Introduction

In this chapter, I introduce the topic of this monograph, set out its aims and objectives, and explain why book inscriptions are such an important tool for exploring literacy and class conflict in Edwardian Britain. In order to understand the factors that made it possible for all Edwardians, no matter their class, to own and inscribe books, I trace the major educational changes that took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Britain. I also consider how the widespread literacy brought about by free and compulsory schooling was directly responsible for the expansion of the book trade, the development of new reading habits, and the increased use of writing in everyday life. In the second part of this chapter, I introduce the Edwardian book inscription study, outlining the multimodal ethnohistorical framework which underpins and informs the work. I also set up the principal argument that runs throughout the book: that book inscriptions are important first-hand evidence of literacy and class conflict in Edwardian Britain and can provide us with new understandings of the ways in which people use multimodal resources to express identity and signal status.