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The main point of this paper is the transfer made by 17th century pamphleteers of the oral rhetorical strategy of artificial memory to written to-be-read-aloud texts in order to facilitate comprehension and retention of their contents by listeners. This new function of an oral strategy is discussed against the general background of the relationship between orality and literacy within the domain of early printed mass-communication. It is argued that the role of oral strategies in serving the needs of mixed literate and illiterate audiences during the long-term transition from orality to literacy is more complex than the traditionally held view of orality as the opposite of literacy might suggest.

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