“Ambassadors of Commerce“: The Commercial Traveler in British Culture, 1800–1939

Michael French and Andrew Popp

Business History Review, 2008, vol. 82, issue 4, 789-814

Abstract: This paper presents a reading of British literary representations of commercial travelers between 1800 and 1939. Three forms of representation are used: nonfiction representations by others, travelers' self-representations, and fictional representations. We find remarkable continuity in representations of commercial travelers across this long time period, particularly in terms of a sustained tension between the image of the disreputable “drummer” and the more respectable “model” salesman. These readings and findings are used to address two debates: one concerned with the timing of any transition to “modern” selling and salesmanship in Britain; and the second having to do with the processes whereby British society accommodated itself to modernity, commercialization, and the birth of a consumer society.

Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:buhirw:v:82:y:2008:i:04:p:789-814_06

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