Introduction

This paper is a pragma-linguistic analysis of elements of the title pages found in a sample of seventeenth-century Quaker pamphlets and books and is primarily addressed to those interested in aspects of Quaker studies rather than specialist linguists engaged in the study of paratext.¹ Paratext refers to all material contained in a printed or manuscript work, including prefaces, marginalia and metadata regarding the publication. The present-day equivalent of these front pages would be the title page plus publisher’s blurb. This is, to my knowledge, the first study to investigate title pages of early printed publications by Quakers. Much previous scholarship has been devoted to the content of the main body of Quaker publications but the paratext (title pages, prefaces ‘to the reader’, errata and other metatext) has so far been neglected. My study explores the various framing strategies used in the texts and how these authors and printers presented and commodified their products compared to their non-Quaker religious and secular counterparts. To what extent did persuasive marketing strategies promote these publications? Can we infer there was a prototypically Quaker title page? A visual and linguistic analysis of similarities and differences in a small collection of publications could tell us if there is such a thing as a prototypical Quaker title page.

The enquiry is based on a set of 24 pamphlets or books held in the Library of the Society of Friends, London, all published between 1658 and 1687, the majority before 1670. The early years of the Quaker movement, from 1648 to the 1660s, were the most prolific and uncontrolled, matching the turbulent historical times in which they were published. Some publications were written to attract non-Quakers, others for their perceived importance to a Quaker readership, or as engagement in public doctrinal disputing. The process for the collection was to extract from a previously compiled corpus of seventeenth-century Quaker texts all the items that contained a title page.² Out of a total of 200, I was left with 24. The larger corpus does not comprise all the published material Quakers produced, but we are left with a sufficient subset to use as a starting point for the present study.

The paper is structured in this way: some background information for the Quaker dataset is followed by a brief survey of paratextual theoretical concepts. The remainder of the study investigates the linguistic framing observed of various communication strategies, biblical referencing and speech acts. A separate section analyses the visual layout and typography of the title pages in the sample, and then these elements are compared with a small collection of paratextual non-Quaker religious or secular texts. My concluding remarks revisit the questions posed at the start of the study.

Early Quaker Publications

Seventeenth-century Quaker publications have attracted many studies, in part because so much printed material was preserved during the period of the so-called ‘pamphlet wars’ in that century. Friends used this new approach as a distinct campaigning tool to ‘subject the World with a barrage of Quaker tracts and papers which publicised the campaign’ (Peters 2005: 42). O’Malley (1982) quotes from the Second Day Morning Meeting minutes (1672) to describe the effective system Quakers developed after 1672 for the financing of books and tracts.

The major sources of finance for Quaker publications were the General Collections for the Service of Truth …. Printing was regarded as being in the Service of Truth. In 1672 money was needed ‘for friends supply, that are called into the service of the Lord beyond seas and for bookes that are disposed of and given away for the publick service of truth to the Chiefe Rulers &others’. Another major source of money, at least until the 1680s, was the money paid by Quarterly Meetings to printers for books approved by the Second Day Meeting. (O’Malley 1982: 79)

Hagglund (2013) makes clear that Quaker pamphlets and books were largely controlled and distributed across the nation and beyond rather than marketed to the wider reading public. Friends with responsibility for this circulation were more concerned with the potential for ‘wrong’ material to reach the public than in widening readership through sales. Can the concept of ‘commodification’ even be applied to Quaker publishing? The fact that many publications had a built-in willing readership will be revisited later in this paper.

Paratext: Some Theoretical Framing Concepts

The concept of paratextuality, in which framing devices present metatext to inform and guide readers, was developed by Genette (1997). He proposes certain functions which are relevant to the present study. These are: the ‘interpretive’ function, in which the author’s intentions, explanations and clarifications may be found; the ‘commercial’ function comprising recommendations, persuasion and overt marketing; and the ‘navigational’ function which would be used to set out the organisation of a text as a guide to the reader.

Genette’s ground-breaking work in paratextual literary studies has been extended more recently by other scholarship in this field. Birke and Birte (2013) widen their scope to include the mapping of paratextual digital and other media; Ruokkeinen and Lüra (2017) go into visual elements of typography and script choices. Cecconi’s chapter (2020) comes closer to the early modern concept of the Quaker genre with a study of seventeenth-century paratextual elements in news and broadside ballads. Suhr’s (2012) pragmatic analysis explores marketing considerations regarding illustration and layout. She also focuses on identifying elements that were apparently obligatory and others that might have been optional in the minds of the authors and the publisher-printers, and asks which styles of presentation would have been most likely to generate sales.

