Customer Reviews

1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a catalogue full of photos and descriptions of old things. I enjoyed perusing it just because I love old things.

The print quality is marginal though, but legible. Words and photos look a bit grainy.

Prices, stock, descriptions, wild exaggerations and boasts of products all paint an interesting picture of life at the turn of the century.

I'm an old house lover and I found this book as an intriguing bit of memorabilia about the way things once were in this country.

The section on women's clothing is wild. Almost unimagineable to realize what women did to themselves in the name of fashion. I've read that women's internal organs were often displaced by the pressure of corsets. Ewwwww.

A good resource and conversation starter. Old folks can't get enough of it. In fact, it does make a great Christmas present for the over 60 crowd.

Rose Thornton
author, The Houses That Sears Built

The 786 - page reprint of the 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue is a priceless piece of Americana. Profusely illustrated, readers will enjoy studying the surprisingly enormous range of consumer goods then available, most of which are obsolete or little used in American life today. From the $4.90 'Cast Iron Pig Trough' to the $3.00 'Cleveland Ball Bearing Wringer,' from the $1.75 'Magic Lantern Slide Projector for Juveniles' to the $3.35 'Velocipedes' bicycle and the $2.00, mohair-covered 'Ear Trumpet,' readers will turn the pages in delighted awe. Those interested in fashion and costuming will find the extensive pages on clothing remarkable. The average description for most items tallies at about 100 words, most of which are superfluous but fun to read.

There are 55 very detailed pages on clothing, hats, and accessories for men and boys, including $6.95 'Cashmere Suits,' $9.90 'Blue Flannel Grand Army Of The Republic Suits,' and 'Brownie Suits,' 'Fancy Sailor Suits,' and 'Children's Kilt Suits.' These sections are bolstered by idealized figures of mustached men strolling by the seaside in striped suits and straw boaters, pipe - smoking deep thinkers poised in velvet smoking jackets, and bashful lads posing in knee britches.

An equal number of pages are devoted to clothing, shoes, hats, and other accessories for women and girls, including 'Dr. Warner's Abdominal Corset' made with "extension steels, side lacings, and elastic gores on each side," girl's "reefer jackets," the $2.95 'Rich's Patent "Julie Marlowe" Lace Boot,' and 2 pages of heavily - festooned women's hats with names like 'the Leader,' 'the Susanne,' 'the Evangeline,' and 'the Bon Ton.' Presciently, many of the illustrations of women look remarkably like the matronly Mary Astor in the 1941 classic 'Meet Me In St. Louis.'

Especially interesting and comical are the items listed under 'Drug Department.' Here are found 'Injection No. 7,' which "is a reliable cure for all troubles of the urinary organs...no matter how severe the case,' and 'Dr. Rose's Obesity Powders' which explains that "too much fat is a disease and a great annoyance to those afflicted. . .it produces fatty degeneration of the heart, and sudden death results," and 'Beef, Iron, and Wine' nutritive, which, at $2.50 a gallon, was apparently very popular, "something no family should be without...used for extreme exhaustion caused by brain fatigue, eruptions, scrofula, and...depraved conditions of the blood."

There are 'vegetable cures' for 'female weakness' and 'fig laxatives,' 'Mexican Headache Cures' and 'Indian Cough Syrups,' 'microbe killers,' and "perfectly harmless" 'arsenic complexion wafers' which produce "pellucid clearness of complexion." "Reliable Worm Syrup and Worm Cakes" cure "the disease so fatal to children" and comes in "convenient form for children to take, which they readily do, thinking it is candy." 'Dr. Chaise's Nerve And Brain Pills' is a cure for those with "overworked sexual excesses."

Special mention should be given to the Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s own $0.75 brand 'Reliable Cure For the Opium And Morphia Habit,' which will "completely destroy that terrible craving for morphine . . .and free those victims from their terrible bondage." The 'Princess Bust Developer' and 'Princess Bust Cream Food' can be purchased separately or together for $1.46. Prepared by "an eminent French chemist," the bust cream promises a "plump, full, rounded bosom," while the bust developer, which comes in both 4 and 5 inch sizes, looks like a toilet plunger and is perfect "if nature has not favored you." Another ad educates potential women buyers by stating that "no worse affliction can befall a woman's face than to see a horrible growth of coarse hairs springing out like bristles," making her "disfiguring to behold." Oddly, 'Strangle Food' for cockroaches and 'Rat Killer - The Great Vermin Destroyer' are included among health and beauty products for the family.

