Misers: British Responses to Extreme Saving, 1700–1860

This book explores how British attitudes about saving money shifted between 1700 and 1860, using the extreme case of misers to examine interlocking categories that undergirded the emergence of modern British society. It examines how misers were invented, interpreted, analyzed, and profiled in sermons, poems, novels, and plays, and how they were credited with adding to the nation's stock of capital and with empathizing with fellow human beings. By the time A Christmas Carol appeared in 1843, many Victorians had come to embrace misers as links between one generation's extreme saving and the next generation's virtuous spending.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 250 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive volume delves into the intricate web of interconnected categories that shaped the emergence of modern British society, offering fresh insights into charity, morality, marriage, passion, sympathy, and modes of saving, spending, and investment. By examining the extreme case of misers, the book explores how British attitudes towards saving money evolved between 1700 and 1860.

Misers, as portrayed in sermons, poems, novels, and plays, are analyzed by economists and philosophers, and their profiles are featured in obituaries and biographies. This study seeks to understand how British attitudes towards saving money shifted during this period, in contrast to the previous century.

In the nineteenth century, misers gained newfound appreciation as economists credited them with contributing to the nation's capital stock. Novelists also depicted them as possessing the ability to empathize with fellow human beings, creating a new dimension to their characters. These fictional depictions intertwined with real-life individuals who posthumously earned the label of miser, leading to the emergence of a cottage industry of miser biographies by the 1850s.

By the time Charles Dickens' iconic novel "A Christmas Carol" was published in 1843, many Victorians had come to embrace misers as a bridge between generations, symbolizing the extreme saving of one generation and the virtuous spending of the next. This volume serves as a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in exploring the representation of misers in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367524647