The Oxford English Dictionary defines chapbook as "A modern name applied by book-collectors and others to specimens of the popular literature which was formerly circulated by itinerant dealers or chapmen, consisting chiefly of small pamphlets of popular tales, ballads, tracts, etc." (1989). While the OED notes the first appearance of the word chapbook to have occurred in 1824, the word chapman, defined by OED as "An itinerant dealer who travels about from place to place selling or buying...," is connected with literature as early as 1593.
Chapbooks represent the transition from oral tradition to physically recorded language. Before the invention of moveable type, people were entertained and informed by troubadors, who would go place to place relating information to the lower classes through oral storytelling and song. When Gutenberg revolutionized publication through the invention of moveable type during the fifteenth century, more people became literate. The chapbook began as a printed pictoral representation for those who were not yet literate, but evolved into an inexpensive short story that was entertaining and affordable for the masses. Chapbooks often represented folklore, fairytales, educational material, religious texts, and sometimes vulgarity (for pure marketability). During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, chapbooks were often condensed and modified (even plagarized) versions of more popular and legitimate novels. In fact, "The Black Castle" is possibly named to take advantage of the popularity of a play with the same title by William Upton, which ran at Astley's Amphitheatre of Arts in London. In addition, chapbooks usually contained or were covered with inexpensive woodblock prints or engravings.
This relates to C.F. Barrett's "The Black Castle" because, according to OED's timeline, the height of popularity for use of the word chapbook, was around 1832, just a few short decades after the publication date of Barrett's various chapbooks. Gothic works were very popular in chapbook form during this time because they were considered vulgar and gratuitous. The vulgarity, terror, horror, and romaticism of the gothic appealed to the masses who were purchasing this inexpensive and accessible format. "The Black Castle" remains to be an easy read with a vulgar, horrific, and suspenseful plot.
Several fantastic chapbook collections can be found online, with the most relevant to this topic at the University of Virgina. The Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Fiction at the University of Virginia contains several of C.F. Barrett's chapbooks, including "The Black Castle." This link provides more detailed information about the gothic and its relation to chapbooks, and provides several examples of the illustrations that accompanied the chapbooks. http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/small/collections/sadleir-black/goldapx.html
Other excellent chapbook collections are available at the following links:
http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/chapbook.shtml
http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook1.html
Connected Pages[]
The Black Castle: A Comparison
The Black Castle: An Introduction
Black Castles Around the World
The Black Castle: Why is it Gothic?