Children as Readers

The nineteenth century saw vast leaps in mass literacy in Europe, bringing in new readers among children, women and workers.

As primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century, children became an important category of readers, and school textbooks became critical for publishing. A children's press, devoted to literature for children alone, was set up in France in 1857. The Grimm Brothers in Germany spent years compiling traditional folk tales from peasants, editing out anything considered unsuitable, and published a collection in 1812 — so print both recorded old tales and changed them.

Women and Workers as Readers

Women became important as readers and writers. Penny magazines and manuals on housekeeping were meant for them, and when novels began to be written, women were seen as important readers. Some of the best-known novelists were women — Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot — whose writings defined a new kind of woman with will and strength of personality.

Lending libraries (in existence from the seventeenth century) became, in the nineteenth century, instruments for educating white-collar workers, artisans and the lower-middle class. As the working day shortened, workers had time for self-education and self-expression, writing political tracts and autobiographies (the Russian writer Maxim Gorky's My Childhood gives a glimpse of such struggles).

Further Innovations in Printing

Through the nineteenth century there were a series of innovations in printing technology:

  • By the late eighteenth century the press was made of metal.
  • By the mid-nineteenth century, Richard M. Hoe of New York perfected the power-driven cylindrical press, printing 8,000 sheets per hour — especially useful for newspapers.
  • The offset press could print up to six colours at a time.
  • From the turn of the twentieth century, electrically operated presses accelerated printing.

Printers also developed new selling strategies: nineteenth-century periodicals serialised novels; in the 1920s cheap 'Shilling Series' appeared in England; the dust cover (book jacket) was a twentieth-century innovation; and with the Great Depression of the 1930s, publishers brought out cheap paperback editions to sustain sales.

Questions and Answers

Q1. How did children become an important category of readers in the nineteenth century? Ans. As primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century, children became important readers, and school textbooks became vital for publishers. A children's press was set up in France in 1857, and the Grimm Brothers published a collection of edited folk tales in 1812.

Q2. What role did women play in the print culture of the nineteenth century? Ans. Women were important as readers and writers. Penny magazines and housekeeping manuals were meant for them, and famous novelists like Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters were women, whose writings defined a new kind of woman with will and strength of personality.

Questions and Answers (continued)

Q3. How did print culture reach workers in the nineteenth century? Ans. Lending libraries became instruments for educating white-collar workers, artisans and the lower-middle class. As the working day shortened, workers found time for self-education and wrote political tracts and autobiographies — as reflected in Maxim Gorky's My Childhood.

Q4. Describe two important innovations in printing technology in the nineteenth century. Ans. (1) Richard M. Hoe perfected the power-driven cylindrical press (about 8,000 sheets per hour), useful for newspapers; and (2) the offset press could print up to six colours at a time. (Electric presses followed from the turn of the twentieth century.)

Questions and Answers (continued)

Q5. What selling strategies did publishers develop, and how did the Great Depression affect them? Ans. Publishers serialised novels in periodicals, sold cheap 'Shilling Series' (1920s), and introduced the dust cover. With the Great Depression of the 1930s, fearing a fall in sales, they brought out cheap paperback editions to sustain buying.