The Press and the People
Cheap Print and Society in Scotland, 1500-1785
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:1st Sep '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The Press and the People is the first full-length study of cheap print in early modern Scotland. It traces the production and distribution of ephemeral publications from the nation's first presses in the early sixteenth century through to the age of Burns in the late eighteenth. It explores the development of the Scottish book trade in general and the production of slight and popular texts in particular. Focusing on the means by which these works reached a wide audience, it illuminates the nature of their circulation in both urban and rural contexts. Specific chapters examine single-sheet imprints such as ballads and gallows speeches, newssheets and advertisements, as well as the little pamphlets that contained almanacs and devotional works, stories and songs. The book demonstrates just how much more of this literature was once printed than now survives and argues that Scotland had a much larger market for such material than has been appreciated. By illustrating the ways in which Scottish printers combined well-known titles from England with a distinctive repertoire of their own, The Press and the People transforms our understanding of popular literature in early modern Scotland and its contribution to British culture more widely.
Whatever conclusions readers draw from this carefully researched study, they will be indebted to Adam Fox for opening up rich new seams of material and proposing new possibilities for a fuller understanding of Scottish society and culture in the pre-modern age. * Professor Laura A.M. Stewart, University of York, Reviews in History *
Every now and then, a work on book history comes along and it gently, insistently and with wonderful erudition resets our thinking on a fascinating subject...What the reader gets from this really enjoyable and scholarly work is not only an excellent history of cheap print in Scotland, but a source book for further detailed research. * John Scally, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society *
This is an excellent book, and it has set the benchmark for all future investigations of early modern Scottish print culture. * Ben Rogers, University College, Dublin, Scottish Church History *
Adam Fox's The Press & the People -- that is, the printing press and the people of Scotland -- is certain to remain the standard work on the subject for the foreseeable future ... one can only admire the comprehensiveness of the author's achievement. It will remain an essential work for students of street literature and cheap print. * David Atkinson, Folk Music Journal *
The Press and the People is a robust exploration of cheap print's creation and function in early modern Scotland, and the abundance of new evidence and insight Fox provides makes it a must-read for anyone interested in the period. * Laura Doak, History Scotland *
"... a significant contribution to the history of the press in Scotland." * Alastair Mann, Scottish Historical Review *
The book's overall contribution is immense, presenting a radically original picture of print material that Scots had access to and were reading in this period, and showing how widespread print was in Scottish life. The sheer quantity of examples discussed is astonishing. This book deserves to be read by anyone interested in Scottish print, reading, or cultural history in the sixteenth, seventeenth, or eighteenth centuries. * Vivienne Dunstan, University of Dundee, Eighteenth-Century Scotland *
- Winner of Shortlisted for the 2020 DeLong Book History Prize.
ISBN: 9780198791294
Dimensions: 238mm x 163mm x 33mm
Weight: 882g
480 pages