Customer Reviews

The Big Toy Box At Sears(1951-1969)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Big Toy Box at Sears is a compilation from the awesome Sears Wishbook catalogs of the 1950's and 60's covering boys toys. It is one heckuva a trip down memory lane with cap guns, foto-electric football, GI Joe, slot cars and more.

You'll be instantly transported back in time if you're a guy. I can remember the catalog arriving at home in September and immediately making out my christmas list.

My only two complaints is that they had gone into the 1970's to see more great GI JOE stuff along with Hot Wheels and the first wave of Star Wars toys.

Secondly at close to $50 bucks it's a bit steep although it is over 500 pages.

In the brief introduction to this book the editor states, "If there ever was a "Golden Age" of Western Civilization this was surely it. In the following pages one can see both the reflection of yesterday and the seeds of the future, for few things in our culture are able to capture the sense of the times as are the trivial artifacts we give to our children to play with." Well, these were the playthings that the richest nation in human history gave to its children in the Golden Age between 1951 and 1969. The entire world offered their finest toys to America- but none were finer than those made by our own manufacturers (Marx, Ideal, Mattel, Remco, Kenner, Lionel, Gilbert...)

This edited sellection is mostly of boy's toys from the "wishbooks." You will find Marx playsets and electric trains especially well covered. But there is so much more: Mr. Machine, Robot Commando, Big Caesar Galley, Barracuda Sub, Lost in Space Switch-N-Go, Barracuda Sub, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea playsets, Batman playsets, Hamilton's Invaders, Mattel Shootin' Shell, G.I. Joe, etc., etc., etc. Your only complaint will be that 583 pages aren't enough.

Not all the pages are in color, but I don't remember that all the original catalog pages were in color either. Covers are also reproduced in color for all 19 years.

I was very much looking forward to this compilation of the great toys of the 1950's and 1960's that SEARS catalogs were famous for. However this publication is extremely expensive and quite incomplete. It does hit an many of the highlights but even on many of the most popular products it skips entire years and others are missing altogether. I think this was a bit too ambitious. It may have been better to split this into 2 volumes. One for the 1950's and another for the 1960's. Also there are many toys considered to be of crossover interest (boys and girls) which are not represented. Until this book is revised or until the price drops I can't really endorse it whole-heartedly.

This book provides the reader with interesting information on the particular subject, namely toys at Sears. It covers, as per the title, from the period 1951-1969, providing an excellent visual display of the annual catalogues, including the toys & trains sold. It brings back memories of years / Christmas's gone by & trips to Sears department store (in my case Gamages in London England) to see the annual Christmas display. I give it a top 5 star rating as it appeals to the writer's values, nothing less. An excellent book.