New commodities, luxuries and their consumers in eighteenth-century England

Author

Berg, Maxine

Document type

Article (livre)

Language

English

Book title

Consumers and luxury : consumer culture in Europe 1650-1850

Author (monograph)

Berg, Maxine (Editor, Collective Author); Clifford, Helen (Editor, Collective Author); De Marchi, Neil (Contributor, Collective Author); Jones, Colin (Contributor, Collective Author); Spang, Rebecca (Contributor, Collective Author)

Source

Consumers and luxury : consumer culture in Europe 1650-1850. 1999, 63-85, 2 ill.

Publisher

Manchester University Press distributed in the USA by S. Martin's Press, Manchester (usa)

Publication country

United States

Abstract (en)

Argues that the history of consumer objects must be set in the context of contemporary debates and ideas, the use and symbolism of objects in daily life, and their place in the formation of identitites of individuals, families and groups. Considers questions about the manufacture and sale of these new commodities. Methods of production and marketing were often shared between luxury and semi-luxury goods, using the same patterns and tools, trade cards and catalogues, and demonstrating adpatability across materials and the exploitation of complex networks of manufacture. Costs were cut in the production of semi-luxury goods through imitative processes such as varnishes. Imitation was a form of invention, and also a process of adaptation, creating distinctive products adaptable to broader markets. Concludes that the contemporary appreciation of novelty, which fuelled the quest for imitation, lifted principles of invention in semi-luxury goods out of association with baubles and trinkets, and into a desirable category in its own right.

Subject (en)

• Decorative arts
• Luxury
• Consumerism
• Symbolism
• Manufacture
• Commerce
• Technique
• Cost
• Imitation
• Inventions
• Great Britain
• England (GBR)
• 1700-1800

Subject (fr)

• Arts décoratifs
• Luxe
• Consommation
• Symbolisme
• Fabrication
• Commerce
• Technique
• Coût
• Imitation
• Invention
• Grande-Bretagne
• England (GBR)
• 1700-1800

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier20010101-00147222

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