Making the Bed in Later Stuart and Georgian England

Pennell, Sara

doi:10.1057/9781137295217.0008

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…53 This reflected a growing distrust of second-hand bedding which, as Sara Pennell notes, was growing in the middle decades of the eighteenth century; advertisements for sales of used beds declined whilst those for a variety of insect extermination treatments grew rapidly. 54 These concerns were common to English and Swedish householders. When Claes Julius Ekeblad gave away an unwanted bed in Stockholm, Brita reminded her husband that the bedding belonged to them; if the mattress, pillows and so on had been taken and used with the bed, she feared that they would become 'as dirty as everything else in the city'.…”

Section: Physical Comfort: Heat Air and Cleanlinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comfort in English and Swedish country houses, c.1760–1820

Stobart

Prytz

2018

Social History

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Comfort as an idea and ideal has attracted growing interest, especially in an Anglo-American context. Much of the discussion has centred either on improvements in physical comfort, not least through new technologies, or on emotional comfort and the social construction of the home. This paper brings together these ideas in a comparative analysis of English and Swedish landowners. It draws on a range of correspondence to uncover more about the ways in which members of the elite themselves conceived and achieved comfort in very different geographical, economic and cultural contexts. Whilst 'English comfort' became widespread as an idealisation of elite lifestyles by the early nineteenth century, both in Sweden and elsewhere, we argue that many of its social and physical imperatives were commonplace much earlier. This involved shared concerns with warmth and airiness, and the ways in which these were linked to health and wellbeing, but also with the construction of appropriate social settings. And yet it was the emotional and non-material dimensions of comfort that dominated the correspondence in both countries: a concern with family and with home as a place defined by relationships with people rather than things.

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Section: Physical Comfort: Heat Air and Cleanlinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comfort in English and Swedish country houses, c.1760–1820

Stobart

Prytz

2018

Social History

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“…See, for example, Lemire, Business , pp. 97–105; Pennell, ‘Making the bed’, pp. 38–41; Strasser, Waste ; Zimring, ‘Dirty work’; Charpy, ‘Scope’.…”

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confidence: 99%

Inadequate supply and increasing demand for textiles and clothing: second‐hand trade at auctions as an alternative source of consumer goods in Sweden, 1830–1900

Lilja

Jönsson

2019

The Economic History Review

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Drawing on a study of historical national accounts and statistics, this article shows that a growing supply of mass-consumption textiles and clothing in Sweden during industrialization did not fully meet increasing demand. As a result, high demand for second-hand items remained even at the turn of the twentieth century. Records from a local auction house from 1830 to 1900 show that, even in the 1880s, more affluent urban consumers were still active on the second-hand market. Thereafter, they turned to the market for new goods, while potential demand from labourers and servants continued to be provided for by the second-hand market. Mechanization meant that more items entered this market. It changed the range and quality of objects available, consequently affecting the attractiveness of second-hand textiles and clothing. After the 1870s, falling and converging prices can be discerned, while more durable fabrics largely retained their value. We conclude that the consumer revolution (in a broader sense) had by this stage gained a foothold among ordinary Swedish urban households. The auction trade was part of a democratization of consumption. The general lesson is that understanding mass consumption requires research not only into second-hand consumption, but also into different regional settings.B efore low-cost cotton textiles and industrial production of ready-made clothes paved the way for mass consumption, textiles and clothes accounted for a large part of household budgets. 1 Making textiles and clothes and taking care of them were time-consuming and often trying tasks for households. These objects were also expensive to acquire on the market. As a consequence, objects were passed on, altered, or remade, and, when threadbare, turned into rags and recycled as paper, blankets, or rag rugs. 2 This meant that textiles and clothing had second-hand value.Mechanization of production, together with expanding distribution networks and marketplaces, resulted in falling prices. This made textiles and clothing more affordable and easier to buy for a majority of the population. Over time, home * Authors' Affiliations: Kristina Lilja, Uppsala University; Pernilla Jonsson, Stockholm University. † We are grateful to the editors, three anonymous referees, Dan Bäcklund, and Ylva Sjöstrand for excellent comments. The article was written as part of the project 'Savings in the wardrobe-changes in the value and life cycle of clothes, 1790-1910' (P2014-0034) financed by the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation.

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Making the Bed in Later Stuart and Georgian England

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

Comfort in English and Swedish country houses, c.1760–1820

Comfort in English and Swedish country houses, c.1760–1820

Inadequate supply and increasing demand for textiles and clothing: second‐hand trade at auctions as an alternative source of consumer goods in Sweden, 1830–1900

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