Did eighteenth-century shopkeepers use newspapers to promote their goods? – A comparison of Manchester and Norwich 1765–1805

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research is a quantitative and qualitative study of over 33,000 provincial newspaper advertisements in The Manchester Mercury and The Norwich Mercury between 1765 and 1805. It revealed the many ways in which the advertising of domestic goods and services can vary over time, between regions, between towns at different stages of commercial and social development and between goods themselves thus challenging the views of much small-scale historical research. This large study has shown that the idea of the eighteenth-century provincial newspaper advertisement stimulating demand for domestic goods is flawed. It shows that the level of advertising of all domestic goods is very low and that the advertising of novel, exotic goods, or home-produced imitations of these was even lower. It questions the role of the provincial newspaper advertisement in shaping taste in commercial localities.