Americana from Walkabout Books

Item 14 is a circa 1939 broadside to see Dolly and Rolly, Pronounced by Doctors and Scientists The World's Greatest Living Exhibit. At least that's what promoter J. Elvin Thompson of National City, California, claimed. Dolly-Rolly was a two-headed cow, and was said to be “the world's only creature ever to live any length of time with two normal heads on one body.” She had three horns, and it was also claimed there were images on her side of a camel, a lamb, a map of the United States, a seagull, a woodpecker, and a two-headed dog. My guess is it took a healthy imagination to see these things. An offer was made to pay $100,000 to anyone who could find another like her, though you can be sure another two-headed cow would not have been good enough to qualify for the reward. $100.

For those looking for something that will “prevent more bodily ills than a modern drug store,” here is your answer: Radium Hot Springs at Idaho Springs, Colorado, “Nature's Way to Health.” The 1930 broadside features a depiction of “Chief Idaho.” Naturally enough, it is claimed that Indians cured their ills in these miraculous radioactive waters. Rheumatism, high blood pressure, gastric ailments, and alcoholism were among the ailments they cured. As this item points out, “the radium water you drink acts like a million little suns giving off the Alpha and Gamma rays, which act as a tonic, stimulating the tissues, the glands, the nerves, and the internal organs.” This pseudo-medical nonsense is downright scarey. One wonders if Dolly-Rolly partook of these waters. Fortunately, the radium content of these waters is very low, so they are harmless, rather than deathly as they would be if the implications of this piece were true. Item 48. $50.

Walkabout Books may be reached at 949-218-4966 or books@walkaboutbooks.net. Their website is www.walkaboutbooks.net.