Shapely Ankle Preferr'd
A History of the Lonely Hearts Advertisement
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:2nd Feb '12
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A lively history of Lonely Hearts ads, and the stories that go with them.
From the first ad in 1695 from a young gentleman who 'would willingly Match himself to some Good Young Gentlewoman, that has a Fortune of £3000 or thereabouts' to the GSOH, WLTM and online dating of more recent years, each ad is a snapshot of its age.
What do women look for in a man? And what do men look for in a woman? And how and why has this changed over the centuries?
Every week thousands of people advertise for love either in newspapers, magazines or online. But if you think this is a modern phenomenon, think again - the ads have been running for over three hundred years. From the first ad in 1695 from a young gentleman who 'would willingly Match himself to some Good Young Gentlewoman, that has a Fortune of £3000 or thereabouts' to the GSOH, WLTM and online dating of more recent years, each ad is a snapshot of its age. The result is a startling history of sex, marriage and society over three centuries - hilarious and heartbreaking by turn.
Wonderfully enjoyable -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *
Shapely Ankle Preferr'd is an absorbing and intelligent history of the pursuit of love -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
Elegant, witty, wise and utterly delightful -- Christopher Hart * Literary Review *
Shapely Ankle Preferr'd is a perfect little history of the surprisingly long story of those who WLTM -- Melissa Katsoulis * Sunday Telegraph *
This thorough and thoroughly amusing book suggest that what lonely hearts have always needed is a thick skin, a willing heart and, above all, a GSOH -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *
ISBN: 9780099513346
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 16mm
Weight: 212g
224 pages