Book contents
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Small Things
- Part II Small Things in Time and Space
- Part III Small Things at Hand
- 9 “We Bought a Guillotine Neatly Done in Bone”
- 10 “What Number?”
- 11 Two Men’s Leather Letter Cases
- 12 The Aesthetic of Smallness
- 13 “Small Gifts Foster Friendship”
- Part IV Small Things on the Move
- Afterword
- Select Bibliography
- Index
11 - Two Men’s Leather Letter Cases
Mercantile Pride and Hierarchies of Display
from Part III - Small Things at Hand
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2022
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Small Things
- Part II Small Things in Time and Space
- Part III Small Things at Hand
- 9 “We Bought a Guillotine Neatly Done in Bone”
- 10 “What Number?”
- 11 Two Men’s Leather Letter Cases
- 12 The Aesthetic of Smallness
- 13 “Small Gifts Foster Friendship”
- Part IV Small Things on the Move
- Afterword
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter examines three leather letter cases, small, plain personal objects, similar to men’s wallets, the significance of which has been previously overlooked in museum collections. Despite their limited embellishments, small size, and low-status material, these letter cases prove to be extremely effective in providing us with insights into some of the key social and economic developments of the eighteenth century. The cases, through the biographies of their owners, provide tangible links to several aspects of eighteenth-century commerce: the transatlantic slave trade; the growth of the mercantile elite and their commercial networks within the consumer revolution; and the development of manufacturing and retail networks in English towns. Comparing the cases’ material details and composition with other extant examples, this chapter places them within the context of contemporary print culture, including the appearance of cases on trade cards, in novels, criminal trials, and accounts of slave trade voyages. These letter cases were acquired and carried by their owners not just as a means of transporting bills of exchange, letters, and sometimes notebooks, but also as a way of establishing and signaling to contemporaries mercantile-class identity and rising social status.
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- Small Things in the Eighteenth CenturyThe Political and Personal Value of the Miniature, pp. 172 - 186Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022