Leslie Howsam
Book historian. Special interests in history books (as material objects) and Eliza Orme (Victorian lawyer). Past president of SHARP (2009-2013).
lesliehowsam.ca
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamStudies in Book Culture's latest issue is now available. Directed by Sarah Brouillette and Julien Lefort-Favreau, the issue is entitled "The Politics of Visibility and Discoverability in Contemporary Publishing". You can read it here : www.erudit.org/.../2....
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamI co-edited this bilingual issue of Mémoires du livre / Studies in Book Culture w/ @julienlf.bsky.social (an excellent collaborator). It's all open access.
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam“I’m a remarkable woman..always was, though none of you seemed to think so.”May Morris, English artist embroiderer, designer, feminist and socialist, dismayed by the lack of support for women artists founded the Women’s Guild of Arts, 1907 #womensart
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamIt's published! Histories of women legal historians, edited with @loreldridge.bsky.social and @dremilyireland.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/uk/celebrati...
- Surprised and delighted today to find a review (by Courtney Smith) in @jbritishstudies.bsky.social of my *Eliza Orme’s Ambitions*. @openbookpublish.bsky.social
- Eliza Orme was born #otd in 1848. Famously sensible and formidably competent, she disliked the excesses of Victorian Christmas cards, preferring “a nice hearty letter”.
- Just received my series editor’s copy of Queer Print Cultures. #bookhistory utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
- Victorian periodicals research, old-school.
- Happy Holidays from RSVP! Our gift 🎁 to you is the debut of a new interview series, starting with @patrickleary.bsky.social, who sat down with @c19thnewshound.bsky.social this past year to discuss "Getting Started with Periodicals Research." Stay tuned for more in 2026! rs4vp.org/introducing-...
- Nervous History MA student starting a #Victorian Studies program that required one course in English. The one with familiar canonical names was full, so I had to take the one that introduced me to a bunch of writers I’d never heard of, but also #bookhistory.
- The Nancy Drew Conference in 1993 was hosted by the brand-new Iowa Women's Archives, and it's the event this woman is describing where Mildred Wirt Benson was first able to be fully recognized and sign copies as the original "Carolyn Keene." 📜 www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr5Nua8d/
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamAn optimistic dystopia, a romance of the past, a cautionary tale? thoughts on Ian McEwan's What We Can Know
- This reminds me of when I taught undergrads about the practice of history by genre — how to read an article, an encyclopedia entry, a chapter, etc. A #bookhistory approach.
- Boosting this reference to Trish Loughran’s important chapter.
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam📚 New Book Review! Ellen Barth reviews: The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2020, edited by Nicola Wilson et al. (Edinburgh University Press, 2024). Read it here: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20... #BookHistory #Publishing #WomeninPublishing #WomeninPrint #FeministBookHistory
- A #bookhistory academic’s review of @biblioasis.bsky.social bestseller, The Notebook. 📒. 🇨🇦 sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
- Now tagging @sharpnews.bluesky.social.
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamThis arrived in the mail today. My essay analyzes Greg’s Bibliography of English Printed Drama and its idiosyncratic taxonomies for “Collections,” which prioritized canonical authors like Shakespeare but completely excluded dramatists like Margaret Cavendish.
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamWriting about teaching book history:
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes." Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamDoes anyone in the #bookhistory or #history space know of a good article about the “publishing war” between the Old Farmer’s Almanac and the Farmer’s Almanac?
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamHave you heard about our new Archie L. Dick Research Grants? If not, take a look and see if you qualify! Even if you don't, maybe someone you know does? Deadline to apply is December 1, 2025. sharpweb.org/grants-prize...
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamFor Remembrance Sunday, a short reflection on the life and death of my great grandfather in the twenty years after his return. botheringmiancestors.substack.com/p/the-trench...
- “She spent her spare time studying law”!
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam"Here is an exciting new way to think about the century that produced Darwinism." Janet Browne's review of Martin Hewitt's Darwinism's Generations: link.springer.com/article/10.1... @vicmanch.bsky.social
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam
I've seen an alternative argument going around that academics should instead step back and essentially see how things play out with AI, having confidence that if it sticks around (and doesn't go the way of the MOOC) it'll be adapted to academic needs and vice versa, like email, the internet + - Reposted by Leslie HowsamAre you a social media savvy book historian with a talent for sharing news in the digital sphere? We might have a role for you! SHARP News is looking for a new editor, details below👇🏼
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamAre you doing #19thC attribution research? Do you have DH skills and nowhere to use them? YOU could be the next editor of the Curran Index! We're still accepting applications thru next week on 15 Oct. Lead this ongoing + fully supported DH project into its next iteration! rs4vp.org/curran-edito...
- Knowledge of 19th century women’s lives is the reward of painstaking research.
