The Invention of the Newspaper: English Newsbooks 1641-1649

by Joad Raymond Wren

The first newsbooks, the direct predecessors of modern newspapers, appeared in 1641, yet the reasons for their appearance have never been fully understood. In this book, Raymond charts the development of the English newsbook from its origins to its gradual dominance in the information market. Using manuscript and printed sources, she places the newsbook's appearance a few months before the outbreak of civil war, where it took root in the flourishing political print culture of the 1640's.

392 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Joad Raymond is a writer and historian of early modern Europe who has taught at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, East Anglia, Paris-Sorbonne and Queen Mary University of London.