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Curiouser and Curiouser: LIFE Magazine’s World of Miscellany, 1952

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As we’ve discussed elsewhere on this site, LIFE magazine for many years published a popular feature called Miscellany—“a back-of-the-magazine institution,” as one of LIFE’s editors once characterized it, that always featured a full-page photograph of . . . well, of almost anything. Merriam-Webster defines miscellany as “a mixture of various things,” and across the decades LIFE’s version routinely presented readers with photographs of inexplicable natural phenomena; animals with unusual talents, or creatures that had got themselves into some sort of terrible mess; people in bizarre or humorous situations; head-scratching optical illusions, and the like.

Here, LIFE.com offers the first edition of what will eventually become an entire series of galleries paying fond tribute to Miscellany. We start in 1952, the year that the feature launched in the magazine; subsequent entries in the series will feature our favorite pictures from other years, as well as occasional “themed” Miscellany galleries.

We hope you like it. Variety, after all, is the spice of LIFE.

LIFE magazine, Miscellany, May 19, 1952; photo by Joe Scherschel.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, May 19, 1952; photo by Joe Scherschel. (NOTE: This gallery is best viewed in "Full Screen" mode; see button at right.)LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 2 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 2, 1952. LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 9, 1952; photo by Yale Joel.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 9, 1952; photo by Yale Joel. LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 16 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 16, 1952. LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 23 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 23, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 30 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, June 30, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, July 7 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, July 7, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, July 14 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, July 14 1952LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, July 28, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, July 28, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, August 4, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, August 4, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, August 11, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, August 11, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, September 1, 1952; photo by Ralph Crane.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, September 1, 1952; photo by Ralph Crane.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, September 13, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, September 13, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, September 29, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, September 29, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, October 13, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, October 13, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, October 27, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, October 27, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, November 10, 1952; photo by Werner Bischof.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, November 10, 1952; photo by Werner Bischof.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, November 24, 1952.
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, November 24, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, December 1 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, December 1, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, December 8 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, December 8, 1952.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, December 15 1952
LIFE magazine, Miscellany, December 15, 1952; photo by J.R. Eyerman.LIFE Magazine

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