The first half of the 19th century saw the rapid expansion both of literacy and of printing. This is a unique collcetion of the popular literature published in England between Peterloo and the Great Exhibition, much of it never reprinted before and not available outside a few specialist libraries. It has been arranged to give both a glimpse of what the working classes were reading, and a fascinating picture of their interests and concerns - their sport, work, crime, politics, religion and entertainments...