Curiosities of Street Literature

Before tabloids, there were broadsides: cheap, sensational single-sheet publications sold on London streets for a penny. This collection gathers the era's most notorious examples, from scandalous tales of murder and seduction to salacious rumors about the Royal Family, from ribald ballads to the grim last confessions of condemned criminals sold at the execution scaffold. Anonymous authors churned them out while printers proudly stamped their names, an early democratization of scandal before newspapers existed. These are the voices of the common people, unfiltered and often unsubtle, revealing what actually titillated and terrified 17th and 18th century London. The printing press as tabloid machine, the scaffold as content generator, the street as newsroom. If you've ever wondered what the masses actually read when no one was watching, these broadsides are the answer. Raw, often ridiculous, occasionally moving, and perpetually fascinating.