Scribal Publication in Seventeenth-Century New England: An Introduction and a Checklist.

The reproduction and circulation of handwritten texts--scribal publication--played a significant role in the civil, religious, and literary culture of seventeenth-century New England. Although a printing office was established in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by the end of 1639 and another in Boston by 1674, scribal publication persisted alongside the efforts of these printers. The checklist including some eighty-four items represents a preliminary effort to identify a body of texts that were produced in this manner and to suggest some of the implications of this mode of publication for our understanding of politics and culture.