The study of seventeenth-century pamphlets has occupied a number of other scholars working in various sub-fields. Verhoest (2019) makes the following generalisation about pamphlets as a print medium, but one which could well apply more generally to several Quaker publication types:

Pamphlets in the 17th century were short tracts of religious, political or topical interest, written in the vernacular, generally printed in a quarto format, and sold at a low price in order to reach a wide audience. …

Pamphlets constitute an important testimonial of the religious, political and economic changes that characterized this historical epoch, not only through their contents, but also through their function, both as a commodity to be sold for profit and as a means of persuasion and communication. (Verhoest 2019: 48)

Verhoest’s study is valuable for the detailed background to the processes used by printers, booksellers and authors in terms of production and distribution in the public sphere. He comments unfavourably on the superficial informational content of the material and suggests the aim was rather to ‘mobilize public opinion for a cause’ (Verhoest 2019: 53), hence the emphasis on the commodity of cheap pamphlets and tracts. Their content was discussed in public spaces, reprinted or handed on. Thus the primary readership, he claims was not the main target for the marketing of such publications (Verhoest 2019). Clearly, the importance of title pages was a major consideration in the production process. Silva’s 2014 study of sixteenth-century paratext as an aspect of brand supports this broad argument (Silva 2014: 83).

Cecconi’s work on early news texts (2020) also provides a new and important fourth strategy to Genette’s functional set, namely the ‘ideological’ function. She pinpoints this function through the use of words in the title pages such as warning or lamentation, and suggests the purpose is ‘intent to change the reader’s attitude and beliefs’ evidenced by an author’s stance regarding their topic (Cecconi 2020: 140). Religious texts such as Quaker ones may usefully include this ‘ideological’ classification. I draw on this and other theoretical elements as a basis for investigating speech acts and attitudinal language used in the title page texts.

Communicative Framing Strategies in the Quaker Paratexts

The Role of Paratextual Typography

We next turn to the visual evidence. The topic of paratextual visual highlighting in early printed material is explained by Ruokkeinen and Lüra (2017).

Visual highlighting acts in a navigational function, guiding the reader’s attention by separating the paratextual matter visually from the text. Highlighting seems to indicate the paratextuality of other elements, rather than carry a paratextual significance of its own. (Ruokkeinen and Lüra 2017: 118)

Both McConchie (2013) and Ratia (2013) have concluded from their studies of title pages that graphical choices made by the printer largely take precedence over linguistic choices. Where there is a conflict between layout and language, the layout and visual appearance seems to take precedence. In other words, graphical design (in the modern sense) is what publishers then (and now) believe is what sells their products. Let us see what transpires from the detailed linguistic description of one eight-page Quaker pamphlet published in 1659 by Bryan Wilkinson. Fig. 1 shows the title page.

Fig. 1.

Title page of Wilkinson’s pamphlet To the Present Authority of Parliament now Sitting (1659).

The typography and positioning of this title page demonstrates a variety of different elements. The headline title To the Present Authority of Parliament now sitting has three variants of typeface. Small all-capitals are used for the least prominent words: to the; of; now sitting. The two words present authority are set with initial capitals but a large lower-case typeface style, and possibly a different font. These two words appear to be slightly less foregrounded however than the most prominent word which is parliament. This uses a large all-capitals style. The whole title is centred, taking up the top third of the page.

There is a clear visual separation between the main title and the running title, which comprises three separated paragraphs. Each little paragraph is centred, set in lower case and with white space between each segment. The whole is arranged in what is sometimes called a half-diamond indentation (Smith 2000: 60) but McConchie prefer the description ‘double-tapered indentation’ (McConchie 2013: section 4.1) in the shape of an inverted isosceles triangle. Even in this section there is variation in that a slightly larger lower-case typeface is used for the first line of paragraphs two and three. This takes us to the lower third of the page where, separated by a line across the page there are two quotations from the Bible. These are set in a smaller, italic style. Author and printer details appear below, all centred. The author’s name is separated above and below from neighbouring text. For the author’s name the printer has used the larger lower-case style as was seen in the running title text. Finally, at the foot of the page we have the word ‘London’ in italicised all-capitals. The printer, Thomas Simmons gives his name and workplace address and the publication year (1659) at the very foot of the page, all in italics.

