The Material Letter in Early Modern England Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practices of Letter-Writing, 1512-1635

by Daybell, James

• ISBN13: 9780230222694
• ISBN10: 0230222692
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The first major socio-cultural study of manuscript letters and letter-writing practices in early modern England. Daybell examines a crucial period in the development of the English vernacular letter before Charles I's postal reforms in 1635, one that witnessed a significant extension of letter-writing skills throughout society.

Author Biography

James Daybell is Professor of Early Modern British History at Plymouth University, UK, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is author of Women Letter-Writers in Tudor England (2006); editor of Early Modern Women's Letter-Writing, 1450-1700 (2001), Women and Politics in Early Modern England, 1450-1700 (2004), and (with Peter Hinds) Material Readings of Early Modern Culture, 1580-1730 (2010).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. viii
List of Abbreviations	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Materials and Tools of Letter-Writing	p. 30
Epistolary Writing technologies	p. 53
Interpreting Materiality and Social Signs	p. 85
Postal Conditions	p. 109
Secret Letters	p. 148
Copying, Letter-Books and the Scribal Circulation of Letters	p. 175
The Afterlives of Letters	p. 217
Conclusion	p. 229
Notes	p. 234
Select Bibliography	p. 291
Index	p. 335
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