chapman
/ˈtʃapmən
/noun (plural chapmen) archaic
A pedlar.But these books are short - about twenty pages each - and without a spine, so we can call them chapbooks, which once meant works of popular literature sold for a few pennies, carried around by peddlers or ‘chapmen’....
- The roads were thronged with petty chapmen, with their news-sheets, tracts, almanacs, cautionary tales, pamphlets full of homespun wisdom; pedlars with trinkets of all sorts; and travelling entertainers.
- And smaller books were not just available from bookshops: all cities and towns would have had pedlars or chapmen selling pamphlets from trays or baskets hanging from their necks.
Origin
Old English cēapman, from cēap 'bargaining, trade' (see cheap) + man.