Mail order catalogues

Mail order catalogues are printed books that stores send to customers so they can shop from home. They have been available in Canada since the 1880s.

Search this digitized collection of 44 catalogues from several different stores from the 1880s to the 1970s. The catalogues in this collection represent only a small portion of the mail order catalogues at LAC.

Search Canadian mail order catalogues

Search tips

Use keywords to search for items in the catalogues (ex: watches, coats).
Optional: You can limit your search to a particular catalogue or year.
Issues are available in English or in French, but not both.

About the records

The following includes the stores and catalogue editions available in digitized format.

Army & Navy (Regina, SK), Army & Navy Mail Order Dept. Store.

1932-1933, Fall and Winter
1958-1959, Fall and Winter

Carsley (S.) Co Limited (Montreal, QC), Carsley (S.) Co Limited." OR "S. Carsley (Firm)

1902, Spring and Summer
1902, Fall and Winter

Christe Grant (Winnipeg, MB), Christie Grant Limited

1918, Midsummer sale

Dupuis Frères (Montreal, QC), Dupuis Frères catalogue (French only)

1945-1946, Automne et hiver
1948, Été
1962, Printemps et été

Eaton’s/Eaton (Toronto, ON), Eaton’s [etc.] catalogue

1887-88, Fall and Winter
1896, Spring and Summer
1897-1898, Fall and Winter
1908, Spring and Summer
1915-1916, Fall and Winter
1916, Spring and Summer
1918-1919, Fall and Winter
1925-1926, Fall and Winter
1926, Spring and Summer
1928, Mi-été (French only)
1929-1930, Fall and Winter
1934, Printemps et été (French only)
1934-1935, Fall and Winter
1936, Spring and Summer
1939-1940, Automne et hiver (French only)
1945, Printemps et été (French only)
1948-1949, Fall and Winter
1950-1951, Automne et hiver (French only)
1956, Christmas Book
1965, Spring and Summer
1967, Automne et hiver (French only)
1968, Novembre (French only)
1971, Vente d’éte (French only)
1975, Spring and Summer
1975, Noël (French only)

Goodwin’s (Montreal, QC), Goodwin’s Limited

1911-1912, Fall and Winter

John Eaton (Toronto, ON), John Eaton Co.

189-?, Catalogue No. 2

Nerlich (Toronto, ON), Nerlich & Co* catalogue

1938-39
1939-1940, Fall and Holiday

P. T. Legaré (Montreal, QC), P. T. Legaré Limitée catalogue (French only)

1920

Simpsons (Toronto, ON), Simpsons [etc.] catalogue

1899, Spring and Summer
January 1906, White Goods
1906, Christmas
1945, Spring and Summer
1945-1946, Fall and Winter
1965, Spring and Summer

Other places to look

The non-digitized mail order catalogues can be found in both our library and archival collections.

Published collection

Additional print editions of the catalogues listed above, plus catalogues from other stores like The Bay (HBC), Canadian Tire, Sears, are searchable in Aurora. Here’s an example of what you might find:

Hudson's Bay Company. 1977. The autumn and winter catalogue 1910-1911 of the Hudson's Bay Company. Reprint. Winnipeg : Watson & Dwyer Pub.
Sears: Sears [etc.] catalogue

Archival collection

We have some archival materials relating to mail order catalogues, such as:

Sears Canada fonds, R15993-0-9-E

Access the publications

Most of the publications in this collection are under copyright. If you would like to have permission to publish or otherwise use these images, please contact us using the Ask us a question form.

For publications that are digitized

All the catalogue issues in this collection are digitized.

For publications that are not digitized

Many of the mail order catalogues in our published collection are not digitized.

To view them in person, you will need to submit a request. To do so, you will need a user card number and an Aurora account. Delivery time can be between two hours and a few weeks, depending on the location and condition of the catalogues.

If you cannot visit us in person, you may want to hire a researcher to consult the catalogues for you.

If you have any other questions about mail order catalogues, please don’t hesitate to ask a reference question.

Page details

2026-01-14

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