The 300-year History of Personal Ads

Surprisingly, apparently the personal ad has been around for 300 years according to a new book called Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column. The new book is published by Random House Books and should be available by March 16, 2009. According to the author and history lecturer at the University of Nottingham, H.G. Cocks, matrimonial agencies first appeared in the early 1700s in the United Kingdom and worked byadvertised bachelors looking for a wife through print ads. This was just a few decades after the invention of the modern newspaper. The book explores the social history of the personal ad in Britain from its start in the 1700's, through World War II and lonely soldiers looking for a lady friend, to today where online dating sites and online classifieds have taken over from the newspaper.

Visit Live Science for a bit more information on the subject or Amazon for details on purchasing the book.