1. John Drayton, A View of South Carolina, as Respects Her Natural and Civil Concerns (1802; reprint ed., Spartanburg, S.C.: Reprint Company, 1972), pp. 217–18. In the introduction to The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992), p. xv, Richard Bushman characterizes gentility as “the visible expression of gentry status, the most sharply defined social class in the colonies. . . . Gentility simply gave expression to a universally acknowledged division, and actually had the comforting effect of reinforcing the established social order.” Bushman then proceeds to discuss how such things as homes, furnishings, tea apparatus, manners, apparel, and speech visibly defined one as genteel and part of polite society.
2. Robert Campbell, The London Tradesman (1747; reprint ed., Devon, Eng.: David & Charles Reprints, 1969), pp. 169–70.
3. Timothy H. Breen, “‘Baubles of Britain’: The American and Consumer Revolutions of the Eighteenth Century,” Past and Present 119 (May 1988): 75. See also George Miller, Ann Smart Martin, and Nancy Dickinson, “Changing Consumption Patterns, English Ceramics and the American Market from 1770 to 1840,” unpublished lecture, 1989, Winterthur Museum Library, Winterthur, Delaware. Bushman, Refinement of America, pp. 184–85.
4. Joseph Lewis vs. Estate of Thomas Hutchinson, Judgment Rolls, 1793, Roll 253A, District of Charleston, Court of Common Pleas, Charleston, S.C., as cited in M. Allison Carll, “An Assessment of English Furniture Imports into Charleston, South Carolina, 1760–1800,” Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 11, no. 2 (November 1985): 4. James W. Hagy, People and Professions of Charleston, South Carolina, 1782–1802 (Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company by Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992), p. 15.
5. “Reprint of the Cabinet-Maker’s London Book of Prices, 1793,” Furniture History 18 (1982): 23. All of my references to the Cabinet-Makers’ London Book of Prices refer to the 1793 edition. Sarah Nichols, “Gillow and Company of Lancaster, England: An Eighteenth-Century Business History” (master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1982), p. 7, categorizes Gillow and Company as a “one-rung-down-the-ladder establishment” within the English furniture industry. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787, vol. 93, Gillow and Company Archive, Westminster Public Library, London.
6. Nichols, “Gillow and Company,” p. 15. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787. Robert Smith, “A Bill from George Seddon,” Antiques 78, no. 4 (October 1960): 362. John Hayward, “A Further Note on Christopher Fuhrlogh,” Burlington 119, no. 7 (July 1977): 490. Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 2 vols. (London: Studio Vista, 1978), 1:191. Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-makers c. 1700–1800 (London: Country Life, Ltd., 1955), p. 154.
7. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787. James Brown Order Book, vol. 1, January 4, 1782–
October 11, 1784, C107/109, Public Record Office, London. James Brown Order Book, vol. 2, October 13, 1784–May 27, 1788.
8. James Brown Order Book, vol. 2, October 13, 1784–May 27, 1788. According to Gilbert, Thomas Chippendale, 1:207, these items cost £120 and £64, respectively.
9. Helena Hayward and Pat Kirkham, William and John Linnell: Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, 2 vols. (London: Studio Vista, 1980), 1:160–61. Gilbert, Thomas Chippendale, 1:183, 285, 206–20.
10. James Brown Order Book, vol. 1, January 4, 1782–October 11, 1784; vol. 2, October 13, 1784–May 27, 1788. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787.
11. Timothy H. Breen, “An Empire of Goods: The Anglicization of Colonial America, 1690–1776,” The Journal of British Studies 25, no. 4 (October 1986): 499. Breen, “Baubles of Britain,” p. 79. Cary Carson, “The Consumer Revolution in Colonial British America. Why Demand?” in Of Consuming Interests: The Style of Life in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Ronald Hoffman, Cary Carson, and Peter J. Albert (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1994), p. 502.
12. James Brown Order Book, vol. 2, October 13, 1784–May 27, 1788. Hayward and Kirkham, William and John Linnell, 1: 165. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787.
13. See, for example, advertisements in the South Carolina Gazette, October 24, 1781, February 27, 1784, and July 7, 1784. For Blott, see artisan files, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
14. Nathaniel Heyward Receipt, September 5, 1789, box 2, folder 14, Manigault Family Papers, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
15. James Douglas Account Book, 1784–1792, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The recording format in the James Douglas Account Book, listing separately the objects’ prices and the packaging and wharfage costs, insures a reliable comparison between Douglas’s unit prices and retail prices in London. The tables and related analysis concerning Douglas’s suppliers, valuations, and descriptions in the following pages derive from a database compiled by the author from records in the James Douglas Account Book. The two Charleston mercantile firms receiving and selling goods shipped by Douglas were Cochran and William McClure and James Gregorie.
16. Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660–1840 (London: W. S. Maney & Son, Ltd., 1986), pp. 693, 700, 730, 976, 986. Pitt & Chessey trade card and William Rawlins trade card, Tradecard Collection, Print Room, British Museum, London.
17. Beard and Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, pp. 976–77, 986. Guildhall London Directories, 1781–1790, microfilm, Archive Department, Westminster Public Library, London. Beard and Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, p. 934.
18. Beard and Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, p. 364; Craftsman card catalogue, Department of Furniture & Woodwork, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
19. For John Horsley & Son, see Bradford L. Rauschenberg, “Reconsidering Charleston Brass Andirons, Types II and III: An Essay on the Use of Theory Replacement in Material Culture,” Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 17, no. 2 (November 1992): 47. For Taylor & Bailey, see Kent’s London Directory (1785), Guildhall London Directories, 1781–1790, microfilm, Archive Department.
20. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787. Mabel L. Webber, ed., “The Thomas Elfe Account Book, 1768–1775,” South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (hereinafter cited SCHGM) 36, no. 1 (January 1935): 9; and 36, no. 2 (April 1935): 63. The prices given for pieces listed in the Thomas Elfe Account Book are approximate pounds sterling conversion of prices in South Carolina pounds. Between 1768 and 1775, seven pounds in South Carolina currency equaled about one pound sterling.
21. “Reprint of the Cabinet-Maker’s London Book of Prices,” p. 49. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787.
22. “Reprint of the Cabinet-Maker’s London Book of Prices,” p. 139. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787.
23. Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett, At Home: The American Family 1750–1870 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990), p. 46.
24. Webber, ed., “Thomas Elfe Account Book,” SCHGM 36, no. 2 (April 1935): 63; and 37, no. 1 (January 1936): 25. The set ordered in November 1771 cost Thomas Waring a total of £90 South Carolina. The other set ordered in August 1772 cost Elias Ball £85 South Carolina. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787.
25. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787. Gilbert, Thomas Chippendale, 1:142.
26. Webber, “Thomas Elfe Account Book,” SCHGM 36, no. 2 (April 1935): 63.
27. “Reprint of the Cabinet-Maker’s London Book of Prices,” p. 101. Estimate Sketchbook, 1784–1787. Webber, “Thomas Elfe Account Book,” SCHGM 35, no. 2 (April 1934): 58.
28. For more on the professionalization and commercialization of leisure activities from sport to cultural events throughout the eighteenth century, see J. H. Plumb, “The Commercialization of Leisure in Eighteenth-century England,” in Neil McKendrick, John Brewer, and J. H. Plumb, The Birth of Consumer Society: The Commercialization of Eighteenth-Century England (London: Europa Publications Limited, 1982), p. 284.
29. Helga Dittmar, The Social Psychology of Material Possessions: To Have is To Be (Hertfordshire, Eng.: Harvester Wheatheaf, 1992), p. 5. |