… polite code of behaviour. It eased the day-to-day transactions of urban living and is said to have been generated in the coffeehouses of metropolitan areas. Image Legend Wencelus Hollar, ‘The Royal Exchange’, Met Museum, 29.102.128, 1647. 13 … of a print and bookselling area, and surrounded by shops which sold numerous luxury goods. Beyond the Royal Exchange, coffeehouses also became centres of trading information. They were themselves a by-product of England’s trade with the Ottoman Empire, and by 1737 there were over 500 coffeehouses in London. Information and connections gathered in these spaces contributed to making a merchant successful, …