It was in France that the printing-press first began to supply reading
for the common people. At the end of the 15th century there was a
large popular literature of farces, tales in verse and prose, satires,
almanacs, &c., stitched together so as to contain a few leaves, and
circulated by itinerant booksellers, known as colporteurs.
-- "Chapbook" Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed. v.5 (1910).