Queer People

This is an ad from the Golden Gate Publishing Company of Oakland, California announcing the mail-order sale of a new set of children’s books penned by the once the popular, but now very forgotten illustrator and author Palmer Cox. In the late 1800s, Cox was best known for his Brownie Books which mainly appealed to kids of primary school age. Children loved the well-drawn and easily recognizable pictures in the Brownie adventures, which featured characters they easily responded to and identified with. Queer People introduced in 1895, was a new series of books with “paws, claws, wings, stings, and many other things” designed to delight youthful readers. It is unknown if Queer People was as successful as The Brownies. One thing is certain, Palmer Cox is now considered so obscure that today he is seldom even mentioned in most literary source books.