ABSTRACT
To eighteenth-century producers, retailers and consumers, 'paper hangings' was not a derogatory category, but one associated with innovation and modernity. This new commodity can also illuminate another aspect of eighteenth-century consumerism; the ways in which commodities came to be seen as desirable, in particular how they were described, selected and acquired, issues which are the focus of this chapter. Issues of survival and shortfalls in evidence are only part of the explanation of why wallpaper as a component of eighteenth-century interiors alongside other material objects has been understudied. Although wallpaper studies have remained largely out of step in relation to work undertaken since the 1990s on the material and visual culture of eighteenth-century Britain, historians have begun to interrogate this aspect of material culture. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.
