Keeping Hold: A Cultural and Social History of Possession in Eighteenth-Century Britain

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Kate Smith (University of Birmingham)

Keeping Hold

Name: Keeping Hold
Price: 236.10 AUD
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ISBN: 9781009617598

A Cultural and Social History of Possession in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Kate Smith (University of Birmingham)

$294.95 $236.10

Hardback

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English

Cambridge University Press
19 February 2026

European history; Social & cultural history; Population & demography

What did it mean to possess something – or someone – in eighteenth-century Britain? What was the relationship between owning things and a person's character and reputation, and even their sense of self? And how did people experience the loss of a treasured belonging? Keeping Hold explores how Britons owned watches, bank notes and dogs in this period, and also people, and how these different 'things' shaped understandings of ownership.

Kate Smith examines the meaning of possession by exploring how owners experienced and responded to its loss, particularly within urban spaces.

She illuminates the complex systems of reclamation that emerged and the skills they demanded.

Incorporating a systematic study of 'lost' and 'runaway' notices from London newspapers, Smith demonstrates how owners invested time, effort and money into reclaiming their possessions. Characterising the eighteenth century as a period of loss and losing, Keeping Hold uncovers how understandings of self-worth came to be bound up with possession, with destructive implications.

By: Kate Smith (University of Birmingham)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 573g
ISBN: 9781009617598
ISBN 10: 1009617591
Pages: 284
Publication Date: 19 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction; Property, possession and the importance of loss; Part I. Challenging Property and Possession: 1. Legal and philosophical understandings of property and possession; 2. Cities of loss; Part II. Seeking Return: 3. Systems of reclamation; 4. Who lost and who looked; Part III. Learning from Loss: 5. Describing and knowing possessions; 6. Valuing possessions; 7. Selfhood and the importance of keeping hold; Conclusion. Legacies of loss.

Kate Smith is an associate professor in eighteenth-century history at the University of Birmingham. Her work explores how people related to the material world in the past. Her other books include Material Goods, Moving Hands: Perceiving Production in England, 1700–1830 (2014) and The East India Company at Home, 1757–1857 (co-edited with Margot Finn, 2018).