AseeksB  /  The Personals Archive  /  1872
New National Era · December 12, 1872

A lady seeks a gentleman of cents and refinement

Two lines, one pun: the printed ad asks for a gentleman of cents, not sense.

Transcribed from original newspaper scans. Published by AseeksB.


Personal1872

PERSONAL. A lady wishes correspondence with a gentleman of cents and refinement. Object, matrimony. Photographs exchanged. Address, PYCHON L. LEE, San Jose, Cal. dec 12-1t

New National Era, December 12, 1872, image 3. View the original page at the Library of Congress

In plain English

A woman wants to write to a gentleman who is well mannered and has money, with marriage as the goal. They'll exchange photographs.

Who wrote it, and to whom

NewspaperNew National Era, Washington, District of Columbia
DateDecember 12, 1872, image 3 of the scanned issue (no printed page number)
Written byA woman
Addressed toGentlemen
WhereReplies by mail to San Jose, California

Context

New National Era was the Washington weekly that Frederick Douglass took over in 1870; he edited it until 1872, and his son Lewis edited it afterward. The word cents is set in italics in the original, a deliberate pun on sense. The closing dec 12-1t is the printer's insertion code: first run December 12, one time.

In the Personals Dictionary

Object matrimonyPhotographs exchanged

Tagged

matrimonycorrespondencewritten by women

How to cite this ad

“A lady seeks a gentleman of cents and refinement.” Personal advertisement, New National Era (Washington, District of Columbia), December 12, 1872, image 3. Transcribed in The Personals Archive, AseeksB, https://www.aseeksb.com/archive/1872-new-national-era-cents-and-refinement.html.

Public domain in the United States: published before 1931.

Transcribed from the page image and checked against the original; spelling and punctuation are as printed, and words broken across lines are rejoined. Capital letters are also as printed: papers set the first line of each ad in capitals, so the capitals stop wherever that line ended, sometimes in the middle of a word.

← 1868: Returned to the old place: would Charley please call?1874: Elaine will address Lancelot as requested →

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