ABSTRACT
An interest in the history of consumption has come to dominate socialscience disciplines in recent decades, in contrast to previous economic histories of the Industrial Revolution, where a focus on supply rather than demand tended to dictate the interpretation of historical change.1 As yet, however, the history of women’s consumption during the transition from the early modern to the modern period has largely been confined to a limited number of case studies, with greater focus upon the better-off in society. Historians have used a range of contemporary sources to explore the acquisition, use, and disposal of goods from a gender perspective, including legal documents (such as wills and probate inventories), personal records (such as diaries and correspondence), and business records (including account books).2 These provide evidence of the rapid social and economic changes that were taking place in women’s lives at this time, although the nature of this evidence is often highly specific and localized.3
