Mass markets: education

TL;DR: The technology of book production was transformed in the course of the nineteenth century as discussed by the authors and the markets created by the rise of formal schooling and the associated phenomenon of public examinations, such as public examinations.

Abstract: This chapter explores the technology of book production, which was transformed in the course of the nineteenth century. This chapter focuses on one key sector, the markets created by the rise of formal schooling, its associated phenomenon, and the rise of public examinations. Schemes to develop formal schooling for the growing population, elementary education as it was defined, proved much more contested and raised altogether more complex issues. Schools affiliated to the denominational societies in England and Wales could still apply for the book grant and the first specialised collection of books on education, including textbooks, was formed in the aftermath of the 1851 Exhibition. The reading books developed in response to the Revised Code, and dominating the elementary school class-room for the second half of the nineteenth century, had their staunch defenders. The market for secondary textbooks begins to look like a mass market on a scale similar to the already-existing market for elementary textbooks.