Radio Script #840

Little Talks on Common Things
February 15, 1970

I am often asked about the value of old books that people find in family collections. I tell such listeners that I am not an expert on book values and I refer them to reputable dealers. I always add that no book has distinctive value just because it is old. For instance, old family Bibles have so little value that no dealer will buy them. If an old Bible contains inside its front cover a written record of family births, marriages and deaths, it is of value only for genealogical purposes, and an attested copy of that record is sufficient for genealogists. Copies of the novels of Scott and Dickens, of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Scarlet Letter, of the poems of Longfellow and Whittier, of the essays of Oliver Wendall Holmes, and hundreds of similar books, have very little money value unless they are first editions.

You see the worth of an old book depends on two things — how scarce it is, and how many people want it. To be of real value in terms of dollars, a book must be in demand by collectors.

Some of the most valuable printed items are little suspected by those who may have a copy in their attic, and it is one group of those items I want to bring to your attention today. It is, of all things, the Sears Roebuck catalog.

If you have one of those catalogs published before 1910, by all means hold on to it. A dealer in rare books will give you a good price for it. So avid has been the demand by collectors that, a few months ago, a national publishing house reprinted the Sears catalog for 1908, and at Christmas time sold that reprint for five dollars a copy. Knowing my interest in old time things, a relative sent me a copy as a 1969 Christmas gift.

The reason for the republication is stated in a new introduction to the catalog in the following words: “Sears, Roebuck and Company is a uniquely American institution, and since 1890 its catalog has probably been the most accurate single reflection of the tastes and desires of the American people. Indeed its value to collectors has become so high that a copy in good condition of one of those early catalogs commands a higher price than almost any item advertised for sale in it.

“The 1908 Sears catalog documents a whole American way of life in the first decade of this century. Richard Sears’ intuitive knowledge of what was important to his customers was responsible for the creation of the largest retail sales organization in the world. Sears’ first catalog appeared in 1891 with only 32 pages. In 1893 it had 200 pages, and every subsequent year saw it grow larger until in 1908 the huge catalog filled 1,184 pages.”

Having quoted that explanatory introduction, let us now turn some of those 1,184 pages to see what the American way of life was like 62 years ago. I know there are listeners who remember the way we then lived as well as I do. I was a junior in high school when that 1908 catalog came out, and a year later I had entered Colby College.

We must bear in mind that, although we had some large cities in 1908, our nation’s population was still preponderantly rural. Most of those Sears catalogs were mailed to people who lived on farms or in small villages. It would be many years later before Sears would put up its first store in any American city. In 1908 all Sears items were sold by mail order.

For certain items the Sears catalog was not content with a one-page offering. For instance, the boosting of its New Economy Cream Separator took nine pages. Listen to just a part of the boosting:

“What do you keep cows for? You keep them chiefly for their milk, and from that milk you hope to make money. Now the most valuable part of the milk — in fact, the most valuable of all farm products — is butter fat. No gravity-raised cream will churn completely. Setting milk aside to let the cream rise to the top as it will is the money-losing way. The cream that does rise stands for hours exposed to dust and dirt. All the money you can get out of it will not pay for keeping up your dairy, and you might as well sell your cows. Separating cream is the only way to make a profit. The Economy Separator not only preserves all the butter fat, but purifies it, removes germs and bacteria, and makes it ready for quick, complete churning and it leaves you the sweet, warm skimmed milk, the best of foods.”

The modern, efficient, compact electric sewing machines were unknown in 1908, but every good housewife wanted one of those foot-propelled sewing machines with its big wheel carrying the leather belt to the smaller wheel attached to the needle arrangement on the top of the frame. Through 12 pages, Sears described his different kinds of sewing machines. The cheapest was the Homan, a fullsized, five-drawer, drop-head machine that sold for the amazingly low price of $7.58. Slightly better was the Belmont, costing $9.85. Still better was the Minnesota at $14.45, which Sears claimed was the equal of any $45 machine then on the market.

Richard Sears warned his readers against sewing machine agents. He said: “Remember that, out of the price you pay, the agent must get his commission. We pay no commissions. We want you to have that saving, and we guarantee to return your money if our machine does not give you full satisfaction.”

