xxi, 275 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 21 cm
Contents
The mental world of the peasant reader -- Elementary education and the acquisition of reading skills -- Direct and indirect evidence for readership of the chapbooks -- The fortunes and the volume of stock of the chapbook publishers -- The distributors: pedlars, hawkers and petty chapmen -- The content of Samuel Pepys's collection and the bibliothèque bleue -- Small merry books: courtship, sex and songs -- Small Godly books: popular religion -- Portraits of society: historical and chivalric novels -- Conclusion -- Appendix The chapbook section of the trade-list of William Thackeray, c. 1689