How Long to Read Emporium

How Long Does it Take to Read Emporium?

It takes the average reader 3 hours and 17 minutes to read Emporium by Edwin Barnard

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

Look at the Hilzinger washing machine, costing £3 in 1880. It certainly seems rather primitive but did it get the clothes clean and how hard was it to operate? And what about Dr Allen’s belt, powered by the magic of electricity? Could it really help with rheumatism and lumbago, as its maker promised? Advertisements can reveal a great deal about an age. Gleaned from the pages of long forgotten publications, such as The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Australian Town and Country Journal and Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil, together with dozens of regional newspapers, they paint an intriguing picture of the world of our great-great-grandparents. With over 450 images, this book is one to pore over and enjoy: perhaps that electric hairbrush really did cure baldness and wouldn’t it be wonderful of those strange cannabis cigarettes did relieve asthma? Advertisements for condoms? It was just a matter of knowing what to look for. In some ways it is striking how little has changed. It comes as no surprise, for example, to discover that colonial women found it hard to resist a ‘bargain’, nor that they worried a great deal about their complexions and the ‘sweetness’ of their breath. Colonial men had their own concerns, prominent among them those old bugbears of advancing baldness and retreating virility. For those seeking to revive flagging passions there were always the ‘racy’ tales advertised each week in the illustrated papers (price one shilling, posted in a sealed envelope). Equally striking are the many differences in attitude and outlook revealed by old advertisements. It is curious, for example, that for most of the nineteenth century nobody—except perhaps the very young—seem to have been much concerned about body shape. It was only in the 1880s and ’90s that advertisements began to appear offering products designed to deal with ‘unsightly’ corpulence or to plump out that ‘underdeveloped’ bosom. It cannot have taken advertisers long to realise that they were onto a good thing exploiting those particular anxieties. Emporium uses collections of advertisements as starting points in assembling a series of self-contained ‘snapshots’. Introduced by a section on shopping, a succession of double-page spreads, each with its eyewitness accounts and contemporary descriptions, work to paint a lively and entertaining picture of everyday life in the Australian colonies. Although this is a book about advertising, it is really also all about the everyday lives of nineteenth-century Australians. The focus throughout is on the lives of so-called ordinary people—the working men, women and children whose struggles all too often merit little more than a footnote or two in many of our national histories. How did they go about getting married? How did they plan their families? How did they keep clean? How did they cook their food? Advertisements can answer all these questions. Humorous – quirky – fascinating – you will find this book compulsive! Edwin Barnard is an author and designer with an enduring interest in the everyday lives of nineteenth-century Australians. His previous books include Exiled for the National Library of Australia. Edwin lives in Avalon NSW.

How long is Emporium?

Emporium by Edwin Barnard is 194 pages long, and a total of 49,276 words.

This makes it 65% the length of the average book. It also has 60% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Emporium Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 4 hours and 29 minutes to read Emporium aloud.

What Reading Level is Emporium?

Emporium is suitable for students ages 10 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Emporium?

Emporium by Edwin Barnard is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

To buy Emporium by Edwin Barnard on Amazon click the button below.