Strictly Personal (opens in new tab)

Before swiping, there were personal ads—and the occasional glance through a window. As the dating world succumbs to the algorithm, a new generation of romantics is returning to the high-effort, low-tech holy grail of 1977: the personal ad By Zara Meerza “Without my grandfather’s contribution to agriculture reforms in 1912, this nation would currently have to import its turnips,” one personal ad from the London Review of Books in 2002 reads. “While you think about that, I shall remove my cloth...