Chapbook readership
An address to the reader, from: Roman stories: or The history of the seven wise mistresses of RomeChapbooks were originally produced for children or for the working-class and Victor Neuberg argues that:
during the 18th century chapbooks formed the main reading matter available for the poor .. [with] a disproportionate amount of space being occupied by tales of magic and adventure. Children’s books and antiquated treatises on various subjects sold in numbers, four sheets for a penny.
Rigid barriers existed between social classes and gender in 17th and 18th century society and each stratum of society was bounded by a certain etiquette, even in literary consumption. The prevailing readership of the era was made up of those from the middle and upper classes, who had received a formal education from a young age and could afford books other than chapbooks.
The dependence of authors on aristocratic patronage resulted in a literary culture which, as Theresa Gerrard argues, catered specifically to the privileged members of society. Records and evidence of upper-class reading habits are more widely available, due to the more expensively produce books they read having lasted, as well as the tendency to document literary engagements in diaries and letters.
At the other end of the social spectrum working-class readership patterns are hard to trace, due to the lack of surviving evidence. Nevertheless, the survival of chapbooks provides a glimpse into the stories enjoyed by the lower classes, with some printers even including a short note at the beginning for the reader:
To the reader…this small volume of Tales and Stories is collected for thy Diversion and Instruction, and may serve to show thee what subtle Devices and malicious Accusations were formally laid to attain Grandeur, and gratify malicious and ambitious persons…this small book, likewise, by the diverting Stories therein encourages and allures Children and Youth to learn to read English.
This passage intends to promote literacy amongst children and semi-literate individuals, through the engagement of small tales but Neuberg also claims that ‘in the absence of juvenile books, chapbooks were widely read by the children of well-to-do families.’
In this exhibition
- Introduction
- What are chapbooks?
- Who sold and printed chapbooks?
- Chapbook readership
- Woodcut illustrations
- Women and 18th century print
- Female representations in chapbooks
- Further contexts
- Select bibliography