Censorship And The Press 1580 1720 Volume 4 PDF Download

This four-volume reset edition equips scholars to examine historical press censorship in England. It draws together around 500 texts, reaching across 140 years from the rigours of the Elizabethan Star Chamber Decree to the publication of Cato's Letters, which famously advanced principles of free speech. The edition gives voice to those on both sides of the censorship debate, allowing proponents and opponents of free speech to speak for themselves. Primary sources range from printed statutes, royal proclamations and trial accounts, to books, pamphlets and newspapers, to manuscripts and letters. Despite the vitality of the censorship debate during the seventeenth century, much of the original sources are unavailable to modern scholars. This edition conveys a sense for historic texts as deeds rather than disembodied ideas, reinforcing the physicality which makes book-burning such a symbolic event. New editorial material includes a general introduction, volume introductions, headnotes, endnotes, and a consolidated index in the final volume. The edition will be essential for those studying Early Modern Studies, History of Journalism, History of Printing, Political History and the History of Censorship.