Despite the exaggerated and misleading claims, this volume is overwhelmingly wholesome in nature, and provides an educational glimpse into the lives, consumer habits, social mores, and advertising methods of Americans of the era. Throughout, there are extended pages devoted to excerpts from grateful consumer letters with headings like "Proud Of The Buggy," "Perfectly Satisfied With The Revolver," "Everybody Says The Watch Is A Dandy," and "I Do Not Know A More Fair Or Honorable Firm." These pages are one of the catalogue's few disappointments, since the 'letters' are suspiciously uniform in tone, phrasing, and praise.

Other sections include 'Vehicle, Harness, and Saddlery,' 'Crockery And Glassware,' 'Watch And Jewelry,' 'Musical Goods,' 'Furniture,' 'Books And Stationary,' and 'Builder's Hardware And Material.'

You'll find *everything* in this reprint, from buggies and bicycles to books to groceries. (You'll need to mentally adjust the prices, since Sears was at that time strictly a mail-order wholesale house, and like the e-merchants of today could drastically undercut the traditional retailers: I've found that adding 50-100% to their list, unless they give another one in the adcopy, will give you a good idea of what "brick-and-mortar" merchants would have charged for the same item.) A splendid resource for anyone interested in the minutinae of everyday late-19th-Century life. If they'd only included toys, it would be perfect! The small print is a bit hard on the eyes and the illustrations sometimes rather dark, but the book as a whole is well worth buying.

After flipping through this book in a library, I decided to purchase it so I could have it constantly on hand. If you've ever been curious as to how to depict everyday life and objects from the turn of the previous century, this reproduction Sears catalog will answer just about all of your questions. The catalog is lavishly illustrated, with each drawing striving to show maximum detail. Everything from horse-drawn carriages to infant bonnets is depicted, showing just how much Sears offered back then. The patent medicines section near the beginning of the book is particularly amusing for its dated language and outlandish claims. This is a perfect book to keep around if you're an artist interested in steampunk, victorian gothic, or other similar subject matter.

This catalog is awesome. I saw one years ago, and couldn't put it down. It is amazing what our ancestors could buy. Like pills for "Weak Women". Wow. Its always fun to bring it out and show company, everyone is always so interested in it once they open it. This is not a thin catalog either, very thick and lots of pictures of products to buy from back in the day with original prices. They had more buggies to choose from than they do cars today. This is a keepsake everyone should have, oh.....did I forget to mention the womens underwear?? Boy have things changed!!!! And I had forgotten how popular hats for both men and women were back then, and the choices were unbelievable. Lets not forget the different kind of guns you could get and ammunition. Its just so interesting and filled with knowledge of our past generations and what they used, bought and needed compared to today. Loved looking at all the pictures of items to buy, there is a ton of them. Get it, you will be impressed. Teri in Houston

Imagine having an invention which would allow you to review various products from the comfort of your own home. An invention which would enable you to purchase food, clothing, books, tools, medicines, transportation, furniture and virtually any other consumer need. An invention which would permit you to choose various delivery options which varied by cost and speed. Oh and by the way the year is 1897. After reading this book I have to say that the 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalogue was truly the Internet of its day. The book lists literally thousands of items which could all be purchased from the Sears Roebuck Company. Many of the items are farming equipment and provide a look at what was needed to raise food in the small family ran farms of the day as opposed to our world of largely corporate farming. The drawings of the home entertainment options available show how much easier we have it today. The product descriptions, especially of the medical products are eye opening (you could actually buy opium) and the overall feel is that a person in the late 1800s, even if stuck in a small rural town, truly had access to the world provided he had a copy of the Sears Roebuck Catalogue.

This catalog is wonderful.. Quality of the reprint is just fine. I love going through all the old items to see how life was then. (and the prices..lol)

Fun and very extensive -- much moreso than I thought it would be, for the money. Very pleased.

This book is a very good quality large paperback featuring crisp lettering and illustrations all the way through. I very much enjoyed the curiosities contained in the book, especially the archaic phrasing and overcooked descriptions of items. I found it amusing that the catalog states, in effect, don't be a nuisance and a waste of time by not doing your homework before purchasing products... the times have definitely changed! The range of goods sold and shipped by Sears, Roebuck, and Co., even at the end of the 19th century, is absolutely staggering! This Victorian-age wonder is "coffee-table approved" in my house.

I remember looking at one of these when I would visit my uncle as a kid. You could spend hours looking at all the things they sold "way back then." I bought it for a Christmas gift last year. It's a lot more interesting that you would think an old catalog would be.