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A person who flatters himself that he shall not be thought disagreeable was in search of a young lady, between the age of eighteen and twenty-three, of a middling stature, brown hair, of good Morals... As family-arranged marriages fell out of fashion, Husband Wanted or Seeking Wife ads were soon to be found in every state in the nation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the woman in a Wisconsin newspaper who wanted no brainless dandy or foppish fool to the man with a glass eye who placed an ad in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e hoping to meet a woman with a glass eye, the many hundreds of personal ads that author Francesca Beauman has uncovered offer an extraordinary glimpse into the history of our hearts' desires, as well as a unique insight into American life as the frontier was settled and the cities grew. Personal ads played a surprisingly vital role in the West: couple by couple, shy smile by shy smile, letter by letter from a dusty, exhausted miner in California to a bored, frustrated seamstress in Ohio. Get ready for a new perspective on the making of modern America, a hundred words of typesetter's blurry black ink at a time. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSo anxious are our settlers for wives that they never ask a single lady her age. All they require is \u003ci\u003eteeth\u003c\/i\u003e, declared the \u003ci\u003eDubuque Iowa News\u003c\/i\u003e in 1838 in a state where men outnumbered women three to one. While the dating pools of 21st century New York, Chicago or San Francisco might not be quite so dentally-fixated, \u003ci\u003eMatrimony Inc. \u003c\/i\u003ewill put idly swiping right on Tinder into fascinating and vividly fresh historical context. What do women look for in a man? What do men look for in a woman? And how has this changed over the past 250 years?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49503581962513,"sku":"GOR011688804","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50315776164113,"sku":"GOR011689401","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50423146676497,"sku":"CIN1643135783G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323238514961,"sku":"CIN1643135783VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1643135783.jpg?v=1751214739"},{"product_id":"literary-almanac-book-francesca-beauman-9781529412918","title":"The Literary Almanac","description":"Discover over 300 seasonal book recommendations in the ultimate reading list for book lovers everywhere.  -----  'I will be giving this book to everyone I know' - Elizabeth Day  'Francesca Beauman writes about the books she loves with irresistible passion, knowledge and warmth ... This is the best kind of reading celebration' - Rachel Joyce  -----  Spanning the dreary, cold days of January to the first flushes of spring and then the blazing August heat, bibliophile Francesca Beauman offers up a wealth of book recommendations. From The Count of Monte Cristo to Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, each has been selected to chime with a particular time of year and provide a richer reading experience.   Beautifully illustrated throughout, this charming guide will delight, inspire and seriously extend your 'To Be Read' list!","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49527899324689,"sku":"GOR011757719","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742093648145,"sku":"NGR9781529412918","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50096736141585,"sku":"GOR011780710","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50379292573969,"sku":"CIN1529412919G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52082348818705,"sku":"GOR014480158","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52396514115857,"sku":"GOR013397438","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1529412919.jpg?v=1764239221"},{"product_id":"how-to-crack-an-egg-with-one-hand-book-francesca-beauman-9780747597933","title":"How to Crack an Egg with One Hand","description":"Within these pages you will find all you need to know (and a few things you don't) in order to embark on the mindboggling journey that is modern motherhood.  Discover humorous yet pertinent advice on everything from what a new mother ought to wear on the red carpet to the best books to read while feeding a baby, and marvel at what Mark Twain had to say on teething, Vladimir Nabokov on prams, Mrs Gaskell on six-month-olds and Mrs Beeton on breastfeeding.  From the totally frivolous to the deeply serious, from the cultural to the historical, from the history of the Caesarean to celebrity baby names, this is an intelligent, classy and eclectic guide for every twenty-first-century mother or mother-to-be. For it is important to acknowledge that, even though they may have a basketball in their stomachs, they still have a brain in their heads. It is a book to give to friends, daughters and sisters - and to cherish for yourself.  True, you may not ever need to know what year the epidural was invented, how to write your child's name in Chinese, or what the gestation period of an anteater is, but isn't it fabulous to know that you do?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49533323968785,"sku":"GOR002788484","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359313760529,"sku":"CIN0747597936A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359315824913,"sku":"CIN0747597936G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0747597936.jpg?v=1751423503"},{"product_id":"shapely-ankle-preferr-d-book-francesca-beauman-9780099513346","title":"Shapely Ankle Preferr'd","description":"What do women look for in a man? And what do men look for in a woman? And how and why has this changed over the centuries?   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In the eighteenth-century this spectacular fruit reigned supreme: despite the fact that, at first, to cultivate just one cost the same as a new coach, every great house soon boasted its own steaming pits filled with hundreds upon hundreds of pineapple plants. As the Prada handbag of its day, a real-life, homegrown pineapple was a powerful status symbol, so much so that at first, it was extremely unusual actually to eat the fruit. The image appeared on gateposts, on teapots, furniture and wallpaper.  A new phase opened when growers in the Caribbean began supplying pineapples in the 1840s and later the first canning factory was built in Hawaii. As the story rolls on, through the heyday of pineapple chunks and cocktails, right up to the fashions of today,it touches on pineapples and sex, pineapples and empire, pineapples in art.  Why is the pineapple so special? In one surprising sense it is indeed ideal. Made up of hundreds of separate fruitlets, its spirals embody the gradations of the Golden Mean - it is mathematically perfect. But it is more than that - for years a focus of traveller's tales, it is a treasure of sight and scent and taste. Packed with fascinating illustrations, this delicious book sees Fran Beauman explore the life and lore of the king of fruits: scholarly, witty and fun, it is a true hamper of delights.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49639189512465,"sku":"GOR012341304","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49725851468049,"sku":"GOR001978425","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50067964526865,"sku":"GOR005279896","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0701176997.jpg?v=1750743984"},{"product_id":"woman-s-book-book-francesca-beauman-9780297852711","title":"The Woman's Book","description":"Where Mrs Beeton, Miss Read and Debrett's once dispensed advice to ladies in the kitchen, the bedroom and the ballroom, the demands of 21st-century living require a new kind of handbook to help women navigate the minefield of modern life. 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In the 1730s, papers carried regular ads in which income or respectability were the most desired qualities, though some asked for a 'shapely ankle' or a 'non-dancer'. By 1900 twenty-five British newspapers were dedicated solely to matrimonial ads. Shapely Ankle Preferr'd tells the story of ads of all kinds - from aristocrats and MPs, bus conductors and nurses, country squires and city swells, and even from a man who had lost a leg 'due to the kick of an Ostrich, in the East Indies'. The reasons are strangely familiar: the size of the city makes it hard to meet people; they're busy at work; they've just returned from abroad. Loneliness is not new.  The surprising views of Lord Byron, Charlotte Brontë and George Orwell are revealed, and every ad is a snapshot of its age, from the criminal scams of the 1890s to the sad appeals of widows after the Second World War. In this fascinating book Fancesca Beauman uses newly uncovered evidence to answer crucial questions about how humans choose their mates. 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