Business and power in late eighteenth-century British dictionaries of trade and commerce

The second half of the eighteenth century saw the publication of three British dictionaries of trade and commerce: Postlethwayt’s (1751–17551st, and later), Rolt’s (17561st, 17612nd), and Mortimer’s (1766). On the one hand, they included very practical and useful knowledge for the daily activities of merchants, manufacturers, and men of business in general; on the other hand, they also promoted “commerce as a national science”, to support “the interests of all the dominions belonging to the crown” (Postlethwayt, 1751–17551st, p. ix). As a consequence, the function of these dictionaries went far beyond ‘practicality’: they actually helped to change the representation of an expanding and empowering nation. Dictionaries of trade and commerce reflected the construction of dominant discourses at the socio-cultural and political levels. The general aim of this contribution is both a close examination of the lexis of trade and commerce and a discussion on its cultural assumptions as they emerge from the paratextual apparatus.