Consuming Texts: Readers and Reading Communities, 1695-1870

by Stephen Colclough

Overview

This volume explores the history of reading in the British Isles during a period in which the printed word became all pervasive. From wealthy readers of 'amatory fiction', through to men and women reading surreptitiously at the Victorian railway bookstall, it argues that a variety of new reading communities emerged during this period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349357574
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/2007
Edition description:	1st ed. 2007
Pages:	239
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

STEPHEN COLCLOUGH is Lecturer in Nineteenth and Twentieth-century Literature at the University of Wales, Bangor. From 2001 - 2005 he was AHRC Fellow in Book History at the Centre for Writing and Publishing, University of Reading. He has published widely on the history of reading and text dissemination.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Consuming Texts Reading Has a History Reworking the Word: Readers and Their Manuscript Books, 1695-1730 Diversities of Reading Practice, 1695-1770 The Circulating Library, Book Club and Subscription Library- Readers and Reading Communities, 1770-1800 Communal Practice and Individual Response- Reading in the Late-Romantic Period Towards a Mass Audience, Or, John Clare and the Problem of the Unknown Public Conclusion: Texts Consumed Bibliography