Synopsis
The retail shops and the abundantly supplied provisions market ranked among the major 'conveniences' of Georgian Bath. Like any other town it had its butchers, bakers and even candlestick makers, and a fair share too of pawnbrokers, street traders, and cheap chandlers' shops. What set it apart was its trade in luxury commodities, hardly surpassed outside London itself. Countless temptations assailed the well-to-do and fashionable as they strolled about the spa - from gorgeous silks, laced coats and modish bonnets to the mouthwatering displays in the confectioners' windows and all the glitter of the celebrated 'toyshops' which more and more resembled showcases of British manufacturing skills. This book offers a panorama of eighteeenth-century consumerism in full flood, with insights into an unusually wide range of businesses, crafts and occupations. Packed with fresh information and based on new research, it can be read straight through, casually dipped into, or used for quick reference and as a springboard for further enquiry. Like its companion volumes, Bath Entertain'd and Bath Administer'd, it is arranged in dictionary format and covers more than seventy different trades including: - Apothecaries, Chemists and Druggists - Auctioneers - Bakers - Booksellers - Braziers, Smiths and Ironmongers - Brewers - Butchers - Carvers-and-Gilders - Cheesemongers - Clock- and Watchmakers - Coachbuilders - Coal Merchants - Cutlers - Distillers - Dressmakers - Fishmongers - Furniture Makers - Gardeners and Nurserymen - Goldsmiths and Jewellers - Greengrocers - Grocers - Gunsmiths - Haberdashers and Milliners - Hairdressers - Hatters and Hosiers - Hawkers and Pedlars - House Painters and Colourmen - Laundresses, Clearstarchers and Scourers -Linen Drapers - Milksellers and Dairymaids - Music Dealers - Pastrycooks and Confectioners - Pawnbrokers - Perfumers - Pottery, Porcelain and Glassware Dealers - - Seal Engravers - Shoemakers - Silk Mercers - Staymakers - Tailors - Tallow Chandlers - Tea Merchants - Tobacconists and Snuff Dealers - Toymen - Undertakers - Upholsterers - Wine and Spirits Merchants - Woollen Drapers, together with sections on the Market and Shops in general.
