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The aim of this article is to put popular crime literature in general, and crime broadsides in particular, into a new perspective. This genre, which had its heydays during the first three quarters of the 19th century before fading into oblivion because of the rise of the mass newspapers, interestingly reflects what contemporaries thought and felt about violence. The fifty-five broadsides under study seem indeed to present repeatedly the same affair - which to some extent they were, since they tended increasingly to privilege a particular type of crime, the crime passionnel, and to adopt a standardized narrative style -, yet they offered their readers more facts than fiction. Not a pure exercise of imagination, they were not mere propaganda or social control agent. More importantly, crime broadsides performed most of the functions of a mass media : they entertained and informed their readers, they conveyed a subculture where violence played a prominent part. Ultimately, they brought people closer together by getting them to share common sensations or participate to opinion-making processes, far beyond their « basic » moralizing and edifying purpose.

Popular representations of crime : the crime broadside – a subculture of violence in Victorian Britain ?