The image demonstrates the usual lengthy running title that many Quaker writers were fond of. This has an ‘interpretive’ function and as we have seen, the layout serves to highlight the scope of the main text of the pamphlet that follows the initial paratext page. This open letter (which may never have been read by the stated addressees) announces a political and religious stance, and exemplifies the ideological function of paratext. These paragraphs may stand too as a gentle marketing hook to persuade potential readers to look inside. There is no navigational element.

This close inspection of one title page can serve as a comparator for the remainder of the Quaker samples, beginning with the typography and layout. The use of italic script for place names (‘England’, ‘London’ in the Wilkinson page) are found in all the other texts. Biblical quotations are also typically presented in italics, see Fig. 2 below.

Fig. 2.

Title page from A Shield of the Truth, Parnell 1655, showing biblical quotations and references in italic script.

The Wilkinson example in Fig. 1 makes no use of any decorative elements or elaborate initial letters. Very few of the other texts do. Where they are apparent is in prefatory material which makes use of the first page of the pamphlet below the title page. The preface to the Wilkinson pamphlet does have a ‘swash’ initial letter but that is found on page two. The decreasing half-diamond shape for the running text occurs in several pamphlets, see Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

Showing the ‘half-diamond’ shape on the title page of The Saints Justified, Hickock, 1660.

As the printer Simmons also avoids this format for some authors we may assume it is the choice of the writer (and whichever individual or Meeting is paying) whether the half-diamond shape is to be used or not. An element of typography that is absent in the Wilkinson example is the use of widely spaced all-capitals. This is a device used in a number of the texts as an additional way of highlighting prominent words or phrases, see Fig. 4 (which also illustrates the ‘navigational’ function with its use of a numbered list mentioned above). Within the plain taste apparently favoured by Quaker writers and their Meetings there is clearly a wide variety of typography and layout.

Fig. 4.

Showing wide spacing of typescript, and also a numbered list (navigational function), on the title page of The Spirit of the Martyrs, Hookes, 1665.

Using this highly detailed analysis as a benchmark we can look more generally at the other Quaker examples, being aware that a twenty-first century reader will certainly have different expectations of a visually engaging layout and typography from a seventeenth-century one. Text set in very large all-capitals seizes the attention, more so if the letters are widely spaced and surrounded by generous white space. Fig. 5 gives an approximate representation of the largest and the second largest words in each of the texts in the sample. The size variation presumably indicated the relative importance of these key words to seventeenthcentury eyes. Modern eyes might be surprised at some of the choices of these ‘key words’ but too many centuries have passed for us to question the originators.

Fig. 5.

Highlighted items in the title page shown by largest and second largest difference in type size and script.

Small paragraphs, whether shaped or not, seem effective. One or two examples that cram in as much text as possible seem to be trying too hard and the message is lost, and the same can be said where there is a large amount of variation of typeface, style and layout.

Comparisons with Non-Quaker Title Pages

The key framing function of interest for paratextual comparison appears to be how Quaker writers promoted their work (if they did). How much evidence is there for the ‘commodification’ aspect in the Quaker set compared to the more commercial and/or religious publications produced by the non-Quaker world? Although a full comparison is beyond the scope of this initial enquiry, to investigate the small Quaker set with no regard at all for what lay beyond the Quaker community would lack a sense of breadth. The present study merely points the way to a fuller, more comprehensive study in the future.

To make the comparison I collected several non-Quaker religious and non-Quaker secular publications. These are 18 publications of which six have religious themes. I separated the religious-based texts from the broad overview, as the rhetorical purpose of these writers could be argued to be closer to the Quaker purpose than the secular ones. This is not the place to sub-divide further into denominational differences. More of the items are book-length than in the Quaker set; the date range is between 1656 and 1695. A systematic comparison of such different yet outwardly similar publications is not possible without a larger dataset. Nevertheless, some initial similarities and differences can be detected.

An inspection of the non-Quaker group shows that much of the assertive speech act language is similar to the Quaker group: reporting, complaining, justifying, explaining. or example in the non-Quaker factual genre, Robert May’s text The Accomplisht Cook (1685) describes and explains the ideal preparation of flesh, fowl and fish along with appropriate sauces; John Tutchin (1690) narrates a famous sea battle. For publications with a directive framing there is William Cole’s physico-medical Essay Concerning the Late Frequency of Apoplexies which sets out to convince doctors of ways to prevent and treat strokes.

