ST. ANDREW'S SOCIETY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23005, 7 October 1936, Page 5

ST. ANDREW'S SOCIETY

LITERARY; SECTION At this month's 'meeting of the literary section of the Otago St. Andrew Society members devoted the evening to the study of chapbook, literature. The leader of the circle, the Rev. Hugh Graham, gave the following interesting talk on this;subject:-* l -'•,... ' .'<■;.. " In any. consideration of this bypath of Scottish literature, the first difficulty that confronts us, is to define exactly, what a ' chap-book' is. Publications of the chap -book order are .defined in Chambers's Encyclopaedia as follows:—'A variety'of old and scarce tracts of a homely kind, which at one time formed the only popular literature. In the trade of the bookseller they are distinguishable from the ordinary products of the press by their inferior paper and typography, and are reputed to have been sold by chap-men or pedlars.' This information is hardly accurate, and was evidently written by one who knew little or nothing about the subject. The chap-book did not receive its name on account of its size or its contents, but because it was chiefly circulated by pedlars, who sought to carry civilisation and soft goods into hamlets and farm towns. These men were known as • chap-men.' The derivation of the word shows that a. chap-man was simply a. 'cheap-man,' and chapliterature may therefore be truthfully set down as 'cheap-literature.' "The diffusion of knowledge by means of the chap-book practically began with the introduction of printing into Scotland.- Down the middle , of last century the chap-man was a travelling publisher of much importance. In crowded market-place and on solitary moor he plied his calling;, there he sold his broadsides by the ream, here he tempted the reading rustic to a judicious selection from his pack; in both cases he did what he .could to spread knowledge and line his pockets. The chap-man's life was not all lavender, but in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries he was the indispensable travelling merchant. In the Scotland of those bygone days the telegraph and the telephone were undreamt of, and 'lron-horses' were things to discuss with bated breath. The smaller towns and villages of Scotland dwelt in complete isolation from each other. News—even bad news—travelled slowly. In such times and circumstances the pedlar was a necessity. -Like the minstrel bards of old the chap-man carried the news to hamlets and farm towns by means of song and story. The songs he sang and the stories he told brought him bed and breakfast and sometimes helped to lighten his pack. When newspapers were unknown the chap-man was a moving ' intelligencer' who carried the doings of the outer world into remote parts and extended the horizon of many. As time went on, education become more general, and broadsides—or single printed sheets —were the means used by many authors to reach their public, Ballads and songs, old and new, genuine and fictitious, made their appearance in broadside form and thus ceased to be dependent. on oral tradition for their existence. It is not too mu.ch to suppose that these broadsides circulated among all classes. Chap-book literature may be considered under the following headings: Humorous,- instructive, romantic, superstitious, songs and ballads." These sections were referred to in detail and appropriate extracts read from "Scottish Chap-book Literature," by William Harvey, and " Chap-books of the Eighteenth Century," by Ashton. At the next meeting it v/as resolved to study the early periodical literature of Scotland.