Chapbooks

Chapbooks were very popular texts (often written with children and low-level readers in mind) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were generally printed on a single sheet of paper and then folded (sometimes sewn, sometimes not), they were hastily written works meant to be sold cheaply, by "pack-men" who sold many other goods as well. Topics included traditional stories for children, sensational "true" stories, guides for behavior, joke books, and other topics. The purpose of the chapbook was to amuse and entertain quickly, without a great deal of depth. But the impact of these books, illustrated with hastily carved (and thus inexpensive) woodcuts, was considerable. The chapbooks represented below, which includes the popular "History of Valentine and Orson" (below) and "Dreams and Moles" are from John Ashton's Chap Books of the Eighteenth Century (1863).