The activity of the Polish folk press market for rural communities in the Prussian partition

Research on the press aimed at rural communities in the 19th and early 20th centuries is an introduction to the analysis of changes in the publishing and reading market from the moment the first periodicals were created until the systemic transformation. The aim of this study is to examine the origins of publishing services aimed at the peasantry in the Prussian partition. A comparison of individual titles in terms of content, audience groups and editorial staff, which were created in the first periodicals and professional press aimed at the people, allowed us to indicate the functions fulfilled by the industry-specific (agricultural) press in the discussed period and partition. An important factor that should be emphasized was the organization of publishing houses and their influence on readers despite censorship restrictions on the press market. The first large publishing houses combining the publishing of newspapers and books were established in the Prussian partition. The activity of the press for rural communities from the 19th century until the period of World War I was diverse. However, educational, social and religious content dominated there.