Die Stadt im Buch. Eine Wiederentdeckung englischer Adressbücher für die Stadtgeschichte

Abstract

Directories – printed lists local tradespeople and ‘notable’ inhabitants – were once a popular type of source in the field of urban history, particularly for quantitative research on the social and economic structures of towns. Their cultural meanings and functions, however, have only been studied very little – regardless of the great popularity of such volumes from the 18^th through to the 20th century. This paper proposes a new approach to directories by asking what it was that made them so successful as a genre and by taking seriously their character as spatial media. Taking English directories of the period between 1760 and 1830 as an example, it demonstrates that such books served as repositories of local economic, social, and cultural knowledge. As such, they not only contributed to orientation within the complex urban landscape, but also helped to shape and popularize new practices of addressing and wayfinding, particularly house numbering and street signage. Thus, for contemporary users, directories rendered the many layers of urban space more legible and navigable. Analyzing these sources offers fascinating insights into both verbal and physical conceptualizations of towns and urbanity in a time of rapid urbanization.