Regency Shopping

Somewhere between apparel and home decoration we find the jeweller that spans both. From being one goldsmiths and his workshop, which was the practice under the old Guild system, now emerged the type of jewellery shop we are familiar with, offering not just the work of one designer but that of many. One of the most influential of this new breed in the Regency era was Rundell and Bridge^b, jewellers to the crown^c. Their store was at 32 Ludgate Hill, a continuation of Fleet Street. Right is the only picture of the interior of this shop that can be found, a cartoon depicting Phillip Rundell to the left. The interior is simple but the wares were sumptious.

Before television reading was a common evening entertainment among the middle and upper classes. Books were read either silently or aload for the whole company. Booksellers and libraries flourished in the Regency era as more and more people became literate. Often booksellers would both lend and sell books. The circulating libraries would lend books for a small subscription fee. Printed music scores could also be had at these "book" stores together with graphic arts and magazines.

One of the big book sellers of the time were Lackington Allen & Co^d, at Finsbury Square. This store, The Temple of the Muses, was several stories tall and offered a wide variety of books in all sorts of bindings and to humane prices.

Mr. Lackington's business idea was to keep low prices, his slogan "Cheapest Bookseller In The World^e, which would keep his customers happy and keep them coming back. And it did! In 1791 he estimated he sold 100,000 volumes annually^f. Not bad for a man who started his career as an illiterate pieman!

Through the whole Eighteenth century about 150,000 titles were published in the English language. During the last two decades of the century book publishing increased around 400% and continued to grow in the Regency era. Some of this effect is attributed to the introduction of works of fiction into school curriculums.^g

It would be impossible to discuss books without mentioning the lending libraries. There were two main types of lending libraries in the Regency era: The Circulating Libraries and the Subscription Libraries. The difference between the two types was in the selection, the subscription library often started as a reaction against the "trash" offered by the circulating library. Why do works of fiction written for the readers amusement always engender disdain from those who never read them? In Regency times books were still quite expensive, the average price for a novel in three volumes would be as much as 31s. 6d. (today close on £90!), so only the upper classes bought their own copies.

Circulating libraries were often run by booksellers. The first circulating library in England was established about 1730 by Mr. Wright who has a shop in the Strand. A. K. Newman, publisher of the Minerva Press also ran such a circulating library, unsurprisingly well stocked with romance novels of the company's own production. The number of libraries grew and at the turn of the century 1800 their number had swelled to twenty-six.^h The average fee schedule was one guinea for the initial subscription and small fee per book. Naturally every self-respecting lending library had The most popular book of the era, Tales of Fashionable Lifeⁱ by Maria Edgeworth^j, published in six volumes between 1809 and 1812, in their catalog.