An Eighteenth Century Shopkeeper. Abraham Dent of Kirkby Stephen

Notes:

Scholarly work. Based on the archives of Abraham Dent [then in the possession of the writer]. Provides a detailed study of the range of his business activities notably as a shopkeeper in a relatively small town, where he was one of ten, but also as a hosier, wine merchant and brewer, dealer in bills. The account of his retail business analyses the goods he sold and their relative importance; his customers; his suppliers; their locations. Appendices include extracts from his day book [pp153-7] and sales ledger [pp158-64]. Also they include transcriptions of the correspondence, 1770-77, sent by John Waller to Abraham Dent, about property at Kirkby Stephen, which Dent managed on behalf of Waller who sometime was a Royal Navy purser [pp170-99]. Chapters include: 'The setting'; 'The shopkeeper - goods and customers'; 'The shopkeeper - the suppliers'; 'The wine merchant and brewer' [pp50-9]; 'The hosier - the sixties and seventies' [pp60-111]; 'The dealer in bills' [pp112-27]; 'The gentleman'