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.

Autorentext
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, 1450-170(2001), Women and Politics in Early Modern England, 1450-1700 (2004), and (with Peter Hinds) Material Readings of Early Modern Culture, 1580-1730 (2010).

Inhalt
List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction Materials and Tools of Letter-Writing Epistolary Writing Technologies Interpreting Materiality and Social Signs Postal Conditions Secret Letters Copying, Letter-Books and the Scribal Circulation of Letters The Afterlives of Letters Conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography Index