Lisa Peters - Böcker

The provincial newspaper was read by peers, politicians and the proletariat alike. It is striking, however, how limited a range of newspapers and journals are offered for analysis in most historical studies of the political media in modern Britain. The predominance of the London political press and Punch in academic discourse appears to derive largely from the easy availability of these papers and journals to modern scholars rather than their actual distribution and popularity. Consequently, there has been hitherto a distinct lack of attention given to the British regional press by historians. This collection aims to correct this imbalance by investigating the development, maturation and persistence of the provincial political press in the British Isles in the modern era. Chapters covering aspects of the Irish, Yorkshire, Welsh, Scottish and Midlands political press are included to ensure a representative geographical spread of provincial Britain. These chapters cover previously neglected aspects of print culture, political literacy and reading practices across the regions of Britain in the late eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to offer an introduction to research in this burgeoning field of study.

This edited volume provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at the printed material often regarded as disposable by its contemporaries and, until recently, as unworthy of serious academic research. From the fifteenth century to the twentieth century, this volume not only demonstrates the wide variety of ephemeral publications which have survived to the present day, but also shows how they can be used to interpret history and printing history and culture in particular. Some of the forms of printed ephemera discussed will be familiar to scholars such as chapbooks and commercially-printed posters whilst others, such as papal indulgences and bellman’s sheets are more unusual. The collection discusses the production, distribution and consumption of ephemera, including how it can be used demonstrate changes to print culture over time. This volume aims to demonstrate that printed ephemera, in its many and varied forms, is worthy of serious academic study.