Print Culture and the Early Quakers [Hardcover]

This book studies the early Quaker use of printed tracts, how they were produced and used.From its outset in the 1650s, the Quaker movement was usually prolific in its use of the printing press to spread its message. Using very rich documentary evidence, this book explores how and why early Quaker leaders made use of printed tracts in their campaign, looking at how the tracts were produced, distributed and read, and how they were used as part of the Quakers' dynamic campaign for religious and political liberty during the period of republican rule under Oliver Cromwell.From its outset in the 1650s, the Quaker movement was usually prolific in its use of the printing press to spread its message. Using very rich documentary evidence, this book explores how and why early Quaker leaders made use of printed tracts in their campaign, looking at how the tracts were produced, distributed and read, and how they were used as part of the Quakers' dynamic campaign for religious and political liberty during the period of republican rule under Oliver Cromwell.From its outset in the 1650s, the Quaker movement made extensive use of the printing press in spreading its message. This book explores how and why early Quaker leaders used printed tracts in their campaign. It reveals how the tracts were produced, distributed and read, as well as their role in the Quakers' dynamic campaign for religious and political liberty under the republican rule of Oliver Cromwell.Introduction; 1. Writing and authority in the early Quaker movement; 2. The production and readership of Quaker pamphlets; 3. A national movement: pamphleteering in East Anglia; 4. 'The Quakers Quaking': the printed identity of the movement; 5. 'Women's speaking justified': women and pamphleteering; 6. Pamphleteering and religious debate; 7. Print and political participation; 8. The James Nayler crisis, 1656; Bibliography of secondary sources. This is a very impressive and broad ranging discussion of the interplay of print, secl$