Cheap Scandinavism. An investigation of Scandinavist texts in popular prints in the mid-nineteenth century

In nineteenth-century Sweden, chapbooks (small leaflets containing various rhymed texts or ”ballads”) were among the few printed products that were cheap and easy enough to read to be available to the majority of the population. In this article, the impact of Scandinavism in chapbooks is investigated, thus adding a piece of information to our knowledge on how these thoughts were diffused among the broader population. The conclusion drawn is that Scandinavist texts were indeed published in chapbook format, but, it seems, with a delay. This indicates that Scandinavist popular prints were not primarily a result of an active effort on behalf of the Scandinavists themselves, but of ”text scavenging” among the printers producing chapbooks. However, it is suggested that this gesunkenes Kulturgut might still have played a part in introducing the idea of shared Nordic interests to the general population.