History of Pedlars in Europe (Hardcover)

This study is an account of the history of pedlars and pedling, a profession and an activity that have been treated hitherto only in an anecdotal fashion. The pedlar has generally been thought of as a marginal figure, a man on the fringes of society, closer to a tramp than a trader. But Fontaine argues that, by distributing new commodities such as tobacco, watches and books, pedlars and the networks they built up played a crucial role in the birth of the modern European economy.