Consumer Behaviour and Material Culture in Britain, 1660-1760

'This is a very worthy piece of necessary ... research into what people in the middle ranks of English society at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries owned and consumed in eight parts of rural and urban England ... Dr Weatherill provides most valuable empirical evidence, not only about what people consumed, but for wider historical debates ... This is a good book which definitely demonstrates rising consumer expenditure, especially on household goods, in the early 18th century.' - Times Higher Education Supplement'Weatherill has profoundly altered the received history of consumerism.' - Institute of Historical Research'Weatherill's expert knowledge of the pottery trades places her in an especially strong position to explore the minutiae of changes in domestic equipment through time ... her catalogue of gains (in material prosperity) is impressively detailed, easily sufficient to substantiate her hypothesis of better objective living standards.' - Reviews'This is a book which deserves attention. It is a neat and well-argued contribution to debates on social and cultural values, the standard of living and the origins of consumer society, treating material possessions as a subtle indicator of perceived social status. There is much here for economic and social historian to ponder.' - Scottish Economic and Social History.

• List of plates, List of tables, Preface, Preface to the second edition, 1 Introduction, Part I THE NATION, Part 2 THE HOUSEHOLD, Appendix 1: Ways of using probate inventories, Appendix 2: Occupations and status in inventories, Notes, Bibliography of contemporary sources, Index