Chapbooks
Also called: Penny chapbooks · Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"
Meaning
Chapbooks were cheap, small books sold for a penny in England. They carried ballads, folk tales and other popular stories. They were sold by travelling sellers called chapmen, so even the poor could buy something to read. They were part of the 17th–18th century boom in reading known as the reading mania.
Example
In England, chapmen carried penny chapbooks from village to village. In France, the Bibliotheque Bleue did the same job. These were cheap small books printed on poor paper and bound in blue covers.
Don't confuse with
- Almanacs: yearly booklets with calendars, dates of religious festivals and useful information. Chapbooks mostly carried stories and ballads.