P AP O E RIR GIBA N C ALK P E O This collection brings together new research into nineteenth- P and twentieth-century British and European economic history, L socio-cultural history and business history. It is inspired by the E work and legacy of Francesca Carnevali who, throughout her career, , encouraged a lively dialogue between these different disciplines. P The book offers innovative views and perspectives on key debates L and emphasises the connections between economic environments A and wider social and cultural elements. It also considers C methodological issues and emerging approaches in economic E history. Topics include banks and business finance in the nineteenth S century, mass-market retailing and class demarcations, economic A microhistory, and comparative history and capitalism. Economic, N business, social and cultural historians alike will find it of interest. D PAOLO DI MARTINO is Senior Lecturer in International Business History B at the Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. U S ANDREW POPP is Professor of Business History at the I University of Liverpool. N E PETER SCOTT is Professor of International Business History at the S University of Reading’s Henley Business School. S C P E O P L E , U L T U R P L A C E S A N D COVER IMAGE: E Celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria S in 1897, at a workshop of W H Wilmot Ltd, 62-64 Albion Street, in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Ownership Talbots and image of Pickering and Mayell B U S INE S S PD OIE P MD P, SCOARTINITED B C U LT U R E S TTO, Y EDITED BY PAOLO DI MARTINO ANDREW POPP AND Essays in Honour of PETER SCOTT Francesca Carnevali PeoPle, Markets, Goods: econoMies and societies in History Volume 9 People, Places and Business Cultures 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 1 10/02/2017 12:27 pm PeoPle, Markets, Goods: econoMies and societies in History ISSN: 2051-7467 Series editors Barry Doyle – University of Huddersfield Nigel Goose – University of Hertfordshire Steve Hindle – The Huntington Library Jane Humphries – University of Oxford Willem M. Jongman – University of Groningen The interactions of economy and society, people and goods, transactions and actions are at the root of most human behaviours. Economic and social historians are participants in the same conversation about how markets have developed historically and how they have been constituted by economic actors and agencies in various social, institutional and geographical contexts. New debates now underpin much research in economic and social, cultural, demographic, urban and political history. Their themes have enduring resonance – financial stability and instability, the costs of health and welfare, the implications of poverty and riches, flows of trade and the centrality of communications. This paperback series aims to attract historians interested in economics and economists with an interest in history by publishing high quality, cutting edge academic research in the broad field of economic and social history from the late medieval/ early modern period to the present day. It encourages the interaction of qualitative and quantitative methods through both excellent monographs and collections offering path-breaking overviews of key research concerns. Taking as its benchmark international relevance and excellence it is open to scholars and subjects of any geographical areas from the case study to the multi-nation comparison. Previously PublisHed titles in tHe series are listed at tHe end of tHe voluMe 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 2 10/02/2017 12:27 pm People, Places and Business Cultures Essays in Honour of Francesca Carnevali Edited by Paolo Di Martino, Andrew Popp and Peter Scott tHe boydell Press 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 3 10/02/2017 12:27 pm © Contributors 2017 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2017 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 978-1-78327-212-9 The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by BBR, Sheffield 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 4 10/02/2017 12:27 pm To the memory of Francesca Carnevali, 1964–2013 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 5 10/02/2017 12:27 pm 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 6 10/02/2017 12:27 pm Contents List of Illustrations ix List of Tables x List of Contributors xi Acknowledgements xiv PART I INTRODUCTION Editors’ Introduction: Economic History ‘As If People Mattered’ 3 Paolo Di Martino, Peter Scott and Andrew Popp Politics, Society, and Culture in the World of Production: Some Reflections on Francesca Carnevali’s Legacy 13 Paolo Di Martino PART II BETWEEN ECONOMICS AND CULTURE: EXPLAINING BUSINESS PRACTICES IN THEIR HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1. Custom and Spectacle: The Public Staging of Business Life 29 Andrew Popp 2. The Political Economy of Financing Italian Small Businesses, 1950–1990s 55 Alberto Rinaldi and Anna Spadavecchia 3. Banks and Business Finance in Britain Before 1914: A Comparative Evaluation 75 Leslie Hannah 4. Large-Scale Retailing, Mass-Market Strategies and the Blurring of Class Demarcations in Interwar Britain 99 Peter Scott and James T. Walker 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 7 10/02/2017 12:27 pm viii contents 5. ‘Made in England’: Making and Selling the Piano, 1851–1914 127 Lucy Newton (with Francesca Carnevali) PART III MAKING PEOPLE MATTER: EMERGING APPROACHES IN ECONOMIC HISTORY 6. Twentieth-Century British History: Perspectives, Trajectories and Some Thoughts on a Revised Textbook 155 Matthew Hilton 7. From Social Capital to Social Assemblage 177 Kenneth Lipartito 8. Economic History and Microhistory 193 Chris Wickham 9. Europe’s Difference and Comparative History: Searching for European Capitalism 201 Andrea Colli PART IV CONCLUSIONS Editors’ Conclusion 223 Paolo Di Martino, Peter Scott and Andrew Popp Appendix: Francesca Carnevali – Full List of Publications 231 Bibliography 233 Index 260 Tabula in Memoriam 267 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 8 10/02/2017 12:27 pm Illustrations 1.1 Postcard of the Liverpool Exchange, 1904. Courtesy of Guy Atkins 31 4.1 Boots’ appeal to the classes and the masses. Courtesy of Boots plc Archives, Beeston 105 4.2 Open merchandise display at Marks & Spencer in 1930. Courtesy of Marks & Spencer Company Archive, Leeds 107 5.1 D’Almaine’s Pianoforte Manufactory (Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, c.1835). © Museum of London 140 2284 (Boydell - Business Cultures).indd 9 10/02/2017 12:27 pm