Discussing the transition from a largely oral to a fundamentally literate society in the Early Modern period, this text examines English, Scottish and Welsh oral culture to provide a pan-British study of the subject. During this period the spoken word remained of the utmost importance but development of printing and the spread of popular literacy combined to transform the nature of communication. The text covers several aspects of oral culture ranging from tradition, to memories of the civil war, to changing mechanics for the settling of debts. The time-span concentrates on the period 1500-1800 but includes material from outside this time frame, covering a longer chronological span than most other studies to show the link between Early Modern and modern oral and literate cultures.