Many of the poorer Frankfurt Jews worked in the 18th century as peddlers. They sold food, textiles, spirits and many other goods in the city and the surrounding towns and villages. The severe impoverishment of Frankfurt Jews after the great fires of 1711 and 1721 led to a particularly sharp increase in the number of small traders barely making a living. Guide books of the period frequently mention the large number of Jewish peddlers selling their wares in Frankfurt's inns and streets. A few autobiographical notes from the start of the 19th century portray the hard life of these rural peddlers who often wandered from place to place without any success.