View of the Barfüsserplatz to the south (1820) – picture detail
Within the "Printed Markets" project framework, the different collaborators pursue studies on different topics.
Anna Reimann writes a dissertation that focusses on the world of goods, the material objects that were offered or requested for sale. The vast majority of ads in the Avisblatt were devoted to that purpose. A special focus of the project will be the advertisements offering and requesting second hand goods, as well as the potential of the dominant narratives in the history of consumption (e.g. consumer, industrious and retail revolution) for Swiss cities, as those have mostly been based on and tested in the so-called miracle economies of Northwestern Europe.
Ina Serif draws on the advertisments for books and prints in order to shed light on the local book market that involved private as well as professional buyers and sellers. The advertisements contain offers and requests for different types of publication, from prayer books and bibles to contemporary fiction and encyclopedias and give insight into the reading culture of an early modern town.
Alexander Engel prepares contributions to areas of the Avisblatt beyond requests and offers of material objects, such as the labour market, or lottery and auction advertisements. He is also interested in a more systematical approach to the different forms of allocation that feature in the Avisblatt, and he also tends to the victual price data.