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Broadsides
and chapbooks were early forms of printed books, and Scottish examples
survive from the sixteenth century until the nineteenth century.
A broadside (or broadsheet) was, to some extent, a precursor of
the tabloid newspaper, consisting of a single printed sheet of paper.
Sometimes these were in the form of a single page, which could be
used as a poster for public display. Others were divided into sections,
with pages printed on each side, so that the buyer could fold, stitch
and cut them to form booklets. A chapbook was a booklet of this
sort prepared in advance by the seller. They were sold primarily
by pedlars, especially at fairs and public executions. The content
of chapbooks and broadsides frequently concerned executions, murders,
other major crimes and strange occurrences. Many included illustrations
in the form of small, crude woodcuts, and the proliferation of broadsides
and chapbooks provided work for woodcutters and engravers in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were cheap to produce
and to buy. By adopting a moralistic tone, they achieved a more
respectable reputation than they deserved, and many were bought
ostensibly to provide cautionary reading for the young. They were
replaced as popular reading matter by the nineteenth century ‘penny
dreadfuls’ (books providing cheap thrills for those whose tastes
run to murder and other gruesome tales), but the content of many
chapbooks were collated in various editions of the Newgate Calendar
and other similar publications from the late eighteenth century
onwards. Chapbooks and broadsides are particularly useful for the
study of the history of crime and punishment, and of popular culture
from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century. Examples
of broadsides and chapbooks survive in many Scottish archives, mostly
among collections of private correspondence. The most important
collections are held by Glasgow University Library Special Collections,
the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Canada,
and the University of Guelph.
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