Phamphlet (5)

PAMPHLET X . X X V I I I . M M X V I I

PAMPHLETEERING

W R I T T E N

B Y

Claire Snell and Evan Wilson

WHAT IS A PAMPHLET

BASIC FUNCTIONS

“A short treatise or essay, generally a

"In the period of 1500-1700 a

controversial tract, on some subject of

trnasformation occured in the role of

contemporary interest."

printing and its realtionship to the

The early 1500s- Start of Pamphlets

public, a metamorphosis in the nature

(Contained no less than 5 pages and no more

and the dea of print, which was partly

than 48 pages), and were widely used in England, France, and Germany.

effected by and through pamphlet."

(Raymond 25)

By 1588 Pamphlets were considered

Pamphlets can contain almost anything can be read,

dangerous (were closely associated with

printed, or typed. This includes manuals, marketing

slander and scurrility. (Raymond 9)

different items, political documents, and other types of information.

In the 16th century, pamphlets were small disposable, untrustworthy and poorly

Pamphlets are easily distributable and have a wide

printed. (Raymond 11)

potential for increased circulation.

Pamphlets are characterized by their brevity

Pamphlets were used for a variety of reason, some

and the fact that they are unbound (they

being that they were used to created romantic

have no hardcover or bindings).

In the 20th century, we have used pamphlets as a means to inform rather than controversy

fiction, autobiography, scurrilous personal abuse.

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PAMPHLETEERS

EXAMPLE OF THE PAMPHLET

"In the last sixteenth and early seventeenth century a stereotypical

“Without the pen of the author of

pamphleteer was idle exploiter of the

Common Sense, the sword of

credulous vulgar; by the mid-seventh

Washington would have been raised in

century he would cease to be merely

vain” - John Adams

frivolous and become greedy and

Common Sense: A political pamphlet

malicious" (Raymond 11)

authored by Thomas Paine in 1775, this document urged the residents of the 13 Colonies to declare independence from

1580-1630 1ST FEMALE PAMPHLETEERS APPEARED:

Great Britain. It’s circulation was

MARY TATTLE-WELL, JOAN HIT-HIM-HOME, LADY

widespread a hugely impactful.

ELENOR DAVIES, THE LEVELER JOHN LILBURNE AND ELIZABETH COLLIER WERE SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN THE 1600S. JOSEPH ADDISON – POET AND DRAMATIST, ESSAY IT. INFLUENCED BRITISH SOCIETY, THOUGH HIS 400 ESSAYS HE WROTE OVER HIS LIFETIME. RICHARD STEELE - STEELE CREATED AN IMAGINARY SIR RODGER DE COVERLEY, CO-EDITOR TO ADDISON ROBERT GREENE- ELIZABETHAN, WROTE NUMEROUS PLAYS POEMS AND NARRATIVE ROMANCES (RAYMOND 59) PAMPHLETEERS RANGED FROM THE BALLAD-WRITERS WILLIAM ELDERTON AND MARTIN PARKER TO THE POETS JOHN MILTON AND JOHN DRYDEN AND AMONG THEM SUCH DIVERSE AND JOHN DRYER, THOMAS CHURCHYARD, PHILLIP STUBBS, HENRY PARKER (POLITICIAN), HENRY GOODCOLE (RAYMOND

THE WITCH OF NEWBURY JOHN HAMMOND, 1643

Women's Petition Against Coffee, anonymous, 1674.

59)

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RELEVANCE TO HISTORY OF TEXT TECHNOLOGIES

THE FALL OF THE PAMPHLET “Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble" - Joseph Addison

“Ephemera can also provide a firsthand account on the history of

To The modern pamphlet looks much

printing” (Andrews, 439)

different from the type of pamphlet we would expect to see today.

Relevance to History of Text Technologies o Our Informational texts that used to lie on

reading for today, The Importance of Ephemera by

traditional pamphlets have given way and

Martin Andrews, he defines “Ephemera” as “items

been severely shortened to appease

that might seem trivial and peripheral, but

aesthetic and design goals.

cumulatively they throw a very particular light on history, offering not only factual detail but also an

The pamphlet has almost died out as a genre

atmospheric and evocative direct link to the past”

as a result of the growing development of

(Andrews 434).

online information-spreading technologies, such as emails.

Pamphlets now often are criticised for being too basic in structure, and many high-school and college level instructors now have begun to abandon them in favor of website making, online document writing, and other more contemporary forms of presenting information.

Unpacking that: Historical items that survive that originally might have had seemingly little relevance or lifespans, such as a disposable pamphlet, have a heightened historical significance. This is because they show us the everyday lives of people in the past.

He says that there are problems when “distinguishing when a pamphlet, brochure, or other minor publication can be described as a book and no longer an ephemera… However, precise and rigid definitions are unhelpful. What is important is how this huge and diverse area of material can inform a study of the history of the book” (Andrews 436).

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WORK CITED Andrew, Martin. “The Importance of Ephemera.” A Companion to the History of the Book, WileyBlackwell, 2017, pp. 434-450.

Lepore, Jill. “The Sharpened Quill.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 6 July 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/16/the-sharpened-quill.)

“Pamphlet.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/pamphlet?s=t.)

Raymond, Joad. Pamphlets and pamphleteering in early modern Britain. Cambridge University Press, 2006 The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Pamphlet.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 9 July 2012, www.britannica.com/topic/pamphlet.)

The Witch of Newbury. Engraving. PBS Learning Media.1643, https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/xjf105826eng/ Women's Petition Against Coffee. Scanned Image. Harvard University.1643, *EC65.A100.674w, Houghton Library, Harvard University