# Fun with my vintage 1900 Sears Roebuck Catalogue **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 2, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227 "2004-07-02T16:03:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/1 "2004-07-02T16:03:29Z")
I recently aquired a genuine Sears Roebuck catalogue on EBay (I’m a rabid vintage catalogue fan) and thought I’d share the wonders within with you all. Furnish your entire house for $300! Check out the latest in home entertaiment systems–the Magic Lantern system for the low, low price of $4.95, slides included! Buy a rifle, a carriage and a wedding ring all in the same place. Fill all your cow castrating and sheep clipping needs with a full line of veterinary supplies. And, of course, we can’t forget the latest in 1900 fashions, from men’s collars and cufflinks to women’s fine-boned corsets. Go ahead, place an order–tell me what you want and I’ll tell you how much it is and give you the full description. \* \*If what you want is not in stock, then I reserve the right to substitute freely, depending on my mood and whatever page the catalogue opens up to. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/2 "2004-07-02T16:09:52Z")
Okay, I’ll play. I would like a dapper new suit for my new job. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/3 "2004-07-02T16:17:41Z")
**Chastain86** , you can have the **Stanton’s Extra Fine Imported Double Diagonal Fast Black English Worsted Cloth Suit made to measure** for $13.50. “These worsted suits get special attention in the worsted department of our tailoring establishment…and we guarantee for you a distinctiveness in workmanship, style and price not to be had elsewhere.” (Dapper walking cane, shoes and hat not included) You should make quite an impression on your first day! Although I hesitate to say what impression that would be, wearing a 104 year old suit. ---
**Author:** ![Ultraviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c77e96/32.png) [@Ultraviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultraviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/4 "2004-07-02T16:36:14Z")
I’ll play too! I have a bad cough. What sort of medicine would be available for me, and how much would it cost? (I’m hoping for something along the lines of Doctor McGillicutty’s Amazing Health Restorative Solution, or some similarly silly-named potion) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/5 "2004-07-02T16:40:16Z")
I need to get to my job in the city about twenty miles away, and I’d like the best vehicle available. I’ve just come into an inheritance (Great-Uncle Jeb passed away, he who made his packet supplying the trans-continental railway), so price is no object. What are my options? ---
**Author:** ![Fox\_Paws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@Fox\_Paws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_Paws)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/6 "2004-07-02T16:54:54Z")
I need a new bathing suit, but nothing too immodest. What’ve you got for me? And now that I think about it, I also need a new writing instrument. The finest. What do you have along those lines? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/7 "2004-07-02T16:55:59Z")
I presume you keep the catalog in the backhouse, for both reading and practical use, right? ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/8 "2004-07-02T17:01:21Z")
I’d like to order Sears’ Finest Rubber Truss for the old man, and a new hat for myself please. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/9 "2004-07-02T17:25:15Z")
> [@Greywolf73](#): > > I recently aquired a genuine Sears Roebuck catalogue on EBay (I’m a rabid vintage catalogue fan) and thought I’d share the wonders within with you all. > > Furnish your entire house for $300! Furnish? Hell, you could order the whole damn house. I live next door to a Sears house. The owner remembers when it was delivered to his dad in lots and lots and lots and lots of boxes. How 'about a water pipe? It wasn’t that long ago that you could buy a hookah from Sears. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/10 "2004-07-02T17:45:14Z")
I’m a gal looking to have a night on the town. Can you fix me up with the right fashions for such an event? Let’s do it up right, gloves, stockings, maybe even a hat. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/11 "2004-07-02T18:10:07Z")
• I _seriously_ need a corset. Good whalebone-and-canvas model, please. • A nice swooping Gibson Girl hat • Corset-heeled, high-button shoes? • And one of those new Talking Machines, on which I might play my cylinders. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/12 "2004-07-02T18:26:27Z")
I have a couple of nieces and nephews whose birthdays are coming up. I’d like to buy them some educational gifts – puzzles, games, books, lithographs of famous battles or crowned heads of Europe, you get the idea. What do you recommend? ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/13 "2004-07-02T18:31:39Z")
No response from the catalog order desk for a couple of hours. With customer service like this, Sears will be out of business by 1903 ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/14 "2004-07-02T18:32:59Z")
I should like to purchase a new home. I hear these kits advertised in catalogs are a good deal. I’m looking for something modest. Three bedrooms perhaps. A living room, a dining room, a breakfast room and of course a fully modern kitchen. I am even considering one of those indoor privies. Rumor has it our city may be providing us with sewers and indoor plumbing fixtures sometime in the next year. I think one privy for my family of eight would be sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/15 "2004-07-02T18:33:12Z")
May I please have the pricing on an early model “Death Ray”? Haj ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/16 "2004-07-02T18:33:42Z")
