Print Culture and the Early Quakers

Description

The early Quaker movement was remarkable for its prolific use of the printing press. Carefully orchestrated by a handful of men and women who were the movement's leaders, printed tracts were an integral feature of the rapid spread of Quaker ideas in the 1650s. Drawing on very rich documentary evidence, this book examines how and why Quakers were able to make such effective use of print. As a crucial element in an extensive proselytising campaign, printed tracts enabled the emergence of the Quaker movement as a uniform, national phenomenon. The book explores the impressive organisation underpinning Quaker pamphleteering and argues that the early movement should not be dismissed as a disillusioned spiritual remnant of the English Revolution, but was rather a purposeful campaign which sought, and achieved, effective dialogue with both the body politic and society at large.

Kate Peters is Lecturer in Archives and Records Management, University College London.

From the hardback review: '... unlike many another textbook, this one is not impenetrable to the lay reader ... this book is readable, informative, and interesting - no small achievement - and does much to correct the persistent idea that Quakers were essentially marginal to the political life of the 1650s.' Rare Books Newsletter From the hardback review: 'Print Culture and the Early Quakers is more than an expression and amplification of the earlier arguments. ... [Peters] aptly surveys such key genres as prison narratives, controversy literature (specificall, inter-faith dispute), and the political pamphlet or petition.' Quaker Studies From the hardback review: 'Peter's work offers a very considerable contribution to our understanding of the birth of the Quaker movement, as well as an important addition to the growing series of studies clarifying the role of the press in England's revolutionary tumults.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History