I wrote a cheque last week for some incoming books - a very unusual occurence at the moment. These charmed me and when I had looked them up showed me that I'm probably not alone in my reaction. There are eleven of them out of a set of 16, tiny, thin, fragile, c. 1840 printed in Otley, Yorkshire. It's amazing they have survived in such good, unfoxed un-grimed condition. They're either printed in yellow and black, red, or brown with eight woodcuts in each and tell the traditional children's tales, Old Mother Hubbard, The History of Cinderella, Cock Robin and Jenny Wrenn and so on. They're chapbooks - may as well let Wikki take over here...
"....pocket-sized booklets, popular from the sixteenth through to the later part of the nineteenth century.
The term chap-book was coined by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera (disposable printed material). It includes many kinds of printed material, such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales, children's literature and almanacs. Where there were illustrations, they would be popular prints. The term is derived from chapmen, a variety of peddler, who circulated such literature as part of their stock.
It's quite a while since I got excited about anything in the book trade but I'm excited about these. I don't want to part with them for a while either.
1 comment:
They are rather fine, I can see why you would want to hang on to them. Just possessing some things sustains a small smile inside.
Hmmmm sounds a bit creepy, not in the serial killer kind of way......
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