Nancy Cox. The Complete Tradesman: A Study of Retailing, 1550-1820. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate. 2000. Pp. xiv, 270. $79.95. ISBN 1-85928-169-9. Recent years have witnessed considerable growth in interest in early modern consumerism in both North America and Europe, with a plethora of studies published on consumers and the material goods they owned. Nancy Cox places her excellent analysis of English retailing into this context, but refocuses attention onto the processes and spaces through which these goods were bought and sold. In placing the tradesman center stage, she seeks to correct previous...
