Bob Casebeer wrote <While it is true that chapmen sold chapbooks, an
interesting problem remains: There were many families of Chapman in
England prior to the 18th century. For example, one of the first Chapmans
to settle in the colony of Virginia emigrated in 1610. >
Bob, I don't quite understand what you're saying here. That it was too
early for Chapmans to be selling Chapbooks? Gutenberg's Bible was printed
in 1455 or 1456 and within a few years printing presses were set up all
over Europe.
William Caxton, the first English printer, printed the Polychronicon in
1495, and an early London publication, known as Glanvil's Witches, 1681,
may have influenced the Salem witchcraft trials, since there's "good reason
to think that this text made its way to New England shortly after
publication." (from <
http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/gutenberg/print>
So I would imagine our chapmen certainly had the facility to print very
early on. As early as 1553, Edward VI said "No Tinker, Pedler, or petit
Chapman shall wander about from the Towne but such as shall be licences by
two Justices of Peace. (source: the 2-volume Oxford English Dictionary).
And yes, the Old High German "chouph, Old Saxon "cop" and Old English
"ceap" meant barter, business, dealing, so our ancestors were probably
involved in many kinds of businesses, not just printing and selling chapbooks.
Jean