Note 18 — II. THE RISE OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Reading edition
Chap = An abbreviation of Chapman, which seems to have come into vulgar use in the end of the 16th c.; but it is rare in books, even in the dramatists, before 1700. It was not recognised by Johnson. 1577 Breton Toyes Idle Head (Grosart). Those crusty chaps I cannot love. a. A buyer, purchaser, customer.
Chap-book = f. chap in Chapman + Book. A modern name applied by book collectors and others to specimens of the popular literature which was formerly circulated by itinerant dealers or chapmen, consisting chiefly of small pamphlets of popular tales, etc. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. It is a chap-book, printed in rather neat black letter. 1882 J. Ashton Chap-books, 18th Century in Athenæum 2 Sept. 302/1. A great mass of chap-books.
Chapman = [OE. Céapmann = OHG. Choufman (OHG., MHG. Koufman), Ger. Kaufmann.] A man whose business is buying and selling; a merchant, trader, dealer. Vide 890 K. Ælfred Bæda. Vide further, A New English Dictionary. Murray, Oxford.