{"product_id":"small-books-and-pleasant-histories-popular-fiction-and-its-readership-in-seventeenth-century-england-paperback-9780521312189","title":"Small Books and Pleasant Histories; Popular Fiction and its Readership in Seventeenth-Century England (Paperback) 9780521312189","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eSmall Books and Pleasant Histories\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003ePopular Fiction and its Readership in Seventeenth-Century England\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMargaret Spufford (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780521312189, Cambridge University Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback, published 3 October 1985\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e300 pages\u003cbr\u003e21.6 x 14 x 2.4 cm, 0.383 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e'Dr Spufford is already recognized as one of the most distinguished among the younger social historians working on the early modern period. Her second full-length book will not disappoint her readers … a remarkable addition to our understanding of popular literature and religion in seventeenth-century society.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eAttention has increasingly turned in recent years from the economic and agricultural framework of the life of the English villager in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to his or her social and mental world. Margaret Spufford's interest in literacy, and particularly in the ability to read, which laid the villager open to all sorts of external influences other than those coming from the pulpit and the manor house, has led her in this book to examine both the spread of reading ability, and one of the principal forms of cheap print available in the late seventeenth century at a price within the reach of the day labourer. Many historians, notably history of education specialists, had not realized the extent of elementary schooling and the consequent existence of a mass readership and a popular literature created especially for it before the Charity School movement. This book provides them with a radical new emphasis. Dr Spufford's book examines the profits made by these publishers, the scale of their operations, and the way the 'small books' were distributed throughout the country. It also examines their content, and compares the English chapbooks with their French counterparts. By so doing, the author throws light on one of the influences at work on the seventeenth-century villager, and illuminates some of the concepts and imagery that formed the imaginative stock-in-trade of the man behind the plough.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIllustrations\u003cbr\u003e Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgements\u003cbr\u003e Dedication\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e 1. The mental world of the peasant reader\u003cbr\u003e 2. Elementary education and the acquisition of reading skills\u003cbr\u003e 3. Direct and indirect evidence for readership of the chapbooks\u003cbr\u003e 4. The fortunes and the volume of stock of the chapbook publishers\u003cbr\u003e 5. The distributors: pedlars, hawkers and petty chapmen\u003cbr\u003e 6. The content of Samuel Pepys's collection and the bibliothèque bleue\u003cbr\u003e 7. Small merry books: courtship, sex and songs\u003cbr\u003e 8. Portraits of society: historical and chivalric novels\u003cbr\u003e 10. Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e Appendix\u003cbr\u003e Index.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450\/1500 to c 1700 [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Early modern history: c 1450\/1500 to c 1700\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Early%20modern%20history:%20c%201450\/1500%20to%20c%201700%20%5BHBLH%5D%22\"\u003eHBLH\u003c\/a\u003e], British \u0026amp; Irish history [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on British \u0026amp; Irish history\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22British%20\u0026amp;%20Irish%20history%20%5BHBJD1%5D%22\"\u003eHBJD1\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45909088108824,"sku":"9780521312189","price":34.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/products\/9780521312189i_3964a0b7-02e5-4dc4-b852-506f7ddf9212.jpg?v=1691375040","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/small-books-and-pleasant-histories-popular-fiction-and-its-readership-in-seventeenth-century-england-paperback-9780521312189","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}