Table of Contents

Introduction: 'all the ephemera of our lives'; 1. Accidental readings and diurnal historiographies: the invention of ephemera; 2. Making collections: enlightenment ephemerology; 3. The natural history of sociability: Sarah Sophia Banks and her ephemera collections; 4. Sarah Sophia Banks' 'magic encyclopedia'; 5. 'Announcing each day the performances': playbills as theatre/media history; 6. Transacting hospitality: the novel networks of the visiting card; 7. England in 1814: frost fairs, peace, and persuasion; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

This history of printed ephemera's rise as an eighteenth-century cultural category transforms understanding of 'disposable' printed items.

About the Author

Gillian Russell is Professor of English at the University of York. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, she is internationally renowned for her innovative interdisciplinary research that began with The Theatres of War: Performance, Culture and Society, 1793–1815 (1995). She has pioneered field-changing new directions in scholarship – on war and theatre and on the study of sociability. Her books include Romantic Sociability: Social Networks and Literary Culture 1770–1840 (Cambridge, 2002), co-edited with Clara Tuite, Women, Sociability and Theatre in Georgian London (Cambridge, 2007), and Tracing War in British Enlightenment and Romantic Culture, co-edited with Neil Ramsey (2015).

Reviews

'A comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination, Russell's admirable volume will resonate with those researching Romanticism, English literature, print and publishing history, material culture, and the history of collecting. Twenty-four illustrations; a stunning bibliography of collections, primary, and secondary sources; and a thorough index enhance the volume's significance.' J. Decker, Choice