So I have been getting to grips with Early English Books Online (EEBO) recently and although I was aware of this before, I have really noticed just how long the titles were. For example...
Walsh, Peter, The history & vindication of the loyal formulary, or Irish remonstrance, so graciously received by his majesty anno 1661. Against all calumnies and censures. In several treatises. With a true account and full discussion of the delusory Irish remonstrance, and other papers, framed and insisted on by the national congregation at Dublin, anno 1666
Which is even shortened from the original one.
Then of course popular books like Gullivers Travels or A Modest Proposal had much longer titles. So I was just curious when the preference towards short titles started to happen and why this was the case?
I'm thinking maybe to save space and paper, but then paper was so expensive in the 17th century so it's somewhat surprising that they had such long titles back then! Was there a particular reason why the convention was to have these long titles?
I don't know when book titles shifted. However, long titles in the early modern era were a marketing device! They informed the reader of the contents of the text. Sort of how today we might read the publisher's blurb on the back of the book or as the description on Amazon or Google Books.
This was helpful in cases where a book or pamphlet was one text by one author, but even more useful when a printer published an edition that combined several texts or excerpts from them.