The toyshop, the cabinet, and eighteenth-century curiosity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although toyshops survived in name, eighteenth-century toyshops were retail environments distinct to that period, situated alongside other luxury retailers in many of Britain’s urban centres. They sold a range of adornments and collectibles, but the repeated referral to their contents as ‘curiosities’ raises questions as to how toyshops related to other spaces associated with curious articles, such as cabinets of curiosity. As retail sites, toyshops were part of consumer changes, whereas cabinets housed collectibles more associated with enlightened enquiry, so are often separated in the historiography. This survey considers toyshops in London and Birmingham, both in what they sold and their approaches to displaying and promoting these goods, in relation to the contents and experience in cabinets. This juxtaposes two forms of acquisition, collecting and consumption, and situates objects associated with knowledge acquisition and ‘trifling’ in the same discussion. Furthermore, the increasing emphasis on polite shopping is considered with reference to continuing requirements for attracting custom, which could be enhanced through exciting curiosity.