chapbook

American  

[chap-book] / ˈtʃæpˌbʊk /

noun

1. a small book or pamphlet of popular tales, ballads, etc., formerly hawked about by chapmen.

2. a small book or pamphlet, often of poetry.

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chapbook British  

/ ˈtʃæpˌbʊk /

noun

1. a book of popular ballads, stories, etc, formerly sold by chapmen or pedlars

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Etymology

Origin of chapbook

1790–1800; chap (as in chapman ) + book

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

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

Monica Sok is the author of “A Nail the Evening Hangs On” and the chapbook “Year Zero.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 14, 2023

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

As a rapper and scholar, I wrote about this scapegoating in a chapbook, "Rap & Storytellingly Invention," published with the peer-reviewed album I released in 2020.

From Salon • Jun. 15, 2022

It has often been reprinted as a chapbook or broadside.

From The Grateful Dead The History of a Folk Story by Gerould, Gordon Hall