The Lost Chapbooks

E VERY substantial discussion of the traditional drama of the British Isles seems inevitably to introduce some consideration of the role of the chapbook versions of these texts which are known to have circulated during the last 200 years.' The question of the printed versions real or supposed relationship to the oral tradition of such plays has, however, never been determined. This is primarily because no attempt has ever been made to work out systematically the printing history of these pieces of ephemeral popular literature-too often, folklorists have been satisfied with simple, all-embracing theories that were based on supposition. The only attempt at a factual study prior to our investigations was made by the late Alex Helm who published his preliminary findings in The Chapbook Mummers' Play.2 Helm's emphasis was on '... finding different versions and not on tracing every possible copy . . .'. Unfortunately, however, this approach led to a number of difficulties for those in search of a definitive treatment of chapbooks, as sometimes, copies which appeared superficially 'identical' to those already listed, after close examination, have proved to be 'different versions

Art · Drama · Ephemeral key · Epistemology · Genealogy · Literature · Simple (philosophy · Computer Science · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Philosophy

• Chapbook Influence on Irish Mummers' Plays

  Alan Gailey•Folklore•1974

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