The religious texts are commonly in the form of sermonic exhortations, for example in the keeping of the commandments. Two are more persuasive in tone, somewhat in the Quaker style: John Hart (1682) addresses the ‘worldly rich’ reminding them of their charitable duties to resist ‘unmerciful men’ – a doctrinal dispute we need not trouble ourselves with here. The anonymous author of Truth and Duty (1689) sets out his argument in the form of a ‘modest’ expository essay but in reality the title page focuses on controversial aspects of ‘baptism and the Sabbath day’—maybe an answer to a challenge from the Quakers? The directive speech acts of persuading and advising with a view to convincing are surely part and parcel of creating a paid-for text for wide distribution to likely readers.

A brief snapshot of evaluative language in the small collection of non-Quaker text retrieves lexis such as noble, true and impartial, modest, remarkable, vindication. One can see how easily this language lends itself to the present-day label of marketing (for instance easie and perfect, easie access, authoritative). Copies need to be sold and printers need to be paid.

With regard to visual elements, inevitably there are seventeenth-century similarities between the non-Quaker and the Quaker styles of printing (and printers’ preferences). Each printer or publisher will have their individual tastes. In general Quaker texts use less or no decorative features on the title page. The non-Quaker texts are too varied to extend to a reliable generalisation.

An analysis of title pages of seventeenth-century treatises on the plague by Ratia (2013) serves as a useful extra non-Quaker comparator. Her analysis of the front page typography reveals a difference between her specific genre-based text type and the multipurpose Quaker publications in my sample. She agrees that what we might think of as ‘key words’ are not necessarily highlighted in the large types and scripts of the visual evidence.

An interesting difference between Ratia’s texts and the Quaker set is the range of textual labels assigned by Quaker authors or printers in the long titles. She defines these labels as a kind of ‘umbrella term referring to various types of discourse’. Her dataset includes ‘Dialogue’, ‘Treatise’, ‘Observations’, ‘Meditations’. The Quaker labels, however, indicate the very different nature of much of Friends’ published output, as was noted earlier. Several of the Quaker texts in the sample contain no such descriptors however, and readers were presumably expected to work out the nature of the publication for themselves.

Concluding Remarks

Can we now identify a prototype model of a Quaker title page? On the basis of this small sample I suggest that the model will probably have a plain-looking layout, albeit with a wide variety of typographical switches of style and size. Typically there will be little or no decorative element; that could be a principled Quaker approach or it could simply be a money-saving reason, or both. The framing function, with or without a textual label, will be mostly ideological, guiding the reader to distinct interpretation of the contents through a mix of assertive and directive speech acts. The navigational function will mostly likely be absent. There is likely to be a strong communicative illocutionary force, more underlying than overt marketing from a linguistic perspective. It is not clear how much the writers paid attention specifically to ‘manipulating’ a reader’s attention, or whether the printers did this on behalf of the writers anyway, possibly without consulting them. Many of the Quaker publications in the seventeenth century were purposed as either campaigning tools or for internal consumption by members of the developing Quaker movement.

There is a closer comparison with the rhetoric of non-Quaker religious texts although the latter publications in the sample are more evidently mainstream Christian sermonising than the radical exhortatory style of the Quakers. The very word sermon in the non-Quaker set occurs in the sample as a common textual label. There is a greater distinction between Quaker and non-Quaker secular texts, as might be expected. Again, the latter contain more overtly commercial rhetoric with the obvious aim to sell multiple copies. These may have been more expensive to purchase, especially the book-length ones, so more would be at stake in the production. Some Quaker title pages do use persuasive approaches designed to attract the reader’s attention, sometimes in a rather less professional style. This is more the case for texts in the first decade or so of the Quaker movement, I suggest.

This study has focused on a sample of title pages of Quaker texts. A browse through Quaker material on the Early English Books Online (EEBO) site indicates that only relatively few items have a minimal or non-existent title page. These tend to be broadside sheets, or epistles destined solely for internal Quaker readership. Where there is simply a title plus running text laid out on the top half of an initial page, the visual style described above (with the usual wide variety of typefaces) still holds good.

My analytical study of paratextual title pages brings out aspects of the campaigning messaging that Quaker authors wished to communicate as paramount. There are notable differences in the framing strategies between the Quaker set and the non-Quaker secular sample, both visually and linguistically. Having said that, there are indeed some similarities of production and framing between the Quaker set and the non-Quaker religious sample. Nevertheless, I suggest a clear Quaker approach is discernible compared to the contemporary material with which the Quaker writers (and their printers) were in public competition. This model encapsulates a determination to exhort, persuade and otherwise influence their intended readership through the title pages of their output. Further research is indicated to look at other aspects of Quaker paratext such as lengthy passages ‘to the reader’, handwritten notes by subsequent readers and other material extraneous to the main body of the texts.