Thursday, December 17, 2015

Christmas Shopping in 1833

Thursday, December 17, 2015
Hunt, A Lady Reading
Loretta reports:

In the early 19th century, Christmas wasn’t even close to the gigantic consumer event it is today. “20 Great Gift Ideas Under $25” or “50 Must-Have Gifts under $100” or some other list didn’t appear in every periodical, and holiday sales were not ubiquitous. Or even existent, apparently.

But sellers did offer a gentle nudge here and there. In the advertising pages of the December 1833 Court Journal, I came upon these.











 
Painting: William Henry Hunt, A Lady Reading (aka A Lady Reading; Mrs.

William Hunt), ca. 1835, courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.



Clicking on the image will enlarge it.  Clicking on the caption will take you to the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I would definitely add The Standard Novels and Romances to my list along with Urania's Mirror, because it was designed by a Lady. ;-)

Gretchen in Greenwood said...

No Christmas present is as delightful as a book-it was the first present I remember, in 1956, and I will receive one just as thankfully in 2015.

 
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