Chap-Books Of The Eighteenth Century

From crude woodcuts to gaudy ballads sold for a penny, chapbooks shaped how ordinary people read, dreamed and remembered. Tiny books once shaped Britain. In Chap-Books of the Eighteenth Century, John Ashton leads us through the noisy marketplaces of eighteenth century Britain and Georgian era England, presenting a richly illustrated chapbook history that brings back the colour, humour and pathos of popular print culture. Here are the pocket-sized pamphlets, street cries and song sheets that lived far from polite drawing rooms, yet did as much as any classic to form the imaginative life of a nation. Drawing on early English printing and a lifetime's curiosity, Ashton treats these fragile publications as both entertainment and evidence. He surveys the history of chapbooks as a vital branch of English street literature, tracing how stories, sermons and news travelled in cheap print, and how folk tales and ballads survived in humble pamphlet form. Written with wit and precision, this is at once an engaging eighteenth century literature study and an indispensable sourcebook for cultural historians, students of broadside ballad collections, and anyone fascinated by the everyday life of print. A delight for casual readers and a trove for book collectors. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today - a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike.