Consumption and the country house / Jon Stobart and Mark Rothery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stobart, Jon, 1966- author.

Rothery, Mark, 1973- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects--England--History--18th century.

Consumption (Economics).

Home economics--England--History--18th century.

Home economics.

Country homes--England--History--18th century.

Country homes.

Aristocracy (Social class)--England--History--18th century.

Aristocracy (Social class).

Aristocracy (Social class)--England--Biography.

Homeowners--England--History--18th century.

Homeowners.

Families--England--History--18th century.

Families.

Gentry--England--History--18th century.

Gentry.

History.

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects.

England--Economic conditions--18th century.

England.

Economic conditions.

England--Social life and customs--18th century.

Manners and customs.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 304 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

"This study explores the consumption practices of the landed aristocracy of Georgian England. Focussing on three families and drawing on detailed analysis of account books, receipted bills, household inventories, diaries and correspondence, Consumption and the Country House charts the spending patterns of this elite group during the so-called consumer revolution of the eighteenth century. Generally examined through the lens of middling families, homes and motivations, this book explores the ways in which the aristocracy were engaged in this wider transformation of English society. Analysis centres on the goods that the aristocracy purchased, both luxurious and mundane; the extent to which they pursued fashionable modes and goods; the role that family and friends played in shaping notions of taste; the influence of gender on taste and refinement; the geographical reach of provisioning and the networks that lay behind this consumer activity, and the way this all contributed to the construction of the country house. The country house thus emerges as much more than a repository of luxury and splendour; it lay at the heart of complex networks of exchange, sociability, demand, and supply. Exploring these processes and relationships serves to reanimate the country house, making it an active site of consumption rather than simply an expression of power and taste, and drawing it into the mainstream of consumption histories. At the same time, the landed aristocracy are shown to be rounded consumers, driven by values of thrift and restraint as much as extravagant desires, and valuing the old as well as the new, not least as markers of their pedigree and heritance"--Publisher description.

Contents:

1 Anatomy of Elite Spending: Fashion, Luxury, and Splendour 23

2 Constructing the Country House: Habitus, Performance, and Assemblages of Goods 53

3 Practicalities, Utility, and the Everydayness of Consumption 83

4 Gentlemen's Things: The Masculine World of Goods and Consumption as Self-fashioning 109

5 Gentlewomen's Things: Women and Country House Consumption 140

6 Consumption and the Household: Family, Friends, and Servants 169

7 Supplying the Country House: Craftsmen and Retailers 196

8 Geographies of Consumption: Hierarchies, Localities, and Shopping 229.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-296) and index.

ISBN:

9780198726265

0198726260

OCLC:

935690640