What kind of material was printed for children and women during the nineteenth century that made them an important category of readers ?
The following types of printed material was responsible for increase in readership of children and women in the 19th century : (1) Children : Primary education became compulsory from the late 19th century. A children’s press set up in France in 1857 devoted to literature for children alone. Old fairy tales and folk tales were published. The Grimm Brothers in Germany compiled traditional folk tales gathered from peasants. A collection of stories was published in 1812. Anything that was considered unsuitable for children or would appear vulgar to the elites, was not included in the published version.Rural folk tales thus acquired a new form. In this way, print recorded old tales but also changed them. (2) Women: Penny Magazine was published between 1832 and 1835 in England. It was aimed primarily at the working class and women. There were manuals teaching proper behaviour and house keeping. Novels were written in the nineteenth century by women like Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot. Their writings became important in defining a new type of woman, a person with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.
