First Published in 1977. This book defines popular literature, and traces its development in England from the beginnings of printing to the year 1897, and provides a critical survey of sources available for its study.

First Published in 1977. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book is a cultural history of the nineteenth-century songster: pocket-sized anthologies of song texts, usually without musical notation. It examines the musical, social, commercial and aesthetic functions songsters served and the processes by which they were produced and disseminated, the repertory they included, and the singers, printers and entrepreneurs that both inspired their manufacture and facilitated their consumption. Taking an international perspective, chapters focus on songsters from Ireland, North America, Australia and Britain and the varied public and private contexts in which they were used and exploited in oral and print cultures.

In nineteenth-century England poverty was more hideous and widespread than ever before. Broadside ballads told the tale aloud in part-issue on English streets. Here for the first time is a systematic study and anthology of what they said.