Vintage Maytag Ad

I LOVE library book sales.   I find the most interesting books that would have never come my way had I not gone to the book sale.

At a recent library book sale I purchased the book Wuthering Heights, printed in 1943 (stunningly illustrated with wood engravings by Fritz Eichenberg).  Folded up inside was the original Book of The Month Club card and a magazine article about the authors and the engravings.

This Maytag Adverstisement was just an added bonus included on a page with the magazine article.

This is amazing to me.   It was 1943, during WWII, and shows a man washing clothes by hand while the woman walks out of the door with a lunch pale in her hand.  Noted below  -  Maytag explains why they can't sell you a Maytag right now - they're busy doing their part for the war effort - but they'll be back making washing machines when it's over.

I wonder if the thought behind putting the man doing the laundry was because they felt women made the decision on the purchase of the washing machine and this ad appeared to give them control?

Personally, I own a Maytag.

For collage I also picked up The Civil War Songbook, Postcard Views of Louisville and a few antique books that had beautiful cloth embossed covers ($2 ea).

Most of the books I purchase at this sale are for repurposing.  Some I can't bear to change, like the Wuthering Heights book with it's engravings.