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The #RomancingtheGothic talk today is Dr Franz Potter @Bleeding_nun on Gothic Chapbooks. The talk is at 3PM and 9PM BST today as our speaker is in SoCal and like -8hrs compared to us which threw me but all is good!! Here begins the customary thread!
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Dr Franz Potter @Bleeding_Nun is passionate about chapbooks, bluebooks and Shilling shockers. Most of what is out there courtesy of folks like Montague Summers (legend top bloke love him) is ... wrong... and we don't know a lot about them. FP will talk about his research.
Research comes from his forthcoming book, the first study of it's kind on chapbooks like these.
Part 1: the origins of the Gothic Chapbook.
Part 1: the origins of the Gothic Chapbook.
Montague Summers and Fred Frank (sp?) claimed the chapbooks were nothing more than pirates Gothic horror novels but this was wide of the mark? What was the first novel to be adapted into a chapbook and why? Let's see. Dominated by Matthew Lewis and Elizabeth Helm not Radcliffe
Chapbooks contain abridged tales and fragments of tales, Gothic tales being short stories, novels, romances etc. They appeared in magazines like The Universal Magazine. Tales like Clara Reeves THE OLD ENGLISH BARON were serialized in magazines like this as were others. Why?
Well the copyright issues here give some credence to accusations of piracy. It is /wrong/ that they were illegally pirated bc act of 1710 forbade reprinting of novels in their entirety but loopholes allowed abridgements and serialisation.
Different acts clarified that the act of abridgement was a way of making these novels more accessible and cost effective- seen as a service provided to readers without access to the books.
These periodicals were fundamentally anthologies that gave readers access to a variety of information and stories - these magazines were targeting a particular kind of reader/demographic.
You could go out and purchase a whole collection of these and get (when Radcliffe got serialized, e.g.) the whole collection of her works for a shilling. Huge deal.
Publishers could also recycle material from magazines and make them affordable in pamphlet form etc to make them further affordable for readers who couldn't afford the magazines. Whole new markets opening up of the poors.
Some terms we see are chapbooks and bluebooks. But bluebooks also had green or yellow covers and we know them as bluebooks bc Summers and Thos. Medwin (sp?) knew them as bluebooks and recorded this in their recollections of them. Another term was Shilling Shocker.
William Watt coined the term shilling shocker in 1932 and used it extensively while discussing these publications.
But the best definition in terms of accuracy argues @Bleeding_Nun is pamphlet. Covers how it was produced and cut (pages), content and circulation in libraries.
But the best definition in terms of accuracy argues @Bleeding_Nun is pamphlet. Covers how it was produced and cut (pages), content and circulation in libraries.
The circulating library of the 18thc usually had a pamphlet section and were stocked with all kinds of things including Gothic pamphlets. Some circulating libraries made no price difference b/w a pamphlet and a novel. You could check out both for same fee.
. @Bleeding_Nun has studied 400 of these chapbooks/pamphlets. The graph in the image below shows an explosion of production 1802-1807. 1803 is the big year! Smaller spike 1810 then not a lot. Little spike 1825 with publication of ENDLESS ENTERTAINMENT for 8 weeks then a collection
-was published as publisher gave up on serialisation.
Decline after 1811 of production meant no new stuff but old stuff still circulated. Do publishers follow readers' predictions or do they set and guide them??
Decline after 1811 of production meant no new stuff but old stuff still circulated. Do publishers follow readers' predictions or do they set and guide them??
Interesting that where you see that huge spike in pamphlets you see a corresponding decline in novel publications. 1802-1805 there were 182 (?) pamphlets published compared to 75 novels.
Who was producing what?
Ann Lemoine produced the most chapbooks: 25% of all chapbooks in @Bleeding_Nun 's study were published by her but she was only active for 10 years.
Ann Lemoine produced the most chapbooks: 25% of all chapbooks in @Bleeding_Nun 's study were published by her but she was only active for 10 years.
