Publisher's Synopsis
The purpose of this study is to discuss and analyse the main feature of the history of the international industrial exhibitions of the 19th and early 20th centuries from various angles, including their purpose and scope, along with the Swedish participation in these exhibitions; to what extend did Sweden take part, what character did the Swedish exhibits have, and what were the results of the contests?.;The character of participation and the results will be considered and compared with those of the leading industrial nations. Thus, the study is an attempt to map out Sweden's technological and industrial level and its development over time in an international perspective. Of course, such a study requires a discussion of how economic growth and development have been considered in the literature of economics and economic history, and of how technology is diffused, as well as of the ways in which an analysis of international exhibitions allows this type of research.;The underlying thought is that at a time when, compared with the present, infrastructures and communications were poor, international exhibitions formed an efficient and important means of communicating and exchanging knowledge of technological developments. Contemporary views, as we shall show, were in line with such a thought.;It is a fact that Sweden, from the middle of the 19th century at least, was an integrated part of the international economy. Concerning the development of industrial technology the study will make clear how Swedish industry, in certain respects by virtue of its technical proficiency and network contacts in sweden as well as with the international market, maintained a position in the front ranks of progress. as we shall argue and demonstrate, the international exhibitions were of great importance in the process.
