 In his account , Wives for Sale , author Samuel Pyeatt Menefee collected 387 incidents of wife selling , the last of which occurred in the early 20th century . Historian E. P. Thompson considered many of Menefee 's cases to be " vague and dubious " , and that some double @-@ counting had taken place , but he nevertheless agreed that about 300 were authentic , which when combined with his own research resulted in about 400 reported cases . 
