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Joseph Hone

The Paper Chase: The Printer, the Spymaster, and the Hunt for the Rebel Pamphleteers Hardcover – 5 Nov. 2020

by Joseph Hone (Author)

7 ratings

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"A remarkable achievement" Spectator

An adventure story of politics, philosophy and printing from the age of Queen Anne

In the summer of 1705, a masked woman knocked on the door of David Edwards's London workshop. She did not leave her name, only a package and a coded means of identifying her courier.

Edwards was a Welsh printer working in the dark confines of Nevill's Alley, outside the city walls. The package was an illegal, anonymous pamphlet: The Memorial of the Church of England. The argument it proposed threatened to topple the government, but sedition sold well in the coffeehouses of Fleet Street and the woman promised protection. Edwards swiftly set about printing and surreptitiously distributing the pamphlet.

Parliament was soon in turmoil and government minister Robert Harley launched a hunt for all those involved. When Edwards was nowhere to be found, his wife was imprisoned and the pamphlet was burnt in his place. The printer was not the only villain, though, and Harley had to find the unknown writers who wished to bring the government down.

Full of original research, The Paper Chase tears through the backstreets of London and its corridors of power as Edwards's allegiances waver and Harley's grasp on parliament threatens to slip. Amateur detectives and government spies race to unmask the secrets of the age in this complex break-neck political adventure. Joseph Hone shows us a nation in crisis through the fascinating story of a single incendiary document.

"An elegant blend of scholarship and detection that reanimates the dangerous, exciting, clandestine world of Fleet Street at the start of the modern age" Peter Moore, author of Endeavour

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Chatto & Windus
Publication date

5 Nov. 2020
Dimensions

16.5 x 3 x 23 cm
ISBN-10

1784743062
ISBN-13

978-1784743062
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Product details

Publisher : Chatto & Windus (5 Nov. 2020)
Language : English
Hardcover : 272 pages
ISBN-10 : 1784743062
ISBN-13 : 978-1784743062
Dimensions : 16.5 x 3 x 23 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 246,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 114 in Georgian & Regency Britain History
- 270 in Books & Reading (Books)
- 469 in Political History of Revolutions & Coups

Customer reviews:
7 ratings

Product description

Review

A remarkable achievement...a fast-paced, captivating narrative about the attempt to track down the individuals responsible for a pamphlet called The Memorial of the Church of England... Hone demonstrates how uncovering 18th-century working lives can be every bit as enthralling as tracing the machinations of the greatest politicians of the age -- Marcus Nevitt ― Spectator

An exciting story told with vigour... A fascinating insight into the world of late Stuart printing... [Hone] manages to combine a lively, almost novelistic narrative style with a confident and scholarly knowledge of his subject. That's no mean feat -- Adrian Tinniswood ― Literary Review

An elegant blend of scholarship and detection that reanimates the dangerous, exciting, clandestine world of Fleet Street at the start of the modern age -- Peter Moore, author of Endeavour

About the Author

Dr Joseph Hone is a writer and academic based at Newcastle University, where he researches and teaches the literature of the long eighteenth century. He was educated at Oxford and has held fellowships at Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, and the Institute of English Studies in London. His first book, Literature and Party Politics at the Accession of Queen Anne (2017) was shortlisted for the University English Book Prize. He is currently preparing the early verse of Alexander Pope for a major new edition.

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Plucked Highbrow

Fascinating look at seditious publishers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 November 2020

In the early years of the 18th century London was full of sedition. Pamphleteers walked a fine line between expressing opinion and outright treason and the ones to suffer were the publishers. In a business where most were only just above the poverty line, publishing a successful booklet could make one's fortune. When Edwards publishes the 'Histiry of the Church' he falls foul of the law and the Queen's agent Harley is determined to punish all involved but who are they and where have they gone.

This book is a fascinating insight into the early days of political journalism and publishing. The appetite for news and opinion was great and the authorities were ruthless in their attempts to stem the tide. This book takes a single case and explores the system as a whole. It is meticulously researched and very interesting.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sophia Lorenzo

Wanted to like this but failed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2021

I was given this as a Christmas present, thought appropriate as I'd been studying the history of printing. Some of it was very pertinent to what I'd been researching; the problem was structure. I so wanted to know more but got very confused and lost. Perhaps if the author had split the narrative into more structured subject matters, i.e. printers and their persecution simply for printing, it might have been an easier and more informative read. As it was the subject was confined to one particular pamphlet; I was expecting this to be about the whole industry of printing pamphlets at that time. It started well, but I lost interest. Shame, it could have been a much more interesting and definitive work than it was.