Print is Dead Book

Reproduced from a rare edition, this book features 112 designs for homes of "comfort and refinement," with external views, floor plans, and other details. 400 illustrations.

Reproduced from a rare edition, this book features 112 designs for homes of "comfort and refinement," with external views, floor plans, and other details. 400 illustrations.

The rapid westward expansion of the United States in the early twentieth century set the stage for a new industry: mail-order homes. Sold by such companies as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Aladdin, and Montgomery Ward, these kit homes were shipped by train to their purchasers in boxcars containing everything required

It was the American Dream by Mail Order --Smithsonian Americans have ordered from Sears, Roebuck just about everything they have needed for their homes for 100 years--but from 1908 to 1940, some 100,000 people also purchased their houses from this mail-order wizard. Sears ready-to-assemble houses were ordered by mail and

This fresh look at the Arts and Crafts Movement charts its origins in reformist ideals, its engagement with commercial culture, and its ultimate place in everyday households.