Customer Reviews

Strange Red Cow: and Other Curious Classified Ads from the Past

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"Will swap my .410 shotgun with box of buck shells for picnic table or lawn chair. Call Hicksville 5-4631.

September 2, 1948
Levittown Tribune"

And that's one of the tamer entries in this funny history-isn't-boring book! Covering hundreds of years worth of odd, hilarious, disturbing and inexplicable classified ads (and leaving plenty of room for a sequel) this is the sort of book that works as a light read, as a study in human sociology, or as a trek through the side of history the textbooks never get right. The changes in the American language alone make this worth owning. My favorites among these ads are the ones that are so bizarre you wonder what on earth the scenario was that led up to it.

For instance:

"Twenty dollar reward--Escaped from my room...one GREY SQUIRREL--The above reward shall be paid for his delivery..."

Were squirrels so uncommon in 1860's Virginia that one was truly worth twenty dollars? And during a war, too! I wish we could contact these original advertisers and ask what on earth their ads were about.

This is one of those engrossing books that you pick up and before you know it you're a hundred pages in. It's a lot of fun.

This is a well researched, tightly written book that I tore through like a pint of Ben and Jerrys. It is alternately fun, poignant and disturbing. If you like history, you'll dig this book. In places you'll chuckle and in others you will shake your head in disbelief. In the end, if you have ever lost, bought, sold or pined for anything or anyone in your life, you will see yourself in these pages. It will give you a first person glance at the quirky, nutty, and bizarre history that is our own. Finally, hat's off to the author for seemlessly blending Craigslist and the Colonial era, a feat likely never before accomplished.

Fascinating! "Strange Red Cow" is literally the voice of all sorts of different people talking to us from over the past three hundred years. Their voices tell us of things they lost and their value to the owner. They tell us their desires. They tell us of their anger. We get a very personal look at how goofy, thoughtful, practical and romantic we have been. We also get a very hard look at arrogance and inhumanity in the runaway slave ads. The author backs up these ads with good research and her own thoughtful commentary. A good book that is easily picked up and put down and will be enjoyed for a long time.

Not for everyone but I love this book! Fast shipping and great condition. Great coffee table book or something to lay out during a boring dinner party to get people talking.

This book explores the wonderful and fascinating world of old newspaper advertisements. I had a terrific time reading it, and will never look at an old newspapers the same way again. A great read!

The first want ads appeared in 17th century Europe in the precursor of newspapers, pamphlet-sized publications which included news of the day called newsbooks. In June, 1660, King Charles II advertised for his lost "Smooth Black Dog" in one of them. The first official English newspaper was the semi-weekly 'Oxford Gazette" on November 16, 1665, later changed to the 'London Gazette.' Af first, ads were banned on the "grounds that such notices were not properly the business of a paper of intelligence."

In America, the first attempt was in serial format in Boston on September 25, 1690. It was four pages long, the last page left blank so readers could jot down their own "personal ads" before passing it on to others. The first successful newspaper in the colonies was the 'Boston News-Letter' which started April 17, 1704, and "America's first newspaper classified ad appeared in that debut issue," by the publisher himself, offering this service for the fee of twelve pence to five shillings.

By 1765, eleven out of the thirteen colonies had newspapers. In 1776, A STRANGE RED COW ad appeared in the 'Pennsylvania Gazette.' "By the mid-eighteenth century, advertising inserts had become a popular feature of the layout, often appearing on the back page of the newspaper under one simple heading, 'Advertisements.' We know them now as 'classifieds,' ads organized by category, but the newspaper industry didn't start that term until some time after the Civil War. By then with so many notices printed daily in the newspaper, the section clearly required diligent classification."

After Abraham Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre on April 14, 1865, the government offered $100,000 in a "Rewards" ad for the capture and collective arrests of John Wilkes Booth and two of his accomplices. "Famous cases like Lincoln's left behind tracks in the classifieds but more often the plight of the common advertiser showed up there." In the "Personals" ads "following the Civil War, newly freed slaves long since separated from their loved ones took advantage of the same advertising tool once used against them, and sought each other in the pages of newspapers. Sold to different owners in various states over the years, some hadn't seen or heard from each other in decades. The renaming practice emerged once again, as many free African Americans celebrated and confirmed their freedom by choosing last names for the first time." A decade after the close of the Civil War, a 'Personal' ad was in the 'Daily Memphis Avalanche' which offered a penny reward for the return of an apprentice.

By the time Andrew Jackson became President of the United States, "there were 95 slaves at the Hermitage. A few years later that number totaled 150. In late September, 1804, and then again in October and November, Jackson searched for one of his slaves in the pages of the 'Tennessee Gazette.'" There is a full page ad on June 25, 1804, where he offered a reward for a runaway for fifty dollars. In 1824, a ten dollar reward for the return of Andrew Johnson, who had been apprenticed to a North Carolina tailor, is shown. "Unable to find work locally, Andrew moved to Greeneville, Tennessee, opened his own tailor shop, got involved in politics, and began his slow ascent to the White House." He became President after the assassination of Lincoln.

"In September of 1897, the first electric subway cars were introduced to Boston. New York unveiled its underground track in 1904; Philadelphia, in 1907. With crowds of commuters taking advantage of these lines, the lost and found pile accrued daily. In those early years of underground transit, the piles were manageable enough to itemize, and then make public to commuters by way of the classifieds."

There is an ad for "Swap this for that" in 1932. The word 'swap' comes from 'swappen,' the Middle English verb meaning "to strike," as in striking hands in closing a business deal. The purchase of Manhattan in 1626 was supposedly a swap: Dutch colonists didn't buy the island from the Native Americans for $24.00, as legend has it, but traded the land for 60 guilders' worth of goods. "In case of a swap, that deal is a voluntary exchange of goods or services without the use of money. In colonial Amrica, lumber, tobacco, corn, livestock, nails, bullets, animal pelts, and wampum were among the currencies that passed hands in a trade."

Bartering was a well-established tradition in America "by the time the first classified ad appeared in the spring of 1704." Some services listed in the 'Wanted' ads included storekeepers traded new merchandise for farm-fresh food; parcels of land could be purchased with pork, butter, cheese, anything deemed valuable enough by the seller and buyer alike. Taxes could be paid in grain; ministers and schoolteachers collected theier pay in produce.

The history Sara Bader, a freelance researcher, includes with the strange and not so strange news ads make for an interesting adventure back to our past. My, how times have changed! But, have they really? I don't look at the ads, but many do.

Very interesting book . . . and the cover art is extremely cool!
Mooo! Who did the Red Cow?

- Mike Melone ;-)