November, 2025

It’s the time of the year when we are assaulted with retail advertising: In a strange way we have moved full circle. The growing dominance of on-line shopping echoes back to a time when retail excitement was brought about by the anticipation of the next catalogue in the mail.

A hundred years ago, it was practice to eagerly trawl through the catalogues sent out by all sorts of businesses, particularly the big mail-order firms and department stores. The retailers sold everything, from agricultural implements to ladies’ lace and nightwear.

One of the largest of these in Auckland was the mail-order company of Laidlaw, Leeds & Co, combining with The Farmers’ Trading Co in 1918 to become the iconic New Zealand brand ‘Farmers’.

We have for sale two bound volumes of 9 illustrated catalogues spanning 1910 to 1918. Some with an attractive coloured front page and within, thousands of pages of items sourced from all around the world: kitchenware, wallpaper, clothing, pianos, farm equipment, the list seems endless.

These catalogues provide a fascinating, often unappreciated, record of social history.