Curiosity, Commerce, and Conversation: Nursery-Gardens and Nurserymen in Eighteenth-Century London

Abstract

This article examines the cultural history of early commercial nursery-gardens in London (c. 1680-1730). It aims to establish nursery-gardens and their operatives as the objects of serious cultural-historical analysis, and to situate these sites and practitioners in relation to broader contemporary phenomena that are routinely cited as fundamental to the life of the eighteenth-century city: commercial prosperity, knowledge production, and urban sociability. The first section charts the growth of the commercial nursery, with particular attention to questions concerning elite patronage. The second section interrogates the interwoven careers of the nurseryman Thomas Fairchild as a writer, practical horticulturist, and successful businessman.