Not a single publisher was a specialist in Gothic chapbooks - they all produced loads of other things like cookbooks and other things. For Lemoine though about a quarter of her business was Gothic tales of this kind. Some firms only released 1 title each.
24 firms published at least one adaptation of a Gothic novel or drama. But a lot of these tales were original productions serialized in these chapbooks/bluebooks/pamphlets. So again, erroneous to assume all pamphlet content was adapted from a prev pubbed novel.
Short break-! Q&A!
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Part 2 is THE RISE OF THE GOTHIC PAMPHLET.
It all begins with THE MONK. Quelle surprise. It caused a huge sensation on its publication & a second edition was pubbed in Oct the same year when Lewis came out as the author. It was shocking bc he was an MP. Controversy led to sales
It all begins with THE MONK. Quelle surprise. It caused a huge sensation on its publication & a second edition was pubbed in Oct the same year when Lewis came out as the author. It was shocking bc he was an MP. Controversy led to sales
Mrs Lord who kept a circulating library in Dublin - she flippantly said upon questioning that she had looked through every copy and underlined all the naughty passages and counselled her young lady library users not to read those bits.
Absolute legend mrs thank you for your service
Anyway it was so horrifying that the lewdness of TM was written by an elected MP who was meant to uphold morality and the authorities were challenged to do something about this. Lewis and his publisher were indicted by -
Anyway it was so horrifying that the lewdness of TM was written by an elected MP who was meant to uphold morality and the authorities were challenged to do something about this. Lewis and his publisher were indicted by -
-court of kings bench. Told to repeal 3rd edition and publish a censored version. Well... this went as well as expected and a 4th edition came out. Fisher's abridgement retitled THE CASTLE OF LINDENBERG, and published abridged as pamphlet form with most sensational bits left in.
Reception was overwhelming of course because people wanted to read the sensational bits. There was a ballet based on it called Castle of Lindenberg and it was marketed at those familiar with ballet and those keeping up with the controversy.
Simon Fisher was based at 10 St John's Lane, Clerkenwell and had a circulating library too stocked with things he published. Thomas Teg had an eclectic book shop nearby too, bottom right circle on the map below.
There was obviously enough interest in these sorts of tales that anthologising them made financial sense and it could be done successfully. Simon Fisher partners with John Lee first then Thomas Hirst.
*Thomas Hurst sorry
*Lee and Hurst were originally partners
*Hurst partnered with Fisher and Fisher got to make use of Hurst's wider countryside audience.
*Lee and Hurst were originally partners
*Hurst partnered with Fisher and Fisher got to make use of Hurst's wider countryside audience.
Sorry about that I misunderstood who partnered with whom.
Thomas Hurst apparently came to a Bad End and got into debt and it nearly brought down the book industry which is both sad and impressive
Thomas Hurst apparently came to a Bad End and got into debt and it nearly brought down the book industry which is both sad and impressive
In 1802 Hurst goes on new endeavour with Mary Ann Radcliffe and issues The Pocket Magazine with some support from other publishers but this sort of fails? Anyways. Examples in images below with title pages.
The financing of these pamphlets was based on collaboration between a publisher and a bookseller (often the same) who relied on each other and their small network to market and sell these books. Formed collaborations (not partnerships).
Success depended solely on commitment of the publisher who paid the author so the publishers often invested in the same title to share the risk and the one with the most investment appeared on the title page as the primary publisher.
Each investor in a chapbook or series got a set number of pamphlets to distribute. This endeavour ended in 1807 when things changed for the publishing industry but was super important at the start
They were not sold on street corners by itinerant Chapmen but mainly distributed by circulating libraries and marketed directly at a niche market.
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Part 3: ANN LEMOINE
Ann Lemoine is a prolific publisher of Gothic horror and stands out among the publishers/printers. Susan Bailey is another we will look at later? They may not have collaborated but they all would have been aware of each other and the stuff they produced
Ann Lemoine is a prolific publisher of Gothic horror and stands out among the publishers/printers. Susan Bailey is another we will look at later? They may not have collaborated but they all would have been aware of each other and the stuff they produced
Ann Lemoine m. Henry Lemoine 1786, a well known bookseller engaged in Ill-fated copper print endeavour and ended up in debtor's prison when Ann obtained a divorce and set up her business. She did work with him in publishing later professionally.
