A couple of weeks ago, our blog got a comment from Beth Miller saying that she also had a M. Born & Company tailor’s sample book. She had been trying to research her copy of an earlier (1905) sample book without much success until she stumbled across an old post, Well … It’s a Bargain! Not that I knew much about the sample book either, but aside from a museum in Ireland, it was the only mention of Born & Company she could find that had similar pictures. If anyone has info on these books, it would be great if you could share it with us. I can be contacted through this blog, or TheSecondHandRoses at gmail.com.
Here are some of the pictures from Beth’s Spring-Summer 1905 sample book:
Frock coats and top hats were still popular, and we both love that the middle man in the right-most picture is labeled “corpulent”.
Two more of Beth’s pictures:
My book is dated Fall -Winter 1920-21. As you can see, the prints glued on top of the fashion plates came off without damaging the paper beneath:
Hunting was evidently popular with the “upper crust” in the early 1920’s.
Love the scenes with the posh ladies; the lady’s hat on the right is terribly amusing. It took me a while to realize that the things sticking out of the top of her hat were feathers, not horns.
My book also has fashions for the overweight:
The gentleman second from the left is wearing a suit labeled “One-button frock for corpulent men” just the same as in Beth’s book. Poor man, he wouldn’t even qualify for a scold from his doctor nowadays, much less be labeled “corpulent”.
Thanks for taking a look and hope someone has some info for us. See you Friday!
Second Hand Roses 
Hi!
Just stopping by again to let you know that there is currently another book available on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1916-Salesman-Dept-Store-Tailoring-Advertising-Book-M-Born-Co-Chicago-/220855724870
.Happy Hunting!
Beth
Man, who knew it was worth that much? Thanks Beth for pointing it out; I’m going to watch it to see what it goes for. Happy hunting to you too!
I have recently come across one of these books. It was used as a scrap book by my Mother-in-law and her sister when they were little girls. At least that is what I assume from the looks of it. It was in my Mother-in-law’s attic. She is 94 years old and suffering from dimentia so I can’t really ask her. It is in very bad condition but lots of fun to look at. It has pictures and greeting cards glued in it.
It is such a huge book that it does make a great scrapbook. I soaked the pictures in mine and the animal glue just let go. The pages are so thick, that they were fine after being cleaned off and then dried. How cool that you have your M-I-L’s memories; I’m sure you wish that you could have talked to her about the pictures and cards. 🙂
I was just doing some family history and found an old registration card of my great grand father I believe, dated from 1917. It states he worked at M. Born Company as a tailor. He was 24. Interesting stuff Just saying….
That is interesting. Did he live in Chicago?
I also have possession of the same book,1920 1921 fall winter.
I still haven’t figured out a value, but the graphics are awesome!
I have a salesman briefcase from this company.
They must have been a fairly large company to have such large catalogs, and now salesmen’s briefcases. Thank you for sharing!