Question

Explain the reason which created a large number of readers in the 19 century

Answer 1

• Primary education becomes compulsory from the late-nineteenth century and it made choldren an important category of readers. Production of school textbooks become an imperative for the publishing industry.

• Reading and writing became popular among women. Penny magazines catered for women. There were manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping which attracted women folk.

• Lending libraries in England became instruments for educating white-collar workers, artisans and lower-middle class people. Self-educated working class people wrote for themselves too.