Description
Book SynopsisProbate inventories provide an unparalleled and intimate glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants of early modern England. After death, the items within the deceased's home would frequently be itemised and valued room-by-room. As well as providing invaluable information about the rich diversity and value of domestic material culture, the inventories also offer insights into the different tastes, domestic arrangements and range of activities that took place within the early modern home. Inventories also enable scholars to reconstruct the informal social and business networks that are crucial for understanding this period, but which might otherwise remain hidden. By offering a critical introduction to the use of probate inventories for historical research, and by providing transcriptions of inventories from French immigrants to early modern London, this book provides a new and important resource for students and researchers interested in the early modern household, material culture stud
Trade Review"This book is a useful reference volume for those of us interested in the material culture of early modern London and the difference immigrants brought with them when they settled in their new homeland."
- Tracey Wedge, Independent Scholar, Aotearoa/New Zealand
"These 92 inventory transcriptions, supported by a glossary, bibliography and indices, are thus a very solid addition to the existing corpus and ... this book should be in any serious library."
- Newsletter of the Furniture History Society
"The transcriptions are packed with interesting and puzzling items that will surely provoke discussion. ... This volume would be a welcome addition to the shelves of both researchers and teachers."
- Sixteenth Century Journal
"...a useful and necessary resource for historians studying French Protestant immigration, acculturation of immigrants to London, material culture and cultural studies."
- Seventeenth Century
"Without a doubt, Parker’s contribution to Huguenot scholarship and domestic history will be invaluable to researchers and students in migrant communities in early modern London, as well as those interested in the material culture of the urban middle classes."
- French Studies
Table of ContentsIntroduction, Inventory Transcriptions, Appendix A: Names, Appendix B: Occupations, Appendix C: Glossary
