A facsimile edition of the 1902 catalog for the retail chain displays the manners, customs, necessities, luxuries, and cost of living of an America at the turn of the century through the products Americans bought.
J & L Books' acclaimed J & L Illustrated series presents handsomely designed paperback volumes of fiction and art at an affordable price. Shout magazine wrote of the first volume, published in 2002: "This impressive collection of illustrations and fiction makes sense of the world like good liquor should." Edited by writer Paul Maliszewski (author of Prayer and Parable and Fakers), this third volume of J & L Illustrated is comprised of 13 short stories by authors Amie Barrodale, Scott Bradfield, Stephen Dixon, Steve Featherstone, William H. Gass, Michael Martone, Joseph McElroy, Elizabeth Miller, Robert Nedelkoff, Hasanthikia Sirisena, Steve Stern, Mike Topp and Xiaoda Xiao. The Paris-based artist Shoboshobo provides accompanying drawings.