Pedlars and the Popular Press: Itinerant Distribution Networks in England and the Netherlands 1600-1850(29 Library of the Written Word - The Handpress World)

Itinerant salesmen, also called pedlars, street hawkers, hucksters and ballad singers are considered to be the most important distributors of popular printed matter in Europe between 1600 and 1850. A general assumption is that the pedlar travelling from town to countryside was strongly distinct from the role of the established booksellers in the towns, selling books to the educated and affluent buyer. The commercial position of the urban pedlars, however, is very often underestimated. In this book, therefore, the itinerant book trade is studied in an English and Dutch, urban context, leading to a new perspective on the role of the pedlars as an intermediary between the established booksellers and an extensive, socially diverse reading public.

Table of Contents:
Chapter One: Reputation and Representation in collaboration with Karen Bowen Confusing terminology Authorities and Booksellers A growing danger in England Tolerance, repression and economic interests in the Netherlands Pedlars in the World of the Imagination: Textual Representations Dutch literary representations English textual representations Pedlars in the World of the Imagination: The Visual Perspective English ballad singers Dutch images Pedlars and Their Self-Image The struggle for life Battling a bad reputation Distributor of respectable goods Conclusion: Stereotypes, Motives and Change Chapter Two: The Pedlar in the English Distribution Network The Scale of Itinerant Distribution Organisation and control Itinerant book trade Number of pedlar licenses Pedlars and hawkers with printed wares Itinerant booksellers in London Itinerant book trade in the provinces: Devon and Exeter Categorisation and Trade Practices Occasional pedlars Pedlars of books and other goods Pedlars with printed wares exclusively Ballad sellers and singers News pedlars Chapbooks, prints, almanacs, children’s books and other printed wares Conclusion: Distribution Networks and Patterns in England Chapter Three: The Pedlar in the Dutch Distribution Network The Scale of Itinerant Distribution Amsterdam Leiden Utrecht Categorisation, Networks and Trade Practices Occasional Pedlars Pedlars with books and other wares Pedlars with printed wares exclusively Specialist pedlars Conclusion: Distribution Networks and Patterns in the Netherlands Conclusion: A Comparative Perspective on Itinerant Networks Bibliography Archival and Manuscript Sources Published Primary Sources Electronic Sources and Databases Secondary Sources

About the Author :
Jeroen Salman, Ph.D. (1997) is Assistant Professor Comparative Literature at Utrecht University. He has published on early modern popular culture, literature and book history, including the volume New Perspectives in book history. Contributions from the Low Countries (Walburg Pers, 2006).

Review :
“This is a commendably ambitious project. Not content to investigate the history of Dutch pedlars of printed matter across more than two centuries, Jeroen Salman provides a thorough comparison with itinerant sellers in England, while maintaining a clear view of the wider European context. In the process he assembles a wealth of new information about Dutch and English pedlars, hawkers, ballad-singers, and news-vendors gleaned from a vast range of sources. While London and Amsterdam are central to the study, the author uses records from Utrecht, Leiden, and Exeter to furnish detailed case studies of the situation in provincial towns. […] Jeroen Salman is to be congratulated not only for identifying those aspects of the trade in cheap print in both countries hitherto largely ignored but also for demonstrating what can be done by exploiting to the full an immense variety of documentary, textual and visual resources.” Maureen Bell, Newark. In: The Library, 7.16.3 (September 2015), pp. 346-349.