Lemoine set herself up in White Rose Court, Coleman St. She collaborated later with Roe whom she later married and with Thomas Hurst.
1799 she published her first Gothic chapbook with Hurst as her first associate in this production. She published huge range of stuff but at least 1/4 of her output was Gotjic in nature.
Most of this was Gothic horror collections or anthologies. Edward W Pitcher commented on difference between these collections and chapbooks. Pitcher noticed that series of pamphlets were published with the intention of producing a collection so they could give consumers options.
Not marketed specifically at the working poor but at those who could afford to buy a volume. Summers assumed this was for the working class but Lemoine demonstrates this was not necessarily true despite the popularity of pamphlets with the working class readership.
Lemoine would organise things in advance and release the tales as individual pamphlets but then produce a collection. Previously publishers burned remainders left over from collections etc bc space was at a premium but Lemoine realised this way opened up wider markets.
Lemoine could supply collected volumes to readers when they requested them from booksellers but if a reader only requested specific tales she could bind these together and send them too.
11 of these series were adaptations or abridgements of longer Gothic novels.
One of her series was called POPULAR TALES, LIVES AND ADVENTURES. examples from it are featured in the image below with title pages and an illustration.
Here are some of her individual chapbooks offered at different prices depending on colour plates or not, part of collection or not etc.
Thomas Tegg of 122 St John's St who had a shop near Simon Fisher had a career in publishing and bookseller and had a brief but intense relationship with the Gothic chapbook. Saw it as profitable and comes into the picture with Gilbert's The Marvellous Magazine.
Hurst put out the first issues but Tegg jumped in pretty quickly and became the primary guy. Moneymoneycashcash. They were collaborators but not business partners.
There are 2-4k copies of these chapbooks that are being circulated and others that are bound into collections for distribution.
In 1805 Tegg stops Gothic publishing but then in 1810 decides to collect popular tales and publish them as his own editions.
In 1805 Tegg stops Gothic publishing but then in 1810 decides to collect popular tales and publish them as his own editions.
Q&A Break
Support the project here:
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[The recording on youtube will be well worth watching bc the q&a goes into more detail]
PART 5: THE DECLINE
The Baileys are the Gothic Family. Susan Bailey took over her hubby's business when he died, then left the whole business to her daughters ABSOLUTELY NOT TO BE SUBJECT TO CONTROL by their husbands (if they should marry). The Baileys published loads of Gothics
The Baileys are the Gothic Family. Susan Bailey took over her hubby's business when he died, then left the whole business to her daughters ABSOLUTELY NOT TO BE SUBJECT TO CONTROL by their husbands (if they should marry). The Baileys published loads of Gothics
John Norton Bailey the son left in 1799 and established himself as a publisher. He also published chapbooks that contained sport and politics, but also 38 Gothic ones. He did ones with tales by Walter Scott like Rob Roy. He, like his mum Susan, worked with Sarah Wilkinson.
The Baileys dominated the Gothic pubbing scene in the last years of its popularity, and are really well known for their productions of chapbooks and various things. They also pubbed novels.
John Bailey's biggest rivals were his sisters who married their mum's apprentices Dean and Munday. They reprinted Susan Bailey's stock as their own and reissued a load of novels she had previously published like THE CASTLE OF MONTABINO.
Dean & Munday became the biggest producers of Gothic chapbooks after 1820. Worked with Aarah Wilkinson whose work is featured below. Wilkinson ended up in a workhouse despite Dean&Munday's best efforts to help her. :(((
They later adapted their chapbooks into children's books and started including more fairy tales in their chapbooks, moving into this market. By 1835 you see very few chapbooks around-!
//FIN
//FIN
Many thanks to @Bleeding_Nun for that talk, and look out for the forthcoming book (feel free to post any links on this thread of your work, Franz!)
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