David Brass Rare Books, Inc

[CHAP BOOKS] Burns, Robert Wilson, Alexander Lewis, Matthew Gregory Collection of Nineteenth-Century Chap Books, A   

A Wonderful Collection of Nineteenth-Century Chap Books[CHAP BOOKS]. [A Collection of Thirty-Eight Nineteenth-Century Scottish Chap Books and Penny Histories]. [Various places (Stirling, Paisley, Glasgow, Airdrie, and Durham)]: 1823-1838.Twelvemo (6 5/8 x 4 inches; 168 x 102 mm.). Woodcut title vignettes, decorative woodcut title borders and head-pieces.Nineteenth-century quarter burgundy roan, ruled in gilt, over russet sand-grain cloth boards. Spine decoratively ruled and tooled in compartments with four flat raised bands. The lettering label has come off but the title is still visible impressed into the spine: Chap Books. Early ink signature of A.E. Fisher, July 19, 1893, on front free endpaper. Spine extremities, joints, and corners rubbed. Some occasional soiling and/or browning. A few short tears or paper flaws. A wonderful collection.In addition to several collections of songs, this collection includes Robert Burns s Tam O Shanter. A Tale (Paisley: Printed for G. Caldwell, Jun. Bookseller, 1825); Matthew Gregory Lewis s Rugantino, the Bravo of Venice (Durham: Printed by George Walker, Jun., 1838); and The Man with the Iron Mask; Being A Circumstantial Account Of His Mysterious Confinement In The Prison Of The Bastile; and of the secresy with which his name and countenance were prevented from being known or seen, until the period of His Death. With a particular detail of all the circumstances connected with his Real Birth and Parentage, and of The cruel Treatment and Restraint which he experienced, By Order Of His Brother, Louis XIV. King of France (Durham: Printed by George Walker, Jun., 1838).A complete listing is available upon request. Growing out of an earlier tradition of inexpensive ballad literature, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century chapbooks were small publications that contained songs, poems, political treatises, folk stories, religious tracts, and all manner of short texts In general, chapbooks were inexpensive publications designed for the poorer literate classes. They were typically printed on a single sheet of low-quality paper, folded to make eight, sixteen, or twenty-four pages, though some examples were longer still Rather than using relatively expensive etchings, chapbook printers illustrated their wares with crude woodcuts. Many of these woodcuts were reused in multiple chapbooks, a single image serving to depict several different persons, places, or events. They were usually sold without covers (though many are today found regathered into volumes, the legacy of generations of collectors). This combination of low-quality paper, crude illustrations, and no cover made for a very cheap book that was affordable for the ever-increasing number of working-class readers. In Scotland, where literacy rates tended to be higher than elsewhere in the British Isles, chapbooks were particularly popular. Whereas England, with its large cities, supported a thriving newspaper industry, Scotland's rural nature discouraged the production of inexpensive periodical literature to compete with chapbooks. Three chapbooksGlasgow and Edinburgh in particular became centers for chapbook publication, with smaller cities such as Paisley, Kilmarnock, Stirling, Falkirk, and Dumfries also contributing to the trade. Cities just south of the border, such as Newcastle, Carlisle, and Penrith, published as much for a Scottish audience as for an English one (The Scottish Chapbook Project, University of South Carolina, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, at http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook.html).

$US2000

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