"The early Quaker movement was remarkable for its prolific use of the printing press. Carefully orchestrated by a handful of men and women who were the movement's leaders, printed tracts were an integral feature of the rapid spread of Quaker ideas in the 1650s." "Drawing on very rich documentary evidence, this book examines how and why Quakers were able to make such effective use of print. As a crucial element in an extensive proselytising campaign which also used public preaching, confrontation, silence and symbolic performance, printed tracts enabled the emergence of the Quaker movement as a uniform, national phenomenon."--BOOK JACKET.