Resources
Related Categories
|
|
|
Sugar and Spice
Grocers and Groceries in Provincial England, 1650-1830
Jon Stobart
320 pages
|
8 black and white images, numerous tables
|
234x156mm
978-0-19-957792-7
|
Hardback
|
01 November 2012
|
|
|
|
|
- Offers a wealth of empirical material on the processes and practices of retailing, shopping, and consumption in eighteenth-century England
- Examines the role of the shopkeeper as an active agent in consumer change
- Draws together debates on and processes of consumption, retailing, and colonial trade, drawing out important practical and conceptual links between each
- Offers a critical reading of current theorisations of consumption, especially of imported groceries
- Provides a fresh perspective on the relationship between novelty, luxury, and utility
Consumers in eighteenth-century England were firmly embedded in an expanding world of goods, one that incorporated a range of novel foods (tobacco, chocolate, coffee, and tea) and new supplies of more established commodities, including sugar, spices, and dried fruits. Much has been written about the attraction of these goods, which went from being novelties or expensive luxuries in the mid-seventeenth century to central elements of the British diet a century or so later. They have been linked to the rise of Britain as a commercial and imperial power, whilst their consumption is seen as transforming many aspects of British society
and culture, from mealtimes to gender identity. Despite this huge significance to ideas of consumer change, we know remarkably little about the everyday processes through which groceries were sold, bought, and consumed.
In tracing the lines of supply that carried groceries from merchants to consumers, Sugar and Spice reveals how changes in retailing and shopping were central to the broader transformation of consumption and consumer practices, but also questions established ideas about the motivations underpinning consumer choices. It demonstrates the dynamic nature of eighteenth-century retailing; the importance of advertisements in promoting sales and shaping consumer perceptions, and the role of groceries in making shopping an everyday activity. At the same time,
it shows how both retailers and their customers were influenced by the practicalities and pleasures of consumption. They were active agents in consumer change, shaping their own practices rather than caught up in a single socially-inclusive cultural project such as politeness or respectability.Readership: Academics, students, and researchers interested in economic, social, and cultural history
|
|
|
Jon Stobart, Professor of History, University of Northampton Jon Stobart has published widely on the history of consumption, retailing, and leisure in eighteenth-century England, and has particular interests in the spatiality of consumption and the operation of the second-hand market.
|
|
|
Introduction
1: Ancient and modern: the grocery trade in early-modern England
2: A new world of goods: groceries in the long eighteenth century
3: From colony to counter: networks of supply
4: Geographies of selling: the grocery trades in provincial towns
5: Selling spaces: display and storage of groceries
6: Selling groceries: service, credit, and price
7: Exotic, empire, or everyday? Advertising groceries
8: Baskets of goods: customers and shopping practices
9: Tea and cakes: consuming groceries
10: Groceries and changing domestic material culture
Conclusions
Bibliography
|
|
|
|
The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
|
|