Sears’ highest priced sewing machine was the Minnesota Model A, a ball bearing, automatic, drop-head instrument, enclosed in a handsome oak cabinet. It cost $20.85. For another dollar you could have the cabinet in black walnut instead of oak.

In 1908, though the automobile was just beginning to frighten horses on country roads, the horse was still supreme, and nearly a hundred pages of that Sears catalog were devoted to articles concerned with the horse. Sears offered great variety of carriages. His cheapest was a two-wheeled sulky for $11.95. What he called a road wagon was a four-wheeled open carriage seating two persons, which one could buy for $25.95. A Concord side-spring runabout with leather upholstery cost $43.65. The best top buggy called for $59.95, but you could get the very best from Sears for $104.95, but one less luxurious, but equally useful, for $77.45. If you lived on a farm, you needed a wagon. Sears would send you one with his guarantee for $31.15. Equally elegant were Sears’ sleighs, replete with jingling bells. A reliable one-seater, wide enough for two occupants, could be had for as little as $19.95. If you wanted a big two-wheeler, it might cost as much as $50. A farmer or village grocer who needed a double-runner pung could get it for $25, but few farmers indulged in pungs. They were content with big, double-runner lumber sleds, for which they had to buy only the running gear. The super-structure to place on the sleds they made in their own barns.

Horses needed harnesses and Sears boasted his mail-order house was the place to get everything in that line from single strap to a double harness. A buggy harness for one horse, with breast plate instead of collar, but with bridle, saddle, girth straps, reins and all, cost only $12.96 in the cheapest quality and only $16.98 in the best. Double harness for a smart carriage span ranged from $18.26 to $37.29. Work harnesses with the big collars and stronger strapping were from $24.85 to $49.65.

Perhaps you preferred to ride horseback. In that case Sears would sell you a plain English saddle for $2.78, but if you wanted to splurge, he had a special, spring-bar Kentucky saddle for $14.50. For a bit more money you could even get into the cowboy class with the Kit Carson for $22.67.

In 1908, with horses and manure piles everywhere, flies were a constant summer nuisance. You could furnish your horse with a fly net for $1.12. For the house, sticky fly paper was 10 cents a dozen sheets, and poison paper was 5 cents a package. Wire fly swatters were 8 cents each.

Today we hear a lot about do-it-yourself. Sixty years ago no one ever used the expression because it was what most people did naturally, and any man who couldn’t fix things around the house was considered a worthless fellow. So of course Sears had all kinds of tools for sale. A whole chest full of carpenter’s tools could be had for $24.95. It contained 72 tools. A good, workable screw driver cost 8 cents, a hammer 25 cents, a chisel 39 cents, and a drawshave 42 cents. A hatchet cost 41 cents and an axe 65 cents.

In 1908 that Sears catalog offered many items that are almost forgotten today. A parchesi set was a feature for 65 cents. The catalog said of it: “This is a popular backgammon game from India and is winning wide favor in the United States. Anyone can easily learn to play it, yet considerable skill can be used for each move.”

Do you realize that only 62 years ago a Sears catalog did not contain the word cigarette? Several pages were devoted to pipes, pipe tobacco and cigars a whole page to chewing tobacco and snuff — but not a cigarette of any kind. Sears had pocket cigar cases at five different prices, but no cigarette case.

That doesn’t mean that there were no cigarettes in 1908. They had indeed come in a few years earlier, but most users rolled their own, though a few bought Sweet Caporals at five cents a pack. But anyhow they were not popular enough for Sears to recognize them.

In 1908 most boys wanted to own a magic lantern and many boys had one. My brother and I got our first one in 1907. Sears sold one for $1.29.

At that time no lady could do without a parasol. She could get one from Sears for 97 cents. Her husband could have a big, decorated shaving mug with his name on it for 17 cents. And each of them could buy a silver napkin ring for 54 cents.

Well, our time is up, and we have hardly dipped into that big Sears catalog. We simply must spend another week on it. So next Sunday I want to show you how you could, 62 years ago, have used that catalog to furnish your whole house for less than $300.

Year: 1970