In a fresh survey of English writing from 1650-1720, explores the multiplicity of what one ballad writer called 'this scribbling age'. The focus of the book is on close readings of both familiar and lesser-known texts, placing them within their larger contexts. Among questions raised are how the 'period' looks from the perspective of the late seventeenth century and from our own time and how reputations of writers have changed over time. Stevenson takes a close look at what was being read and how it was being published, looking at poetry, prose and drama, with particular emphasis on what is to be learned from details of earlier printing practices and manuscript circulation.