Montgomery Ward Catalogue and Buyers' Guide. No. 86.

Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward, 1917

World War I-era, original mail-order catalogue from 1917. 34 cm. Bound in publisher's color wraps.  Edges quite worn, with numerous tears to margin edge. Front cover separated. 607 pages, profusely illustrated some in color.  "Montgomery Ward was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872. Ward had conceived of the idea of a dry goods mail-order business in Chicago, Illinois, after several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers. He observed that rural customers often wanted "city" goods but their only access to them was through rural retailers who had little competition and did not offer any guarantee of quality. Ward also believed that by eliminating intermediaries, he could cut costs and make a wide variety of goods available to rural customers, who could purchase goods by mail and pick them up at the nearest train station." In 1896 the US post office started to offer free rural delivery. This led to expansion of the mail order business. - Smithsonian.