This book reveals the eighteenth-century home as a site of emergence for science. By rejecting the limiting associations of 'domestic life', this book re-imagines a culture of enquiry populated by apprentices and housewives as much as Fellows of the Royal Society.
This study explores the practice of scientific enquiry as it took place in the eighteenth-century home. While histories of science have identified the genteel household as an important site for scientific experiment, they have tended to do so via biographies of important men of science. Using a wide range of historical source material, from household accounts and inventories to letters and print culture, this book investigates the tools within reach of early modern householders in their search for knowledge. It considers the under-explored question of the home as a site of knowledge production and does so by viewing scientific enquiry as one of many interrelated domestic practices. It shows that knowledge production and consumption were necessary facets of domestic life and that the eighteenth-century home generated practices that were integral to 'Enlightenment' enquiry.
By:
Leonie Hannan Imprint: Manchester University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 467g ISBN:9781526153036 ISBN 10: 1526153033 Pages: 272 Publication Date:01 November 2023 Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Active
Leonie Hannan is a Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century History at Queen's University, Belfast.