Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-235) and index.
Contents
Ready money only : small shops and new retail methods -- Vanity fairs : the growth of bazaars and fancy fairs -- 'Mothers beware!' : fraud by the retailer -- The culture of fraud and the female consumer -- Shoplifting in early nineteenth-century England -- Mrs. McGregor's sealskin jacket : female frauds and the art of buying without paying -- Solving the problem of the criminal consumer : women and kleptomania.