In eighteenth-century Britain, greater numbers of people entered the marketplace and bought objects in ever-greater quantities. As consumers rather than producers, how did their understandings of manufacturing processes and the material world change? Material goods and moving hands combines material culture and visual culture approaches to explore the different ways in which manufacturers and retailers presented production to consumers during the eighteenth century. It shows how new relationships with production processes encouraged consumers, retailers, designers, manufacturers and workers to develop conflicting understandings of production. Objects then were not just markers of fashion and taste, they acted as important conduits through which people living in Georgian Britain could examine and discuss their material world and the processes and knowledge that rendered it.

About the Author
Kate Smith is Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century History at the University of Birmingham

Reviews

'The images are plentiful, and the book is well produced. The readability and utility of the book is enhanced greatly by its concise and well-honed argument, which builds in a useful way throughout. Each chapter uses different sources and approaches whilst also taking the chronology of the book forwards to its 1850 end point. Drawing on approaches from visual and material culture alongside diaries, pamphlets and business records, this book has much to offer historians interested in design, work, consumption and the senses.'
Cultural and Social History

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Book Information
ISBN 9780719090677
Author Kate Smith
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publisher Manchester University Press