Known affectionately as "a department store in a book," "the farmer's wishbook," and the "farmer's Bible," the Sears Roebuck mail order catalogue, while not the first of its kind in retail merchandising, was certainly the most famous and the one that inspired the most imitations.

Mail order catalogues—visual and textual descriptions of a store's inventory in print form—were used to select and purchase mass-produced goods. Although the first publication resembling a mail order catalogue was supposedly a mail circular distributed by Ben Franklin in 1744, modern versions became popular in America during the Gilded Age. Montgomery Ward established the modern mail-order industry in 1872, selling his wares, selected primarily for the needs of farming families, through the mail.

Inspired by Ward's success in rural America, Richard W. Sears, a watch salesman who joined forces with Alvah Roebuck, a watch repairman, expanded the line of...