· Free exhibition at Guildhall Library illustrate the popularity of broadsides in London over three centuries
· Library users will discover how broadsides were introduced in the 16th century and were seen everywhere in the capital
· Original materials on display will offer taste of the news, satire, warnings, songs, advice, and gossip carried by broadsides
Before Londoners had X, Instagram, and TikTok, they had broadsides.
Five hundred years ahead of the arrival of smartphones or constant streams of adverts on television, Londoners turned to the capital’s walls to get their daily dose of news, advice, satire, and gossip.
From the sixteenth century onwards, cheaply printed broadsides covered London’s walls, offering everything – from health advice and dry announcements about new laws to news, songs, outlandish stories, and biting political satire.
Opening at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall Library on 5 May, ‘Broadsides: Speaking to the People’ looks at how the broadside bore witness to much of London’s history and was able to speak to everyone, regardless of their social status.
First seen in London in the sixteenth century, the printing of broadsides was at its height in the seventeenth century and, even up to the nineteenth century, it was a cheap and convenient way to communicate to the public before being edged out of the market by the rise of newspapers.
Visitors to the free exhibition will discover how broadsides were once as common in London as adverts are today. Plastered on every wall and post, they were single sheets of paper, cheaply printed on one side, and affordable for even the lowest paid worker to take home and read, or display as art.
Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage, and Libraries Committee, Brendan Barns, said:
“Guildhall Library’s new exhibition reveals how broadsides were, essentially, the social media of their age – spreading news, gossip, and opinion across London in the sixteenth century, and for the following 300 or so years.
“Drawing on the riches of its extensive collections, these fascinating and free exhibitions at the library are always attractively curated, generously resourced, and consistently popular with visitors.”
Guildhall Library is an integral part of the City’s rich and vibrant arts and cultural offering, and forms part of Destination City, the City of London Corporation’s growth strategy for the Square Mile as a world-leading business and leisure location.
The City of London Corporation is one of the largest funders of heritage and cultural activities in the UK and invests over £130m every year. The organisation manages a range of world-class cultural and heritage institutions, including the Barbican Centre, Tower Bridge, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Library, The London Archives, and Keats House. It also supports the London Symphony Orchestra and London Museum, which is due to open later this year.
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