Is the Sears Wish Book the same as the Sears Christmas Book?

Yes. Both names refer to the annual Sears holiday catalogue. The Fall/Winter general merchandise catalogue is a different, much thicker book that is often mislisted as a Wish Book.

How do I date a Sears Wish Book?

The masthead style changed most years, the year is printed small near the spine edge, and page count separates the holiday book from the general catalogue.

What is a Sears Wish Book worth?

A 1990 Sears Christmas Book was listed at $50 on eBay on 31 August 2026. Copies with intact, uncut toy pages command the premium.

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Which Sears Wish Book is that? How to tell the three apart

The book people mean is almost always a Sears Christmas Book — the annual holiday catalogue Sears published separately from its general merchandise catalogue, and the one people mean when they say ‘Wish Book’. Sears used both names across the run, which is why listings are a mess.

Verified copies were on sale at $50 (eBay) and unpriced (Etsy) on 31 August 2026.

Cover of a Sears Christmas Book catalogue, the words Sears Christmas Book on a torn paper label over a photograph of glass tree ornaments — Sears Christmas Book: torn-label masthead over glass ornaments, the house style for the early-1990s run.

Three books, one nickname

The confusion is structural, not the sellers’ fault:

Christmas Book — the holiday catalogue, published in the autumn. Toys in the back, which is the half everyone remembers.
Wish Book — the same publication under the name Sears leaned on in later years, including the ‘Great American Wish Book’ branding around 1990–91.
Fall/Winter catalog — the general merchandise book. Far thicker, no holiday cover art, and worth a fraction of the holiday books. It gets listed as a Wish Book constantly.

Vintage Sears catalogue listed for resale — A Sears catalogue on the resale market today. Thickness in the photo is the fastest proxy for which book you are being sold.

Dating a copy from the cover alone

The masthead treatment changed most years; a torn-paper label over a photographic still life is the early-1990s look.
The year is usually printed small, near the spine edge rather than centred — sellers photographing at an angle cut it off, so ask.
Page count is the honest test. Holiday books run a few hundred pages; if the seller says ‘over 1,000’, you are being sold the general catalogue.

Where to buy one

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Retailer	Listing	Asking
eBay	1990 Sears Christmas Catalog Great American Wish Book…	$50
Etsy	Vintage Sears 1990 Wishbook Catalog (V9709)	listed, price on request

Last verified 31 August 2026, against 2 sale listings; reference scans excluded. Prices move; read them as the market on that date, not a promise.

What we removed from this table. The same search returned an archive scan and two magazine articles about the Wish Book. They are worth reading and they are not for sale, so they do not belong in a where-to-buy table with a price beside them. We would rather run a three-row table that is true.

Buying advice from people who look at a lot of these: condition on a catalogue means the toy pages. They were cut up by children with scissors and a wish list. A book described as complete with an intact back half is worth double a merely clean one, and almost nobody prices it that way.

Questions

What is the difference between the Sears Wish Book and the Christmas Book?

They are the same annual holiday catalogue under two names Sears used across different years. Neither is the thick Fall/Winter general merchandise catalogue, which is a different and much less collectable book.

How much is a Sears Wish Book worth?

On 31 August 2026 the verified sale listing was $50 for a 1990 Christmas Book. Condition of the toy pages moves that number more than the year does.