CHAP-BOOKS (Engl. chap, AS. crwp, bar gain, Engl. cheap, Ger. kauf, trade, Lat. ettupo, innkeeper + books). The name given to a vari ety of old and scarce tracts or booklets of a homely kind. W111141 at one time formed the only popular literature. In the trade of the 6)0k -eller they are distinguishable from the ordinary products of the press by their inferior paper and typography, and are reputed to have been sold by chapmen. or peddlers: hence their designation. The older chap-books issued in the early part of the Seventeenth Century are printed in black letter, and are in the form of small volumes. Those of a later date are in the type now in use, but are equally plain ill appearance. Of either variety. they were mostly printed in Lon don. many being without dates. They were of a miscellaneous kind, including theological tracts, lives of heroes, martyrs, and wonderful person ages. interpretations of dreams, fortune-telling, prognostications of the weather, stories of giants, ghosts. hobgoblins, and witches. histories in verse, and songs and ballads. An inferior class of tracts succeeded these books for the common people. and are best known as Penny Chap-hooks. For the most part they consisted of a. single sheet. duodeeinio. or 24 page-. Besides the title. the first page usually contained a coarse wood cut embellishment. The paper was of the coars est kind adapted for printing.. and the price, as
the name imports, ryas a penny ea•t. The sub jects, besides being of a similar nature to the above, included stories of roguery and broad hamon 'These penny chap-books were issued by an obscure class of publishers in London and several English provincial towns. particularly Neweastle-on-Tyne. They were also issued from the presses of Edinburgh. Glasgow. Falkirk, and Paisley. After Him the chapbooks rapidly de clined in popularity. their place being taken by I I an nail IN I ore's lerpositocy Tote's, t he Penny Magazine. and other cheap puldieations. Collee lion• of the older chap-books are now found only in the libraries of bibliophiles. by \Omni they have liven picked tip at extravagant prices from dealers in second-hand hooks. Consult: Notices of Fugitive Tracts owl (hap-books, Percy so viety, Vol. XN1N. (London. IS511 Popular Eng lish Ilistocics, Percy Society, Vol. NNI1L (Lon don, 1848), both edited by lialliwell: and Ash ton. .1 11 istorn Of the clutp•books of the Eigh t I nth Century (London. 1•4S2) Other countries have their chap-books. For France, consult Nisard, dr!: lirres popubliirs ( 183 I I : for Germany, Shn•oek, /), burbcr (1:3 vols.. Berlin. IS:39 cis : new edition. ISA7 1.