The glove is up as apes surround the pedlar and sell him into the land of Egypt. When the pin drops out of the candle I will have my bond, but nobody to know what it is; only the Devil, whose bargain with a fool and his money was made at Horn Fair. With which eye do you see me? That pig in a poke may turn out to be a dark horse when apes, ivory and peacocks have paid their toll at Goblin Market. New lamps for old! Sold to the gentleman who scratched his nose for a string of beads and a beanstalk. Simple Simon met a court of pie powder when the fishwife was sold at Smithfield, but what the old man does always follows the flag. Buy one brandy for the parson, get one free baccy for the tooth fairy if you pay on the nail. Your cat is a pearl of great price, Robin Hood told the potter, but let the buyer beware if he places his money in vinegar. Turn again, Dick Whittington, who will buy my sweet tulip mania for a luck penny?
Join us for our two-day conference on Trade in Legend and Tradition, to be held on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September as the twentieth Legendary Weekend of The Folklore Society, at Tuckers Hall, home of the Guild of Tuckers, Weavers and Shearmen in Fore Street, Exeter EX4 3AN.
Whether you’re into fairs or fairy gold, merchant gilds or markets, the lore of trade, commerce or business--from smugglers to street cries and the South Sea Bubble, from murdered pedlars to plague stones--and whether you're a folklorist, entrepreneur, economic historian, storyteller, captain of industry or jack of all trades, all are welcome to join us.
The conference fee is £35 for speakers, £70 for others attending. If you would like to attend, please contact the organisers, Jeremy Harte and Sophia Kingshill: jrmharte@gmail.com and skingshill@gmail.com at The Folklore Society, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT
Programme
Saturday 5th September
9.30 Registration and coffee
First session
10.00 Gabriel Baxter Baker, ‘Gender Fluidity and Transgender Trading’
10.30 Keith Shipton, ‘Profitable Cuckoldry’
11.00 Coffee at conference
Second session
11.30 Sandra Unerman, ‘Victorian London: Doing Business with Strangers’
12.00 Piers Benn, ‘The Security Risk Manager’s Tale’
12.30 Lucy Hornberger, ‘Beckoning Cats, Flower Rings and Marching Bands:
Ensuring Business Success in Japan’
13.00 Break for lunch
Third session
14.30 Jessica Lloyd May, ‘Gratitude in the time of Cow Pox’
15.00 Molly Hughes, ‘Kissing the Devil’s Arse’
15.30 Filipak Crawford, ‘Singular Cunning and Superstition’
16.00 Tea at conference
Fourth session
16.45 Tommy Kuusela, ‘What if Money Never Burns a Hole in your Pocket?’
17.15 Naomi Brown, ‘Ex-Changelings: Human Trafficking and the Otherworld in
Welsh and Irish Folklore’
17.45 Asya Zherdeva, ‘The Theme of Trade in Crimean Folklore’
Sunday 6th September
10.30 Coffee at conference
11.00 Juliette Wood, ‘The Trade in Unicorn Horn and how it Affected Folklore’
11.30 Robert Halliday, ‘Pedlars’ Wayside Graves’
12.00 Helen Frisby and John Harris, ‘Ashes, Omens and Undertakers’
