18th Century Booths at Markets & Fairs
The illustrations on this page provide examples of the temporary structures that were built and used for selling goods at fairs, etc. These booths are often constructed from a combination of wood and canvas. Some are little more than a table holding goods; others may be more durable market stalls. The illustrations also show how goods were displayed for sale at 18th century markets.
For 14th-17th century examples of fair booths, see Merchants’ Booths in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
In addition to the research articles in the Additional Resources section, look over An Account Of the Laſt Bartholomew-Fair, And the Late City Order for Regulating the Same, With Two Letters to a Citizen of London on that Occaſion (1702) along with Reasons Formerly publiſhed for the Punctual Limiting of Bartholomew Fair To thoſe Three Days to which it is determined by the Royal Grant of it to the City of London, Now Reprinted with Additions, to prevent a Deſign ſet on Foot to procure an Eſtablishment ofthe ſaid Fair for Fourteen Days (1711). (There are no relevant passages on the construction of booths for fairs, but they’re an interesting glimpse at what was going on at an 18th century fair in England.)
Additional Resources
JSTOR offers access to several related articles, including The Changing Role of Fairs in the Long Eighteenth Century, The Individual in the Crowd at Eighteenth-Century London Fairs, and Entertainment in the Parisian Fairs in the Eighteenth Century.
Frost Fair on the Thames, c. 1685
Village fair by Pieter Angellis, c. 1685-1734
Bartholomew Fair, c. 1721
Covent Garden by Pieter Angillis, c. 1726
Southwark Fair by William Hogarth, 1733
Les marchands de chevaux, c. 1733-1734
Foire de Venise, 1736
View of a Frost Fair on the Thames, 1740
A Prospect of Frost Fair, 1740
Piazza San Marco, Venice by Bernardo Bellotto, c. 1740
The Chevaliers Market, or Highland Fair, 1745 (also here)
Horse Fair on Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh by Paul Sandby, 1750
Non liber arque [argument at a a produce stall], c. 1760-1800
The Grote Markt at The Hague by Paulus Constantijn la Fargue, 1760
View of the daily market in The Hague by Paulus Constantijn la Fargue, 1764
The Groenmarkt as seen towards the Westeinde (The Hague) by Paulus Constantijn la Fargue, c. 1765
Winter landscape by Rienk Jelgerhuis, 1765
The Humours of a Fair, c. 1770
The King’s Shilling, c. 1770
An Holland Smock to be run for, by any Woman born in this County: The best Woman in three Heats, 1770
A view of the Groenmarkt, The Hague by Paulus Constantijn la Fargue, c. 1770
The Village Fair by Hendrik de Meyer, 1774
The Fair at Cheltenham by Edward Eyre, 1775
La Fête à Saint-Cloud by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1775-1780
Pot Fair, 1777
A horse fair, by Philibert Benoît de La Rue, before 1780
Market Day, Roseau, Dominica and A Linen Market with a Linen-stall and Vegetable Seller in the West Indies by Agostino Brunias, c. 1780
Humours of a Country Fair, c. 1780
Donnybrook Fair by Francis Wheatley, 1782
Donnybrook Fair by Francis Wheatley, 1788
Frost on the Thames by Samuel Collings, 1788-1789
Flemish Characters, 1793
The Village Fair by Hendrik Tavernier
Entrance to Pidcock's Exhibition Tent at a Fair by Henry William Bunbury
A Fair in the Country by Thomas Rowlandson
Oliebollenkraam by Christiaan Meijer, c. 1803-1808
May Day by William Collins, c. 1811-1812
The Fair Grounds by Frederick Christian Lewis the Elder