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The monograph series Oxford Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture showcases the plurilingual and multicultural quality of medieval literature and actively seeks to promote research that not only focuses on the array of subjects medievalists now pursue - in literature, theology, and philosophy, in social, political, jurisprudential, and intellectual history, the history of art, and the history of science - but also that combines these subjects productively. It offers innovative studies on topics that may include, but are not limited to, manuscript and book history; languages and literatures of the global Middle Ages; race and the post-colonial; the digital humanities, media and performance; music; medicine; the history of affect and the emotions; the literature and practices of devotion; the theory and history of gender and sexuality, ecocriticism and the environment; theories of aesthetics; medievalism. Marketing English Books is about how the earliest printers moulded demand and created new markets. Until the advent of print, the sale of books had been primarily a bespoke trade, but printers faced a new sales challenge: how to sell hundreds of identical books to individuals, who had many other demands on their purses. This book contends that this forced printers to think carefully about marketing and potential demand, for even if they sold through a middleman—as most did—that wholesaler, bookseller, or chapman needed to be convinced the books would attract customers. Marketing English Books sets out, therefore, to show how markets for a wide range of texts were cultivated by English printers between 1476 and 1550 within a wider, European context: devotional tracts; forbidden evangelical books; romances, gests, and bawdy tales; news; pilgrimage guides, souvenirs and advertisements; and household advice. Through close analysis of paratexts—including title-pages, prefaces, tables of contents, envoys, colophons, and images—the book reveals the cultural impact of printers in this often overlooked period. It argues that while print and manuscript continued alongside each other, developments in the marketing of printed texts began to change what readers read and the place of reading in their lives on a larger scale and at a faster pace than had occurred before, shaping their expectations, tastes, and even their practices and beliefs.

Booksellers and bookselling --- Printers --- Book industries and trade --- Books --- Books and reading --- English literature --- History --- Marketing --- Publishing --- 655.15 <41> --- 655.42 <41> --- 655 <09> --- 339:094 --- British literature --- Inklings (Group of writers) --- Nonsense Club (Group of writers) --- Order of the Fancy (Group of writers) --- Appraisal of books --- Choice of books --- Evaluation of literature --- Literature --- Reading, Choice of --- Reading and books --- Reading habits --- Reading public --- Reading --- Reading interests --- Reading promotion --- Library materials --- Publications --- Bibliography --- Cataloging --- International Standard Book Numbers --- Book trade --- Cultural industries --- Manufacturing industries --- 339:094 Handel. Internationale economische betrekkingen. Wereldeconomie-:-Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora --- Handel. Internationale economische betrekkingen. Wereldeconomie-:-Oude en merkwaardige drukken. Kostbare en zeldzame boeken. Preciosa en rariora --- 655.42 <41> Boekhandel--algemeen--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- 655.42 <41> Bookselling in general. Selling of publications. General, antiquarian and wholesale bookselling--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- Boekhandel--algemeen--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- Bookselling in general. Selling of publications. General, antiquarian and wholesale bookselling--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- 655.15 <41> Drukkerij en verwante ondernemingen: organisatie; gebruiken; beroepsvereniging--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- 655.15 <41> Printing houses, presses and related businesses--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- Drukkerij en verwante ondernemingen: organisatie; gebruiken; beroepsvereniging--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- Printing houses, presses and related businesses--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- Grafische industrie. Drukkerij. Uitgeverij. Boekhandel-- algemeen--Geschiedenis van --- Appraisal --- Evaluation --- E-books --- Book history --- book history --- booksellers --- printers [people] --- anno 1400-1499 --- anno 1500-1599 --- England --- Booksellers and bookselling - England - History - 15th century --- Booksellers and bookselling - England - History - 16th century --- Printers - England - History - 15th century --- Printers - England - History - 16th century --- Book industries and trade - Europe - History - To 1500 --- Book industries and trade - Europe - History - 16th century --- Books - Europe - Marketing - History - To 1500 --- Books - Europe - Marketing - History - 16th century --- Books and reading - Europe - History - To 1500 --- Books and reading - Europe - History - 16th century --- English literature - Publishing - History - To 1500 --- English literature - Publishing - History - 16th century --- booksellers [people]