I was reorganizing my catalogs and thought you all would get a kick out of seeing my collection. I've just outgrown the two boxes I have and need to get another one. For anyone who is thinking of collecting catalogs, it is addictive. You were warned.
My collection is quite narrow in time. I have a majority of catalogs from 1933-1945, my favorite era. They are all in different conditions, the ones from the 30s generally being in the worst shape. Some are even missing their covers but to me as long as most of the pages are there I'm happy.
These are mainly sale catalogs. Most people don't bother collecting these, but often they have a lot of the same images in the large catalogs.
These are my Chicago Mail Orders. I love these.
Here are my favorites, my Lane Bryant catalogs.
I have ones from the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
These are what I think are going to be the next big collecting craze. Pattern catalog booklets used to be 50¢ if that. Now they are getting as pricy as patterns.
They are a great way to date your pattern collection.
They are a great way to date your pattern collection.
This is the crown jewel of my collection. I've wanted a Du Barry pattern catalog and I've only ever seen one ever and that was from the 40s. When this 30s catalog came up on eBay, I had to get it. It's as if this was the one thing I was looking for in all my years of collecting. Turns out I own about 5 patterns listed in the catalog. My collection desire has trailed off a lot. I guess I've reached my contentment plateau. I'm cool with that.
As of this post these are all the catalogs I own. This total may change tomorrow... :)
What an absolutely superb collection, Shelley. Love, love, LOVE! (I'm not very literate this morning.)
ReplyDeleteI'm loving your collection too! An impressive amount of inspiring stuff.
ReplyDeleteI only just started out with this particular addiction and I own 1 pattern catalogue from the 40's, 1 from the 50's, 2 from the 60's and 10 from the 70's (which were a gift, I don't think I would have bothered to buy those). I merely bought what I stumbled across cheaply, but I have to admit it is addictive. I've been thinking about looking for this stuff on Etsy...
Wow! Swoon, *sigh*. those are amazing. That is quite the formidable collection!
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, said the green eyed monster.
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure trove! I have been starting to more purposefully collect old catalogs, and they are so fun to hunt down and then look through. I treasure the few I have! :)
ReplyDelete♥ Casey
That is an amazing collection! Can I come over to your house, sit in the floor, and spend hours looking at those? Thanks for sharing those pics. :]
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. I knew you all would get a kick out of it. I had to step back and just absorb how many I have. I was almost embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteThis collection is about 6 years old and done on a budget. Trust me, Ive had to watch go some pretty nice ones over the years.
Ops..accidentally removed my post; so let me rewrite: LOVE your collection. I know what you mean about them being addictive. I also collect and am currently in the process of filling my 5th bin.I really appreciate that you post your collection on your blog. It's awesome.
ReplyDeleteOne should treasure any paper item that survived all those wartime paper drives...and any catalog that avoided the one-way trip to the outhouse :-)
ReplyDelete