Clandestine commerce: retailing contraband textiles in late eighteenth-century Sweden

ABSTRACT This article looks at how contraband was retailed in Sweden between the 1760s and the 1800s and explores how widespread this trade was. It draws on material from the Swedish customs office court records and explores three different retailing channels for contraband that emerge from the material – pedlars, fairs and shops. Officially, these retail outlets were quite distinct from each other, governed by strict regulations as to what and how wares should be traded. This article posits that through the support of their consumers retailers managed to break free from the trade regulations and were able to expand their stock with foreign illegal wares, leading to the dissemination of contraband across the Swedish realm.