Most fascinating facet of these old Manufrance catalogs is the truly staggering number of mechanical gadgets advertised for every imaginable country pursuit. I had the catalogs for every decade from 1910 to 1970 and though the graphics change the gadget variety stayed consistently large.

You get a whole different picture of French culture looking at what is basically the French equivalent of the Sears catalog. Talk about a nation of do it yourselfers!