This book is an extensive investigation of letters and letter writing across two centuries, focusing on the sociocultural function and meaning of epistolary writing - letters that were circulated, were intended to circulate, or were perceived to circulate within the culture of epistolarity in early modern England. The study examines how the letter functioned in a variety of social contexts, yet also assesses what the letter meant as idea to early modern letter writers, investigating letters in both manuscript and print contexts. It begins with an overview of the culture of epistolarity, examines the material components of letter exchange, investigates how emotion was persuasively textualized in the letter, considers the transmission of news and intelligence, and examines the publication of letters as propaganda and as collections of moral-didactic, personal, and state letters. Gary Schneider is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Texas-Pan American.

Volume 1 of a set of 4.

Excerpt from Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony I have tried to tell, accurately but in readable fashion, the Story of the builders of our Town: their homes and home life, their employments, their Sabbath keeping, their love of learning, their administration of Town affairs, their sterndelusions, and their heroism, in War and in resistance to Tyranny. The seventeenth century was a brilliant and thrilling period in Ipswich history, and it seemed best to me to consider it some what at length, and to close my historical study with the end Of that century rather than to attempt a briefer summary of the complete history of the Town. If this work finds favor, I shall begin at once to gather material for another volume, in which the historical and topographical studies will be carried on to completion. NO attempt has been made to construct a genealogical appendix. The magnitude Of the undertaking, properly carried out, seemed too great, and the forthcoming publication of the Vital statistics'of the Town, by the Essex Institute, renders it unnecessary. In Part Two, however, a topographical study has been made, from the beginning to the present generation. Nearly two thousand citations from the County Records have been carefully verified, and the likelihood of error has been reduced to the lowest possible degree. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.