This volume focuses on the time between the incorporation of the Stationers' Company in 1557 and the lapsing of the Licensing Act in 1695. Thirty-eight chapters reveal how printed texts interacted with oral and manuscript cultures during a period of religious divisions and civil war. They examine literary works and the developing mass market in almanacs, chapbooks and news. The business of print and the relationship of London to the provinces and the Continent is also explained.