Title The restraint of the press in England, 1660-1715 : the communication of sin / Alex W. Barber

Published Woodbridge, Suffolk ; Rochester, NY : The Boydell Press, 2022 ©2022

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 333 pages) Series Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History ; volume 47 Studies in early modern cultural, political and social history ; v. 47. Contents Part I. Providence, salvation and the lapse of licensing -- Part II. Freedom of the press and ecclesiastical identity -- Part III. The Church in danger Summary "A discussion of the fascinating interplay between communication, politics and religion in early modern England suggesting a new framework for the politics of print culture. This book challenges the idea that the loss of pre-publication licensing in 1695 unleashed a free press on an unsuspecting political class, setting England on the path to modernity. England did not move from a position of complete control of the press to one of complete freedom. Instead, it moved from pre-publication censorship to post-publication restraint. Political and religious authorities and their agents continued to shape and manipulate information. Authors, printers, publishers and book agents were continually harassed. The book trade reacted by practicing self-censorship. At times of political calm, government and the book trade colluded in a policy of policing rather than punishment. The Restraint of the Press in England problematizes the notion of the birth of modernity, a moment claimed by many prominent scholars to have taken place at the transition from the seventeenth into the eighteenth century. What emerges from this study is not a steady move to liberalism, democracy or modernity. Rather, after 1695, England was a religious and politically fractured society, in which ideas of the sovereignty of the people and the power of public opinion were being established and argued about"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes ALEX BARBER is Assistant Professor in Early Modern British History at Durham University Print version record Subject Freedom of the press -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century Freedom of the press -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century Church and the press -- Great Britain -- History Religious literature -- Publishing -- Great Britain -- 17th century Religious literature -- Publishing -- Great Britain -- 18th century Censorship -- Great Britain -- 17th century Censorship -- Great Britain -- 18th century Publishers and publishing -- Great Britain -- 17th century Publishers and publishing -- Great Britain -- 18th century Religious literature -- Publishing -- 18th century Censorship Church and the press Freedom of the press Publishers and publishing Religious literature -- Publishing Great Britain Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781787448766 1787448762

Other Titles Communication of sin

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