Shopping as Comedy: A Victorian Scrapbook

Introduction

This volume is a critical edition of a Victorian scrapbook, composed of cuttings from advertising images from the 1880''s. These images are arranged in hand-drawn domestic spaces and embellished with watercolour details. At the foot of each page is a handwritten running text, written by an unknown Victorian author, that provides a narrative to explain the accompanying images. The album also includes four original short stories, interspersed by twenty-three vignettes, which, like advertisements in a magazine, echo and reinforce themes in the surrounding content. The album highlights issues of concern to women at the fin de siècle: romance, marriage, shopping, and house decoration.

Analysis

The satirical commentary on late Victorian shopping and commodity culture provides a fascinating insight into the interests and responses of consumers during this period. The volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of literary and advertising history.