The Sears Wish Book Christmas catalog debuted in 1933. In its first few years, the catalogs were pretty short, usually with under 100 pages.
Source: Chicago Tribune
By the 1940s, Sears was printing catalogs in color. The 1944 catalog sold lots of toys like farm sets and toy animals.
The 1953 Wish Book had almost 500 pages of toys and gifts, and it's currently listed on eBay for $115.
... and lots of toy cars. In addition to the hundreds of pages of toys, it also had hundreds of home products, clothing, and other products.
Source: Sears
The 1973 Wish Book was over 600 pages, and it had clothes, toys, appliances, and everything in between.
The 1983 Sears Wish Book says, "There's more for your life at Sears" on the front cover, with a special section for home decor.
Some of the deals in the Wish Book were advertised as being even better than what you'd find in other Sears catalogs, like its Big Book.
In the 1990s, Sears stopped making the general Big Book catalog, and the Wish Book started shrinking.
But it still was offering exclusive deals that weren't available in its other catalogs or in stores ...
By 2002, Sears' Wish Book had a website listed along with the phone number so you could place orders online. The website was launched in 1998. It was divided into different sections like fashion, home, Christmas, home electronics, sports, and toys.
2009 was the first year the Wish Book itself was posted online. The online Wish Book played Christmas music and had holiday scenes on each page in addition to all of the gifts and toys it featured.
Source: Sears
... mp3 players, phones, and laptops. The last Wish Book for some time came out in 2011.
Source: Sears
