Reading Material in Early Modern England
Print, Gender, and Literacy

Reading Material in Early Modern England rediscovers the practices and representations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English readers.

Heidi Brayman Hackel (Author)

9780521842518, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 February 2005

336 pages, 10 b/w illus.
23.6 x 16.3 x 3 cm, 0.663 kg

"Especially valuable features of Brayman Hackel's book are the illustrations, appendix, extensive bibliographic notes and bibliography, and index" Phyllis R. Brown, Santa Clara University

Reading Material in Early Modern England rediscovers the practices and representations of a wide range of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English readers. Heidi Brayman Hackel argues for a history of reading centred on the traces left by merchants and maidens, gentlewomen and servants, adolescents and matrons - precisely those readers whose entry into the print marketplace provoked debate and changed the definition of literacy. By telling their stories and insisting upon their variety, Brayman Hackel displaces both the singular 'ideal' reader of literacy theory and the elite male reader of literacy history. This interdisciplinary study draws upon portraiture, prefaces, marginalia, commonplace books, inventories, diaries, letters and literature (Spenser, Shakespeare, Sidney, Greene, Dekker, Lyly, Jonson and others). A contribution to literary studies, the history of the book, cultural history and feminist criticism, this accessible book will also appeal to readers interested in our continuing engagement with print and the evolution of reading material.

1. Towards a material history of reading
2. Impressions from a 'scribbling age': Gestures and habits of reading
3. Framing 'gentle readers' in preliminaries and margins
4. Noting readers of the Arcadia in marginalia and commonplace books
5. Consuming readers: Ladies, lapdogs and libraries
Epilogue
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]