xvii
Even a cursory examination of the titles in the list will reveal that
T the early Kentucky printers were much employed with the religious life of
their communities. Books and pamphlets concerned with religious controver-
sy and propaganda number 67; there are 42 issues of the minutes of various
associations of Baptists; and 9 sermons add to the total of 118 titles
which may be grouped under the general head of "religion." The next larg-
est group is composed of the 96 titles comprising the official publications
of the state of Kentucky--legislative journals accounting for BO of these,
the session laws and separate issues of certain acts for 29, with various
legislative resolutions and committee reports, the resolutions and pro-
I ceedings of the constitutional convention of 1799, and a number of mis-
cellaneous official documents making up the remainder. ln this group are
found 25 of the 1ist's broadsides. If we add another group of 15 titles
comprising compilations of the laws, court reports, legal textbooks, and
the like, we have a total of lll items concerned with the establishment
of civil government in the state of Kentucky.
The list contains 55 almanacs, each with its astronomical calcula-
tions and " a variety of useful and entertaining pieces in prose and verse,"
often the only general reading matter to be found in many a remote cabin.
Efforts to meet the needs of education are indicated by 15 titles of
schoolbooks, of which 6 are known from surviving copies.
Another outstanding interest of the citizens of early Kentucky was
politics, as is shown by B7 titles concerned with political propaganda
and controversy. Of the items in this class, 2O are broadsides-—indis-
pensable media of communication botveen candidates and voters at a time
V when the newspapers, no matter how partisan, vere too small to carry the
gospel of an ardent political faith.