John Frederick Peto's picture uses a language of ambiguity, amplified by the conventions of trompe l'oeil, or "fool the eye," painting, a specialized form of still life popular in America at the end of the nineteenth century. Works in this style are designed to be elaborate visual deceptions that viewers will mistake for actual three-dimensional tableaux.

In this painting, Peto represents a pile of books arranged in a cabinet. The unrelated volumes demonstrate the booksellers' practice of gathering random unsold titles and offering the entire group (the “job lot”) at a discounted price (“cheap”). Peto's close-up view provides a telling and very realistic record of the cast-offs of commerce at the turn of the century.