It is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should
read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture
depends on what one shouldn't read. The Importance of Being
Ernest (1895) "Fast" literature refers to both the speed at
which it was produced and the sensational subject matter that
was often its focus. The advent of the rotary printing press,
mass-produced wood pulp paper, and a large population of
functionally literate readers combined to create an ephemeral
"literature" of the British middle and working classes
throughout the 1800s. At the end of the 18th century, Thomas
Bewick's large-scale boxwood engraving began a new era in
illustration. His experiments were followed by a variety of
offset printing techniques and daguerreotype photography. By the
middle of the 19th century, new techniques for illustration
increased the number of readers by offering elaborate cover and
interior illustrations that reiterated written narratives. The
widespread availability of illustrations and othe