers and engines are also not for kids. This is a curious disconnect that is hard to explain.