Between the Lines : Early Advertising in Singapore: 1830s - 1960s

Between the Lines: Early Advertising in Singapore not only gives us a vivid overview of advertising copy and artwork spanning 130 years, but also provides fascinating insights into the shifting social and economic dynamics of Singapore and their impact on the advertising industry.



This pictorial collection presents nearly 400 advertisements from print materials such as newspapers, books, periodicals and ephemera held in the collection of the National Library, Singapore. The advertisements are complemented by insightful commentaries – on subjects ranging from hospitality and household goods to food and fashion – that provide valuable context to the ad campaigns and help us understand the minds of both advertiser and consumer in Singapore, and by extension, the socioeconomic conditions of the time.



Readers can see how icons like Raffles Hotel and the erstwhile Adelphi Hotel were promoted to discerning travellers of the 1930s, or how postwar homemakers were first targeted by ads for newfangled household appliances like refrigerators and vacuum cleaners.