Glossary of Early Modern Popular Print Genres

Games and humour

Almanac

Annually published books and sheets based on the calendar with the observations on the passage of time, the seasons, astronomical data and the interpretation of these data.

Read more

Broadsheet (broadside)

Modern concept

Broadsheets (or broadsides) is a portmanteau term referring to a form of prints consisting of only a single sheet, printed on one side only in the case of broadsides.

Read more

Chapbook

The term chapbook is used in scholarship in a double sense: first, as a collective term to indicate cheaply printed booklets. Secondly, the term refers to a specifically British and American genre.

Read more

Children’s book and schoolbook

Modern concept

Apart from schoolbooks, in most Northern European countries a distinct market for children’s literature meant for entertainment did not establish until the late 17th or 18th century, and in Southern Europe by the 19th century.

Read more

Game (printed on paper)

Printed materials designed for play, usually according to prescribed rules.

Read more

Jestbook

Jestbooks are collections of jokes and humorous anecdotes in book form.

Read more

Lottery ticket

Lottery was a game of chance in the early modern period. A lottery ticket was bought in order to participate in a lottery. In these days two forms of lotteries were current in Europe: the lotto and the class lottery.

Read more

New Year prints

Modern concept

Various types of print related to Christmas and the new year circulated in the early modern period. 

Read more

Penny print

Penny prints are cheap broadsides, printed on one side and illustrated with 8 to 48 woodcuts. Rhyming captions below the images either narrated the story or explained the (non-fictional) pictures.

Read more