Supply of Shopkeepers in Besançon in the First Part of the 19th century: Novelties between ‘Old' and ‘New'
Résumé
This chapter focuses on the ways in which the retail trade of Besançon adapted to changing patterns of demand. In particular, it will focus on the development of the trade in luxury goods, millineries and second-hand objects. What were the products comprising the luxury and semi-luxury trade? What was the importance of the latter? What was the impact of Parisian fashions on the supply of Besançon tradesmen? What products were available second hand? What was the relative prevalence of old/used goods and new/novel goods on the Besançon market? These questions can be addressed via analysis of the post-mortem inventories of tradesmen dying during the first half of the nineteenth century, which contain detailed descriptions of their stock-in-trade. In spite of certain obvious gaps (they do not, for example, inform us about the date of acquisition of a product or its source), inventories provide a wealth of information on the goods stocked by retailers (including price, quantity, size, form, material, colour and quality) and, in some cases, even give the final use and destination of the object (linen to produce mattresses, sheets for trousers and so on). In addition, local and regional newspapers are replete with commercial advertisements and opinions: information on the arrival of new products in store, those objects which were ‘en vogue' or the latest technical innovations available. Such data provide a better understanding of the diversity of products in circulation, the passing and renewal of fashions, and the practices of tradesmen as well as – to a certain extent – those of consumers.
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