Author Description

Chartism, which was supported by tens of thousands of working-class people in mid-nineteenth-century, Britain, took its name from the People's Charter. Published in 1838, the Charter called for universal suffrage, the ballot, no property qualifications for members of parliament, payment for members of parliament, equal electoral areas and annual parliaments. The Chartist movement continues to attract considerable attention. Scholarly books and articles appear with regularity, and the movement features prominently in courses taught in universities and schools. This bibliography expands, updates and corrects the one compiled by J.F.C. Harrison and Dorothy Thompson in 1978 (Harvester Press). A comprehensive list of manuscript material - letters, petitions, notebooks and poetry - relevant to the study of Chartism is provided, as well as a section on contemporary printed sources incorporating books, pamphlets, handbills, posters, Chartist and near-Chartist periodicals, with a location provided for each of the latter. Books, articles and theses written on different aspects of Chartism since 1978 are also included. Annotations amplify many of the sources and provide the reader with useful guidance. The bibliography includes an introductory essay by Dorothy Thompson and will be of immense value to researchers, teachers and students of labour and social history, and Victorian studies, in universities and schools.