Street literature

Robert Collison's account of the subject describes street literature as the "forerunner of the popular press".

[1] Leslie Shepard's History of Street Literature identifies a range of different publications as indicated by the subtitle: The Story of Broadside Ballads, Chapbooks, Proclamations, News-Sheets, Election Bills, Tracts, Pamphlets, Cocks, Catchpennies, and Other Ephemera.

Chapbooks were small, paper-covered booklets, usually printed on a single sheet and folded into books of 8, 12, 16 or 24 pages, either stitched or unstitched.

They were generally of low artistic merit and often contained sensational, humorous or bawdy subjects.

The lyrics of popular songs printed four or eight to a sheet and cut into slips, to be sold to theatre-goers or those attending other places of public entertainment.

An 18th-century broadside ballad: The tragical ballad: or, the lady who fell in love with her serving-man .
An example of a chapbook history
A Catalogue of the Severall Sects and Opinions in England and other Nations. 1647. An example of a satirical popular print.
An example of an 18th-century slip-song