A chapbook was a small, inexpensive book sold in Europe, often for a penny, making it accessible to ordinary people, including the poor. It contained stories, ballads, folktales or practical information, serving both entertainment and educational purposes for a wide audience.
Read the given text and answer the following questions: New forms of popular literature appeared in print, targeting new booksellers employed peddlars who roamed around villages, carrying little books for sale. There were almanacs or ritual calendars, along with ballads and folktales. But other forms of reading matters, largely for entertainment, began to reach ordinary readers as well. In England, penny chapbooks were carried by petty peddlars known as chapmen and sold for a penny, so that even the poor could buy them. In France, were the ‘Biliotheque Bleue’ which were low – priced small books printed on poor quality paper and bound in cheap blue covers. Then there were the romances, printed on four to six pages and the more substantial ‘histories’ printed on four to six pages and the more substantial ‘histories’ which were stories about the past. Books were of various sizes, serving many different purposes and interests. (i) Evaluate briefly the term ‘Chapbook’. (45 words) (ii) Describe the role of peddlers in the distribution of popular literature in villages. (80 words) (iii) Write about the new forms of literature that were introduced in Europe to attract new readers. (80 words)
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