The Elizabethan Underworld - a collection of Tudor and Early Stuart Tracts and Ballads: Previously published 1930 and 1965

Available on its own or as part of the five-volume setKey Writings on Subcultures 1535-1727, this volume contains sixteen popular works from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries dealing with the lives and misdoings of thieves, rogues, and tricksters. For the most part the original authors were men of experience-watchmen, constables, and those who drifted into the London underworld and learned its tricks. A thorough introduction provides historical background and outlines contemporary social contexts.