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

• Published in: Business history review Vol. 82; no. 4; pp. 789 - 814
• Main Authors: French, Michael, Popp, Andrew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 2008; Harvard Business School
• Subjects: 18th century; Advertising; British culture; Business history; Business orders; Business studies; Commerce; Commercialization; Commercials; Consumer society; Corporate culture; Economic value; Formal organization; Identity; Itinerant sales; Marketing; Masculinity; Middle class; Modernity; Sales techniques; Salespeople; Self image; Society; Studies; Travel; Travelers; United Kingdom; Wholesalers; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 0007-6805; 2044-768X
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007680500063200

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.