CHAOS, according to the signification of the word, the void which embraces all things. Hesiod mentions, as the original principles of all things, Chaos, Earth and Eros (Love) ; other ancient poets made Chaos alone the pri mwval source from which everything is derived; others added to it Night, Erebus and Tartarus; and others still represented Chaos as the parent of the Earth and Heaven; after the production of which Eros (Love) completed the creation. Modern writers commonly understand by chaos the uniform primeval matter from which the universe was made.
a species of cheap litera ture, in the form of small pamphlets, which pre ceded the popular periodicals of the present day and were so called because prepared expressly for sale by the chapmen, or pedlars, who hawked them from district to district. They were largely of the provincial presses. The writers are mostly unknown, but one of the author of Scottish chap-books was Dougal Graham (1724-79), bellman of Glasgow. Their matter was of the most varied character, in cluding theological tracts, lives of heroes, martyrs, interpretation of dreams, fortune tell ing, weather forecasts, stories of ghosts, giants and witches, and songs and ballads. After 1800
the chap-books declined in popularity, and were succeeded by the Penny Magazine and other cheap publications. Collections of chap-books are now found only in the libraries of biblio philes. Consult 'Notices of Fugitive Tracts and Chap-Books' (Percy Society, Vol. XXIX, London 1851) ; 'Popular English Histories> (Vol. XXIII, 1848) ; Ashton, 'A History of the Chap-Books of the Eighteenth Century' (London 1882) • Fraser 'Humorous Chap Books of Scotland' (1873) ; Faxon, 'Ephemeral Bibelots,' in 'Bulletin of Bibliographical Pamphlets' (Boston 1903) ; °Catalogue of American and English Chap-Books,' in 'Bibliographical Contributions,' No. 56 (Cam bridge 1905). Consult also Nisard, 'Histoire des livres populaires' (Paris 1854), and Simrock, 'Deutsche Volksbiicher) (13 vols., Berlin 1839-67).