The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

1.1 Introduction
Chapter 1
The Raw Material Market
Because the Leather was grown dear,
And carried over Sea, we hear;
But Gentle Craftsmen never fear,
You'll still be brisk Shoemakers
The Gentle Craft's Complaint (1676).
In order to understand the importance of the boot and shoe trade in pre-
industrial urban economies, the structure and scale of the raw material market has
to be briefly examined. Leather was in the eighteenth century a material with many
varied uses. In a world where nature was providing essential resources, leather
exemplified the complex relationship between nature and transformation. It was
the output of the animal world and the input of many different manufactures.
Leather was not only used to produce footwear, but also provided a wide spectrum
of leather goods.' Dr Campbell wrote in his Political State of Great Britain:
If we look abroad on the instrument of husbandry, on the instruments used in most
mechanic trades, on the structure of a multitude of engines and machines; or if we
contemplate at home the necessary part of our clothing - breaches, shoes, boots,
gloves - or the furniture of our houses, the books on our shelves, the harness of our
horses, and even the substance of our carriages; what do we see but instances of
human industry exerted upon leather? What an aptitude has this single material in a
variety of circumstances for the relief of our necessities, and supplying
conveniences in every state and stage of life? Without it, or even without it in plenty
we have it, to what difficulties should be exposed? 2
In the same way, in France De Berteval reported half a century later that "les
tanneries doivent être regardées en effect, comme object de premiere nécessité.
'L.A. Clarkson, 'The leather manufacture', in G.E. Mingay, The agrarian history of England and
Wales c. 1750-1850 (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 468-9.
2 A Boyer, Political State of Great Britain... (London, 1710-11), vol. ii, p. 176.