Gift books and annuals, elaborate publications which decorated the drawing room tables of fashionable homes, were a phenomenon in Britain during the 1820s and 1830s. They were anthologies of original poetry and prose illustrated with steel-plate engravings and bound in tooled leather, velvet, or shiny watered-silk. They were especially designed as holiday gifts for middle-class readers, meant to demonstrate gentility and appreciation for literature and art. Ledbetter looks at the relationships among authors, annual editors and their publishers, revealing an interesting portrait of bad business deals that often gave the books themselves undeserved criticism and eventually contributed to their decline.
Sauf mention contraire ci-dessus, le contenu de cette notice bibliographique peut être utilisé dans le cadre d'une licence CC BY 4.0 / Unless otherwise stated above, the content of this bibliographic record may be used under a CC BY 4.0 license