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Shapely Ankle Preferr’d
A History of Lonely Hearts Ads
- Author: Francesca Beauman
- Category: Non-fiction Parenting / Relationships Pop Culture
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus (UK)
- Pub date: 3 February 2011
- Length: 224 pages
About Shapely Ankle Preferr’d
Beauman has produced a meticulously researched, amusing and poignant study of human nature
– FINANCIAL TIMES
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. In 1695, a popular London pamphlet published the brave plea of a young gentleman who ‘would willingly Match himself to some Good Young Gentlewoman, that has a Fortune of £3,000 or thereabouts.’
This was just the beginning. In the 1730s, papers carried ads in which income or respectability were the most desired qualities, though some asked for a ‘shapely ankle’ or a ‘no-dancer’. By 1900 twenty-five British newspapers were dedicated solely to matrimonial ads. SHAPELY ANKLE PREFERR’D tells the story of ads of all kinds – from aristocrats and MPs, bus conductors and nurses, country squires and city swells, and even from a man who lost a leg ‘due to the kick of an Ostrich, in the East Indies’. The reason why they advertise are familiar: the size of the city makes is hard to meet people; they’re busy at work; they’ve just returned from abroad. Loneliness is not new.
The surprising views of Lord Byron, Charlotte Bronte and George Orwell are revealed, and every ad is a snapshot of its age, from the criminal scams of the 1890s to the sad appeals of widows after the Second World War. In this fascinating book Francesca Beauman uses newly uncovered evidence to answed crucial questions about how humans choose their mates. The result is a startling history of dating, marriage and society over three centuries – hilarious and heartbreaking by turn.
About the Author
Francesca Beauman is a historian and journalist. Born in London, Francesca was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and Cambridge University. She spent a decade as a television presenter, and is now the author of four books: a history of the pineapple entitled The Pineapple: king of fruits, The Woman’s Book, How to Crack an Egg with One Hand: a pocketbook for the new mother, and Shapely Ankle Preferr’d: a history of the Lonely Hearts ad, 1695-2010. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, film director James Bobin, and her two young children.