I intend to furnish a small revolutionary army. Can you give me a price quote for two thousand rifles and half a million bullets? ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/17 "2004-07-02T18:39:05Z")
My mom just bought a book about Craftman homes. I THINK it was [this one.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0971558817/qid=1088793322/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/102-0712511-0853703?v=glance&s=books) -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/18 "2004-07-02T18:44:36Z")
I will be filling these orders in bulk to cut down on shipping costs. **Ultraviolet** , I am sorry to hear about your illness but I am sure that **Dr. Rowland’s system Builder and Lung Restorer** will fix you right up. It _CURES ALL SORTS OF COUGHS especially bronchitis, Laryngitis, Consumption, Ulcerated throats of ministers and public speakers…improves digestion and builds up solid flesh when the system is reduced to a point below a healthy standard_ (Which I guess is sorta like a full-body reboot and I guess if you drank the whole bottle you’d be sufficently “rebooted”) _It is also a restorer of the liver and is good in general for nervous debility or prostration in either sex._ (I initally read that as “prostitution”, but I imagine this would have the ability to clear that right up too since it does everything else). You can order 3 bottles for $1.50 or one large bottle for 60 cents. Oh, **Sunspace** , today is your lucky day! There’s a big sale in the carriage and wagon department. For $69.00 you can buy the **Fancy Stick Seat Surrey** , which is _a strictly high-grade surrey in the very latest style body…dark green with suitable striping. For an extra price, you can also have it furnished with carpet and lamps._ You’ll do your dearly departed uncle Jeb proud in this turnout! **Buddafuco** , since I do not know if you are of the male or female persuasion, I will offer you a sturdy one-piece **Best Bathing suit** , \*striped horizontally and made like a Union suit with buttons in front. \* 75 cents. Or, you can be a little daring and order the very risque **Two Piece Suit** , for $1.50, which doesn’t even have a description and is located at the verrrry bottom of the page and is smudged quite a bit. Apparently a much-loved and well-worn section of the catalogue. There are no women’s suits offered so if you are woman I suppose you will have to resort to reclining gracefully under an umbrella on the beach while the menfolk frolic in the waves. **BrotherCadfel** , it is quite impolite to speak of such subjects in public but since you ask, yes, we do keep our catalogue in the ‘backroom’ for reading purposes only. Only lowborn folks would use it otherwise. **IrreverantTone** , I do not see a rubber truss for sale but would you be interested in a **Heilberg Generating electric current Belt** for $4.00? It will relieve you of _hundreds of little aches and pains, including headaches, backaches and weak nerve pains. And will prevent sickness, save doctor bills and preserve health. It also produces 20 volts of electricity to all your vital organs. DO NOT BE WITHOUT AN ELECTRIC BELT!_. I suppose if one had an electric belt, one would soon forget one’s need for a truss. **Plnnr** , I can offer you a one-of-a-kind **Turkish Water Pipe** , that will certainly fill all your water pipe needs and even has _two flexible stems that two people can partake of at the same time_. $2.00. My dear **Winnie** , I can fix you right up for your night on the town with a **Ladies Tailor-Made Suit** of _percaline and taffeta with a 3 and a half yard wide skirt and velvet trimming_ for $17.50, and a **Handsome Velvetta Dress Shape hat** which has _two large ostrich feathers and three sweeping argrettes_ for $3.25. My, I hope that you have a doting father or husband who will eagerly pay for all this finery! ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/19 "2004-07-02T19:07:21Z")
I had to ship **Eve’s** order seperately, as it was a bit large. **Eve** , I can offer you the latest in corset fashion, a **Kabo Armorside The only corset that never breaks down on the sides** , _made of fine French silk and finely boned and handsomely finished_(Which is a good thing for lots of things in life and not just corsets, I dare say) for 85 cents. It comes in the three main colors of black, white, or my personal favorite: drab. You will also be happy to know that this corset is guaranteed and recommended and that Sears will give you your money back if not fully satsified: _You can have your money back but we know you’d rather have the Corset_. Unfortunately, I am unable to find a Gibson Girl hat as you requested. Sears’ line of hats seems to be of the more servicable and practical sort. I can offer you a beautiful **Large and Jaunty hat of purple velvetta** which has an _exceptionally becoming shape, flaring on the left side and drooping in the back, whcih can be ordered in black or COLORS. for $2.90._. Would a **Ladie’s Changeable Silk Vesting Shoe in black or tan** serve your shoe needs? It is a $3.50 shoe for only $1.95 and is made of _Viki kid with a MEDIUM COIN kid tip and the silk top is finely made and a beautiful golden brown color._ The **Talking Machine Department** is offering a sale on the **Peerless Talking Machine** _which is both a home entertainer and a moneymaker!_ It includes several different horns for your listening needs, 1 dozen carefully selected musical or talking records and also a few blank cylinders for your own recording. You also get advertising posters and tickets so that you can have your own Talking Machine Parlor Event, all for the low price of $18.75. ---
**Author:** ![ThatDuckIsEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227/20 "2004-07-02T19:08:32Z")
oooooh, is there perchance one of those new-fangled sewing machines? Iron filigree, with an ever-so-handy foot pedal? I’m sure I could only dream to afford one… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-my-vintage-1900-sears-roebuck-catalogue/253227.md?page=2)