Overview

This volume explores the practices of shopping in Europe during the long eighteenth century, a period during which consumption choices expanded to encompass much larger groups than before. Shopping functioned as an act of social distinction, where retail practices not only reflected and reinforced social aspirations and identities but also were a means of creating relationships through shared information and exchanges. Bringing together ten diverse case studies, the collection provides in-depth insights into the transformation of shopping practices across Western and Northern Europe. The production of made-to-order goods gave way to a range of ready-made objects that could be viewed, browsed and touched in shops, booths, workshops and markets. Together, the chapters highlight a crucial historical nuance: the concept of ‘shopping’ as understood in England—with its associations of pleasure and socialising—did not exist in other major European languages during this period. From actors in Stockholm to aristocrats in Paris, this study rigorously contextualises the practice of consumption, leaving readers with an enriched understanding of how shopping shaped identities and social relationships throughout eighteenth-century Europe. This collection is an essential resource for scholars, students and non-specialists interested in the material culture, economy, everyday life and social dynamics of Europe during the long eighteenth century.

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9781032574431

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My Hellsing is a researcher at Stockholm University, Sweden, focusing on the history of European courts, gender and material culture from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. In 2015, her doctoral thesis was published as a monograph as Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte, hertiginna vid det gustavianska hovet. Since then, she has continued publishing on the political sociability of the elites during the Age of Revolution. She is currently working on the archival practice of the royal court from the nineteenth century to the present. Johanna Ilmakunnas is a professor of Nordic History at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Her research interests span from the cultural history of work, lifestyle, consumption and material culture to microhistory, family and gender in eighteenth-century Europe, especially in Sweden. Her recent publications include Flitiga och sysslolösa: Essäer om 1700-talets Europa (2024). Other topics of recent publications include commercial credit and elites, comfort in Swedish country houses, diary-writing practices of eighteenth-century nobility and material and emotional cultures of death in eighteenth-century Sweden and Finland.

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