chapbook
Americannoun
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a small book or pamphlet of popular tales, ballads, etc., formerly hawked about by chapmen.
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a small book or pamphlet, often of poetry.
noun
Etymology
Origin of chapbook
Explanation
An inexpensive literary booklet or pamphlet, often bound with hand stitching, is called a chapbook. If you want to share your poetry, you should make some chapbooks and pass them out to your friends. Chapbook was coined in the early 1800s from chap, short for chapman, a peddler who sold wares including chapbooks. Before the mid-19th century, they were wildly popular, especially with people who couldn't afford books. Religious tracts, folk tales, children's stories, almanacs, and many other types of literature were published as chapbooks. Poetry chapbooks, printed on stitched or folded sheets of paper, saw a resurgence in the 20th century that continues today.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She started a Substack, self-published a paperback booklet known as a chapbook and began her own reading series called Electric Blue, a hybrid of her party life and creative practice.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2023
Other literary magazines to recently end include Astra and beloved and well-respected poetry journal and chapbook publisher Glass Poetry Press.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2023
The reissued album went on sale in 2014, accompanied by a chapbook that included an autobiographical interview with Mr. Haggerty, photos of him and transcriptions of his lyrics.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2022
His chapbook “Touched” was released in 2018, and he has received multiple awards and fellowships including the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2022
The English version of "Tom Thumb" seems to have been printed first in ballad form in the seventeenth century, and later in many chapbook versions in prose.
From Children's Literature A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes by Clippinger, Erle Elsworth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
