After the longevity and ubiquity of Country Life (see the recent blog), I was surprised to find a much more obscure title in a similar vein on our shelves, Country Quest. This started in 1959 as a quarterly magazine ‘for Wales and the border’ and sold for 2s 6d. We have a spread of copies going up to 1995, by which time it had become a monthly. I think it fizzled out in 2008.
It has the look of the county magazine, and that is exactly the market it sought. Looking at some examples for 1962 to 1965 seems appropriate – that was probably the hey-day of the title, and coincided with the coverage of some bitter local upheavals, notably the building of reservoirs on Welsh soil to secure water supplies for English cities.
The ads are all localised as far as I can see, and in the main for hotels, restaurants, jewellers, high-end clothing shops, garages and so on. While the ads are rarely smaller than the quarter-page I’ll feature just some full-pagers here. Roy Evans Ltd of Oswestry offered the Hillman Imp, then just released, and while it featured a businessman putting his briefcase in the boot, this was probably going to be bought by readers as a second car.
The magazines offer a fascinating insight into clothing for the wealthy. Warwick House of Malvern offer the Pinero ladies’ suit by Nabré and trimmed in mink. I like the ad for Wetherall’s ladies’ sports clothing – ‘for huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’, choose wool’, it says, and there’s an alarming photo of a forthright lady in her ‘handmade luxury KNIT suit’, brandishing a shotgun, as well she might, having laid out 22 guineas for the outfit. Pritchard’s, tailors of Oswestry, ‘forming the background of every well dressed gentleman’, are particularly of their time, with a photo of young man in his new and hand-made suit.
Bon Marche of Pwllheli offer the Silhouette ‘Special X’ girdle for 52s 11d, in which you can ‘look specially slim, front and back’. In the latest Bri-Nylon and trimmed with Lurex, no wonder they’re smiling in the artist’s impression. The jewellers Aston’s, with branches all over Wales, show a smiling young lady whose day has been made by the handsome chap who has just coughed up (a lot, we trust) for the Furnish ring. Finally, there’s another happy couple, particularly the lady, as they linger over their Moderna Sorrento wool blanket, ‘the world’s most luxurious blanket’.
