Books for idle hours : nineteenth-century publishing and the rise of summer reading / Donna Harrington-Lueker.

"The publishing phenomenon of summer reading, often focused on novels set in vacation destinations, started in the nineteenth century, as both print culture and tourist culture expanded in the United States. As an emerging middle class increasingly embraced summer leisure as a marker of social status, book publishers sought new market opportunities, authors discovered a growing readership, and more readers indulged in lighter fare. Drawing on publishing records, book reviews, readers' diaries, and popular novels of the period, Donna Harrington-Lueker explores the beginning of summer reading and the backlash against it. Countering fears about the dangers of leisurely reading--especially for young women--publishers framed summer reading not as a disreputable habit but as a respectable pastime and welcome respite. Books for Idle Hours sheds new light on an ongoing seasonal publishing tradition"--

Includes bibliographies and index.

Nineteenth-century travel, tourism, and summer leisure -- 'As welcome and grateful as the girls in muslin': nineteenth-century periodicals and the marketing of summer reading -- Society and saturnalia: the cultural work of the American summer novel -- 'Hurrying. . . forward for the summer trade': William Dean Howells's dialogue with the popular summer novel -- 'This is why I do not board': the role of place and space in Victorian summer reading -- Chautauqua assemblies, summer schools, and Catholic Reading circles: the case for serious summer reading -- Changing times, persistent practices.

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