Narrative

3. Many working-class people continued to read traditional, centuries-old chapbook fiction, but old titles were replaced or supplemented by new ones. Around 1800, shorter versions of books read by the middle classes began to appear. Chapbook versions of out-of-copyright novels such as Robinson Crusoe and Pilgrim’s Progress were popular, especially after 1774 and from the turn of the century, while abridgments and adaptations of upmarket novels for adults and children also began to flourish in the traditional chapbook form, re-produced in various ways for multiple readerships.