Originally published in 1928, this is the companion volume which follows on from Authorship in the Days of Johnson. The book discusses the reading public and socio-economic effects on educational and recreational literacy from improved communications, the spread of radicalism and free-thinking and the industrial revolution. The advance of popular literature is considered and the role which the monthlies, weeklies and dailies contributed to this. The rise of the novel and the social recognition of writers is also considered.