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamIt’s not the same point, but related: our academic advisor looked at the high school records of who did/didn’t do well in their first 2 years as History u’grads. Among the ones doing well, high HS grades in English were a far better predictor of who did well in uni History. They’d learned to write.
- This (wonderful, inspiring) 🧵 again makes me think that departments of History should teach skills in non-fiction prose about the past — the way departments of English teach creative writing. #bookhistory #authorship
- I’m having intro chats with dissertation students this fortnight, and one of them asked which historians I’d recommend for beautiful writing they could absorb to further develop their own writing style. So, gang, which are your favourite *writers* among historians, any time, any topic, any place. 🗃️
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamInfluencers of a bygone era: How late Victorian women artists mastered the art of networking
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam📣 Registration is open for 'The future of research in Bible Society collections' @biblesoccollfuture.bsky.social on 26&27 Sept Become part of a network of scholars and experts in Religious Studies, material culture, and Medieval to Modern collections crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47443/
- Required reading for #bookhistory and “fembib. Collaboration, mentorship, “data intimacy” and research.
- #bookhistory and library history. (Although as we’re reading on SHARP-L, the card catalogue is far from obsolete.)
- I hadn't known about this bit of history. The Library Innovator Who Made the Card Catalog Obsolete buff.ly/jvNsPrx
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamIn Kate’s contribution to our “Research in Reflection Series” she reflects on how the WPHP (delightfully, inevitably) shaped her her PhD work—and provided her with the opportunity to drop books in the British Library. Oops. Read about her ongoing love story with the WPHP here: tinyurl.com/5k55cpxm
- #bookhistory Yvan Lamonde was co-general editor of the History of the Book in Canada. 📕
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam🗃️Open-Access Alert #3: The ENTIRE Spring 2024 Issue of the JWH is open access. See Bonnie G. Smith's remembrance of Natalie Z. Davis, articles by Mytheli Sreenivas, Iris Berger, Michelle Arrow, Mary Louise Roberts, Tamika Nunley, María Martín Gómez, and Frances Luttikhuizen: muse.jhu.edu/issue/52077
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamClever "title page" design is all Kate!
- Reposting the podcast news as I finally appreciate the clever design of the “title page”. But it’s also worth listening to. womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/147
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam📣 Curran Fellowships are now OPEN! Per our most recent newsletter, we've moved up our Curran awards to allow recipients time to plan summer travel. Applications due Oct. 15. As always, guidelines and more info are on our website! rs4vp.org/awards/curra...
- Reposting the podcast news as I finally appreciate the clever design of the “title page”. But it’s also worth listening to. womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/147
- I had forgotten quite how long I’ve been doing #fembib #bookhistory till this lovely podcast opportunity with @thewphp.bsky.social .
- In the penultimate (!!) episode of The WPHP Monthly Mercury, we’re joined by three scholars whose work has been vital to our research—Isobel Grundy, @lesliehowsam.bsky.social, and Maureen Bell. Listen here: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/147 (1/3)
- Reposted by Leslie Howsamdescriptive bibliography can be a wild ride
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamA Q&A with our organising committee is now up at the @crasshlive.bsky.social blog: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/blog/the-fut...
- Nice to see the archive behind my first book being celebrated. #CheapBibles #bookhistory
- Join us in September for two days of interdisciplinary papers, practical workshops and discussion around the Bible Society's rich collections! For full info, and our call for papers, see: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47443/
- Why no printing presses for girls?! #fembib #bookhistory
- Eliza Orme, first woman in England with a law degree (and much else) featured on the program at the National Theatre in London.
- @lesliehowsam.bsky.social I was pleased to see Eliza Orme heading the list in the brief history of women in the legal profession in the UK in the programme notes for Susie Miller’s new play, ‘Inter Alia’, now on at the NT
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamThis whole thread is full of compressed wisdom (and some justified anger) - and this particular nugget is the one I'll be following up first...
- Reposted by Leslie HowsamRevised #CFP for the annual meeting of the Atlantic Medieval and Early Modern Group (AMEMG), October 24-25, 2025, in Moncton, NB. Jointly hosted by the Université de Moncton and Crandall University. Propose a paper, poster, or panel! Please help spread the word! amemg.digitalearlymodern.com
- Andrew Hobbs is right. And not only were there dedicated periodicals, historical knowledge was disseminated in magazines, newspapers, & reviews.
- The EHR is not "the oldest journal of historical scholarship in the English-speaking world" as its publisher claims. There were scores of history journals in English before 1886. For example, the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire & Cheshire, est 1849 @historicsoclandc.bsky.social
- Reposted by Leslie Howsam🏆 We'd like to officially congratulate @eve.gd, whose *Theses on the Metaphors of Digital-Textual History* (Stanford University Press, 2024) won our 2025 SHARP Book History Book Prize! www.sup.org/books/media-...
