Description

During the nineteenth century, Britain had experienced impressive industrial growth, which enabled the country to become a major world power. This expansion brought economic improvement and a wide variety of imports which fuelled demand for a better quality of goods and higher quantities of shops at home in the British Isles. During the earlier years of the last century, many shops were to be found in Birmingham, by now a major industrial centre. The shopkeepers of Birmingham catered for their customers in whatever way they could. Indeed, the diversity of things sold in these shops ranged from foodstuffs, such as bread and milk, to cycling equipment and pet food. A marvellous, wide ranging view of shops in Birmingham, highly illustrated with over 100 fascinating postcards, Old Birmingham Shops from Old Photographs will not only appeal to lovers of shopping, but also to local historians. Many of the postcards that appear in the book feature the numerous types of products sold, a significant number from the period 1900 - 14, a time known as 'the golden age of postcards'. Advertising their wares became highly important for shopkeepers, a development which is seen on a worldwide scale today, and these adverts throw some light on the social conditions of the time, including accelerating change.