The “Book of Wishes”

The“Book of Wishes”

There is always a magic feeling. Flipping through a catalogue, falling in love with a product, finding a unique comb, the perfect cream, the saving clay, ordering and seeing them appear in your letterbox a few days later in their finest attire: a beautiful, perfumed parcel, where the object is artfully wrapped in pretty paper, bearing perhaps a hand-calligraphed name. Mail order has always been an option. However, over recent decades it has taken a dazzling virtual and technological turn: the collection of the Officine is of course available on the buly1803.com website. Nevertheless, nothing replaces the pleasure of having a printed catalogue to leaf through at home, to take your time, make your wishes, discover new horizons and new products that you might have overlooked in the rush. The Officine UniverselleBuly is delighted to announce the new edition of its precious catalogue, available in a bilingual version: French/English. It can be selected online in the “Discover the Officine” section when you go to your shopping basket.

In the beginning were the books and the flowers

In 1498, Aldus Pius Manutius was the first to publish a catalogue of works by Aristophanes, Plato and other classical Greek philosophers, which he printed with his publishing house “Les Presses Aldines”. Two centuries later, in 1744, the American writer, printer, inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin himself produced a catalogue of scientific and academic books comprising more than 600 volumes, with the aim of bringing knowledge within everyone’s reach...

In a totally different vein, in 1667, the English horticulturist and gardener William Lucas published “A Catalogue of Seeds, Plants”, in which he listed plant prices for his customers in eleven sections. Catalogues of seeds (flowers, plants, fruit, vegetables, etc.) were one of the first great successes of mail order sales. At the end of the 19th century, American, French and English catalogues competed with each other in terms of the ardour and magnificence of the graphic composition and colour illustrations of the flowers in these catalogues, copies of which are now kept in all the major libraries.

“Each of our reading leaves a seed that germinates.”

Jules Renard

The pioneers: fabric and jewellery...

In 1845, a small blue book, the Tiffany’s “Blue Book”, was printed by Tiffany’s, the jewellery house established in 1837. This first mail-order catalogue revolutionised the idea of commerce and luxury by bringing the most beautiful jewels from the “King of Diamonds” within reach of the dreams.

Sixteen years later, Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones, a Welsh entrepreneur, set up a mail order company - using the trains and post of the time - for his clothes made from a fine flannel he manufactured. It was a huge success. Nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale was one of his customers, as was Queen Victoria, whose underwear he supplied was “particularly soft”, according to historian David Pugh.

“Life isn’t just about money, it is also about furs and jewellery.”

Elizabeth Taylor

Reign of the giants: department stores

Inaugurated in 1838 by the Videau brothers then led to interstellar success by the intuition of Aristide Boucicaut, Le Bon Marché revolutionised the luxury and fashion markets and enthroned the long reign of department stores where the “customer is king”. Boucicaut had an ambitious vision and in 1871, opened a mail-order service with two departments, one for France and the second for the rest of the world. It was a tremendous success: in 1894, Le Bon Marché distributed 1,500,000 catalogues. At the beginning of the 20th century, the catalogue took on new colours, and excellent artists were hired to illustrate it. Department stores catalogues became a glamorous mirror of the fashion of the time. In this game, the French and the Americans were first on the podium.

In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward set up a mail-order business in Chicago selling a variety of goods, which he bought from manufacturers and resold directly to customers. By 1904, his catalogue mailing list contained three million customers. He was followed by other giants in the making: Eaton in Canada, which called its first catalogue “The Wish Book” in 1884, and then Sears in 1888 (which soon sold sewing machines, bicycles and even cars). In France, La Redoute published its first mail-order catalogue in 1928, followed by Les 3 Suisses in 1932. Everything was now accessible from anywhere in the world, from clothing to sports equipment, radios, record players and bridal trousseaux…

“When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.”

Andy Warhol

Au royaume des jouets : le père Noël préfère les catalogues

However, what works best, of course, and what lights the spark and brings happiness in the eyes of children across the world, are toys. The legendary toy department stores in New York, FAO Schwarz, launched its first catalogue in 1876. It the beginning of the 20th century, the French took the plunge and the most famous department stores (Bon Marché, Samaritaine, Grands Magasins du Louvre, Trois Quartiers, etc.) came up with “toy and gift catalogues” that were distributed at the end of the year before Christmas. Children can therefore dream for months about new products, pretty dolls, teddy bears and electric trains, and tick off their favourites fervently. Reflecting their times, they were created by talented graphic designers and illustrators who included surprising temporal elements in their images (soldiers and planes in wartime, for instance). Today, these French toy catalogues are carefully preserved, notably in the collection of the Forney library in Paris, as fragile, moving testimonies of these childhood reveries and the spirit of the times.

“When shall we go beyond the shores and mountains, to hail the birth of fresh toil; fresh wisdom, the rout of tyrants and demons, the end of superstition, to adore – as newcomers – Christmas on earth!”

Morning, Arthur Rimbaud

The Catalogue of the Officine Universelle Buly

The booklet “The Officine Universelle of the Perfumer and Vinegar-Maker Buly” contains descriptions, origins, uses and illustrations of its beauty tools, powders and clays, plant oils, incense and resins, balms, perfumes and skincare products, home fragrances, combs and brushes, scented soaps and other curiosities and rarities... As beautiful as an antique book, its cover can also be read delicately by touch, with an embossed relief on its cursive letters.