About this item
Have you ever used a dating app or website? Then you have more in common than you know with lonely homesteaders in 18th century New England. At once heartwarming and heartbreaking, Matrimony, Inc. reveals the unifying thread that weaves its way through not just marriage and relationships over the centuries, but American social history itself: advertising for love. Amazingly, America's first personal ad appeared in the Boston Evening Post as early as 1759. 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.
About the Author
After a decade as a TV host, Francesca Beauman is now a writer, historian and part-time bookseller at London's most beautiful bookstore, Persephone Books. She is the author of six books, including a history of the pineapple and a history of British personal ads. She also runs the popular book forum, "Fran's Book Shop" (www.fransbookshop.com / @fransbookshop) .
