The mail order catalogue is becoming something of a misnomer. Most of the booklets that drop through the door, full of glossy product pictures, no longer contain order forms to complete and return.

If you're clicking through the internet today hoping to do a little shopping, you likely have Aaron Montgomery Ward to thank. Ward's catalog was a single sheet offering 163 items. By 1884, the catalog ...

Just about every week, dozens of catalogs show up in my mailbox. Yesterday, there were 15 of them. I kept two: Gump’s and Smithsonian. A lot of people are surprised that catalogs even exist anymore.

Pick up any women’s magazine from a newsstand and a handful of inserts -Âthat are probably destined for the bin – will fall out onto the floor. For mail-order catalogues targeting new recruits it is ...