History of Pedlars in Europe

This book is the first sustained account of the history of pedlars and peddling - a profession and an activity that have been treated hitherto only in an anecdotal fashion.

The pedlar has generally been thought of as a marginal figure, a man on the fringes of society, closer to a tramp than a trader. But Fontaine argues that, by distributing new commodities such as tobacco, watches and books, pedlars and the networks they built up played a crucial role in the birth of the modern European economy.

The activities of pedlars - and, in particular, their role in the distribution of books and other printed materials - also raise issues which are of great interest to cultural historians. How, through the goods they were selling, did pedlars affect the values and cultural practices of the families they encountered? And how, in turn, did the activity of being a merchant affect the migrants who practised this profession?

While focused on the petty itinerant trades of the pedlar, this study offers nothing less than a prehistory of modern consumer society, shedding unexpected light on the origins of an economy based on mobility, uncertainty and interdependence.