How The Wind Sits: The History of Henry and Ann Lemoine, Chapbook Writers and Publishers of the Late Eighteenth Century

Book excerpt: During the 18th century, not all books were found in bookstores or libraries. In London, itenerate book salesmen wandered the streets hawking their wares. The books they sold were cheap and often poorly printed, but they represented the beginnings of popular reading among the growing lower classes. Henry and Ann Lemoine were among the most prolific writers and publishers of street literature in the late eighteenth-century and theirs is a story of poverty, greed, prison, and female empowerment.