Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Imported from India, China, the Levant, and Persia and appreciated for their diversity, designs, fast bright colours and fine weave, Asian textiles became so popular in France that in 1686 the state banned their import, consumption and imitation. A fateful decision. This book tells the story of smuggling on a vast scale, savvy retailers and rebellious consumers. It also reveals how reformers in the French administration itself sponsored a global effort to acquire the technological know-how necessary to produce such textiles and how the vitriolic debates surrounding the eventual abolition of the ban were one of the decisive moments in the development of Enlightenment economic liberalism.
Table of contents:
Introduction
Part I Global Textiles
Prologue: Three French Women and Their Troublesome Textiles
1 Global Fabrics: The French Trade in Asian and Asian-Style Textiles
Part II Smuggling
2 Smuggling Textiles into France
3 Smuggled Textiles Worn in France: The Politics of Privilege and the Violence of Fashion
Part III The Making of Economic Liberalism
4 The State of Knowledge
5 Enlightenment Campaigning
Conclusion
Appendices
I French East India Company Textile imports
II French Levant Trade Textile Imports
III A Comparison of French Textile Imports via the Levant and via the East India Companies
IV Convictions by the Commission de Valence
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
Further information, a sample, and free previews of all the chapters are available on http:// http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137444875
For a limited time, until 31 August 2016, individuals can get 30% off the price of this book, or of any of the other three in the series, by quoting the coupon code PM16THIRTY when ordering on www.palgrave.com or via customerservice@springer.com.
Source: H-France