Publisher's Synopsis
This collection of text extracts provides an invaluable resource for working directly with non-literary informal English of the Early Modern period. The book is organised into eight thematic sections: private diaries; personal daybooks and accounts; autobiographical material; letters; personal documents (wills and contracts); official documents by naive writers; records of spoken evidence given in court; and records of speech forming the basis of Court cases. Texts are arranged by type and each has a short linguistic and explanatory apparatus. Each section has a photographic illustration of a text manuscript. In addition to a general Introduction, the book includes a linguistic summary, a glossary, and a bibliography and list of sources.
