Szabó István szerk.: Városi polgárok a századelőn (A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Kiállításvezetői, 1999)

Gábor Bagi: Townscape and tobacco shop

Gábor Bagi Townscape The segment of a street shown in the exhibition adverts to the main characteristics of the bourgeois era of Szolnok. The Roman Catholic, the Protestant churches and the Israelite synagogue situated fairly close to each other became the main symbols of the town representing the variegation and coequality of the local cultures. The tobacco shop (trafik) shows the general objects of the age. The tobacco shop gradually became a characteristic landmark of the age from 1850 onwards, the date when the state grabbed the monopoly of selling tobacco. The products of the big tobacco companies were brought to the consumers by wholesalers, retailers and street-vendors. Four types of tobacco goods were known: snuff tobacco (slowly losing its importance), pipe tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. Inside every type they differentiated „general", „special" and „unique" (top) quality classes. Tobacco shops soon brought in various items having to do with consuming tobacco (pipes, cigarette holders, cigarette paper, matches, flint, pipe cleaners, etc.). These shops also sold stamps, picture post cards and printed forms. Before long, tobacco shop lottery tickets became their general articles alongside with sweets, chocolates and perhaps brands of tea and coffee. Among the goods on stock one could find daily and weekly papers, some cheap series of popular books for adults and for children, calendars and leaflets. After all they started selling any goods that were not profitable to sell in other, specialised shops. In the supply of goods of the Szolnok tobacco shops mainly cheap and medium quality products played the most dominant role. We can observe three social layers of the shopping public. Firstly, members of the administration of the local and country government and other representatives of the intelligentsia, the group of people that was the most deeply involved in the development of bourgeois mentality. Secondly, members of the working class and railway employees who appeared on the social scene during this period and were rapidly increasing in number. Thirdly, the farming population, who remained rather conservative and traditional in their way of life. Following this, tobacco shops with diverse supply of goods appeared at different spots in the town. 72