Paolo Di Martino & Andrew Popp 
People, Places and Business Cultures 
Essays in Honour of Francesca Carnevali

Inspired by the work and legacy of Francesca Carnevali, this collection brings together new research into nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and European economic history, socio-cultural history and business history.


This collection brings together new research into nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and European economic history, socio-cultural history and business history. It is inspired by the work and legacy of Francesca Carnevali who, throughout her career, encouraged a lively dialogue between these different disciplines. The book offers innovative views and perspectives on key debates and emphasises the connections between economic environments and wider social and cultural elements. It also considers methodological issues and emerging approaches in economic history. Topics include banks and business finance in the nineteenth century, mass-market retailing and class demarcations, economic microhistory, and comparative history and capitalism. Economic, business, social and cultural historians alike will find it of interest.


PAOLO DI MARTINO is Senior Lecturer in International Business History at the Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham.

ANDREW POPP is Professor of Business History at the University of Liverpool.

PETER SCOTT is Professor of International Business History at the University of Reading’s Henley Business School and Director of Henley’s Centre for International Business History.


CONTRIBUTORS: Andrea Colli, Paolo Di Martino, Leslie Hannah, Matthew Hilton, Ken Lipartito, Lucy Newton, Andrew Popp, Peter Scott, Anna Spadavecchia, James Walker, Chris Wickham

Table of Content

Editors’ Introduction: Economic History ‘as if People Mattered’ – Paolo Di Martino and Peter Scott and Andrew Popp

Politics, Society and Culture in the World of Production: Some Reflections on Francesca Carnevali’s Legacy – Paolo Di Martino

Custom and Spectacle: The Public Staging of Business Life – Andrew Popp

The Political Economy of Financing Italian Small Businesses, 1950-1990s – Alberto Rinaldi and Anna Spadavecchia

Banks and Business Finance in Britain before 1914: A Comparative Evaluation – Leslie Hannah

Large-Scale Retailing, Mass Market Strategies and the Blurring of Class Demarcations in Inter-War Britain – Peter Scott

Large-Scale Retailing, Mass Market Strategies and the Blurring of Class Demarcations in Inter-War Britain – James T. Walker

‘Made in England’: Making and Selling the Piano, 1851-1914 – Lucy Newton

Twentieth-Century British History: Perspectives, Trajectories and some Thoughts on a Revised Textbook – Matthew Hilton

From Social Capital to Social Assemblage – Ken Lipartito

Economic History and Microhistory – Chris Wickham

Europe’s Difference and Comparative History: Searching for European Capitalism – Andrea Colli

Editors’ Conclusion – Paolo Di Martino and Peter Scott and Andrew Popp

Appendix: Bibliography of Francesca Carnevali’s Published Work

Bibliography