Introduction: Restoration Epistolarity

Abstract

The early modern age witnessed a number of revolutionary changes in the ways people communicated with each other. Within the shifting balances between oral and print cultures following upon Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, epistolarity played a crucial role in how written language was perceived as a source of reliable information. The highly dynamic cultural environment of Restoration England, existing as it did in various forms of intellectual exchange with other European and international spheres, brought forth a sizeable increase in various forms of literary practice.