Το υλικό περιβάλλον και ο οικιακός χώρος ενός Άγγλου εμπόρου στη Θεσσαλονίκη στα τέλη του 18ου με αρχές του 19ου αιώνα
Part of : Μνήμων ; Vol.30, 2009, pages 61-105
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61-105
Parallel Title:
The material environment and domestic space of an English merchant in Thessaloniki in the late 18th and 19th century
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Articles
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Abstract:
Post mortem inventories can be revealing of the private and public life of individuals and families. They describe a domestic space and recount all the movable effects within it, unveiling the organization of everyday life and practices,tastes, consuming habits, trends, everyday rituals, personal and family relations.They signify social and economic status, a distinctive relation to the materialculture of a period, ideas, beliefs and practices.The forty pages inventory of the movable property found in the Abbottmansion in Thessaloniki following the death of the Levant Company FreemanBartholomew Edward Abbott and his wife Sarah, reveal the way of life of aLevantine merchant of British origin who lived and operated in the Ottomanport in the long 18th century. The document offers a view of his everyday lifestyle and provides information on the management of his personal time andspace. It also brings to light another aspect of his life: his interaction in thepublic sphere and, most importantly, his individual style of doing business.The rich material comprised in the inventory show how material culturewith reference to the place and the period was deeply influenced by the cosmopolitan character of the Ottoman city-port and the ways and style of an ascending bourgeois class of merchant entrepreneurs. It also adds valuable informationto the study of Thessaloniki’s commercial relations with Western and CentralEurope, the Balkans and the rest of the Mediterranean.
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