Elise Watson
@ewatson.bsky.social
Historian ☞ @britishacademy.bsky.social postdoc @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social on female collaboration in the first age of print ☞ #earlymodern gender, books, religion, DH, queer stuff ☞ she/her 🌈
Ledger stone of Antwerp almanac publisher Godtgaf Verhulst in Our Lady Cathedral, Antwerp, with his first, second AND third wives. Pretty crowded 😬
July 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Ledger stone of Antwerp almanac publisher Godtgaf Verhulst in Our Lady Cathedral, Antwerp, with his first, second AND third wives. Pretty crowded 😬
Yet another example of daughters‘ essential roles in bookselling families: In 1581-2, Middelburg bookseller Dierick van Helmondt repeatedly sent his daughter Janne to buy books from Plantin in Antwerp and settle his accounts (his son worked in the business too) (Museum Plantin-Moretus Arch. 60 f. 2)
June 23, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Yet another example of daughters‘ essential roles in bookselling families: In 1581-2, Middelburg bookseller Dierick van Helmondt repeatedly sent his daughter Janne to buy books from Plantin in Antwerp and settle his accounts (his son worked in the business too) (Museum Plantin-Moretus Arch. 60 f. 2)
I'm working on a chapter about fictitious women in early modern paratexts and here's something I thought I'd never see: the widow of Susanna Soldaten-crans bravely carrying on her late wife's business in 1662? I love false imprints (USTC 1844238)
April 8, 2025 at 7:38 AM
I'm working on a chapter about fictitious women in early modern paratexts and here's something I thought I'd never see: the widow of Susanna Soldaten-crans bravely carrying on her late wife's business in 1662? I love false imprints (USTC 1844238)
Very excited to be giving the first talk of my new research project this Thursday on the Edinburgh printress Agnes Campbell and her international networks of bookwomen! Come by if you're in Edinburgh or hit me up for the Teams link 👀 (ESTC R183059 & T507272) hca.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...
February 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Very excited to be giving the first talk of my new research project this Thursday on the Edinburgh printress Agnes Campbell and her international networks of bookwomen! Come by if you're in Edinburgh or hit me up for the Teams link 👀 (ESTC R183059 & T507272) hca.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...
RIP David Lynch :( the best ever to do it
January 16, 2025 at 7:04 PM
RIP David Lynch :( the best ever to do it
In Part 8: Towards Inclusive Histories, Kirk Melnikoff examines London women's book-trade wills, @grubstreetwomen.bsky.social and @kandicedarcia.bsky.social explore gendered marketing and authorship, and @malcolmjnoble.bsky.social pioneers queer ways to interact with books (pp. 430, 450, 476)
January 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
In Part 8: Towards Inclusive Histories, Kirk Melnikoff examines London women's book-trade wills, @grubstreetwomen.bsky.social and @kandicedarcia.bsky.social explore gendered marketing and authorship, and @malcolmjnoble.bsky.social pioneers queer ways to interact with books (pp. 430, 450, 476)
Part 7: Gendered Perception and Reality flies through the 16-20c, with the collections in the Hispanic monarchy (Laura Guinot Ferri), the works of Esther Inglis (Georgianna Ziegler), Wilfrid Voynich and Belle da Costa Greene (Natalia Fantetti), and bookbinders’ unions (Susan McElrath). p. 352:
January 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Part 7: Gendered Perception and Reality flies through the 16-20c, with the collections in the Hispanic monarchy (Laura Guinot Ferri), the works of Esther Inglis (Georgianna Ziegler), Wilfrid Voynich and Belle da Costa Greene (Natalia Fantetti), and bookbinders’ unions (Susan McElrath). p. 352:
Part 6: Crafting Identity explores facets of religion and gender through nonconformist stationers in London (Verônica Calsoni Lima), incunabular Germanic prayer manuals (Rabia Gregory), and rulebreaking Catholic women in the Dutch Republic (my own chapter). From Bruder Klaus (1487), p. 314:
January 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Part 6: Crafting Identity explores facets of religion and gender through nonconformist stationers in London (Verônica Calsoni Lima), incunabular Germanic prayer manuals (Rabia Gregory), and rulebreaking Catholic women in the Dutch Republic (my own chapter). From Bruder Klaus (1487), p. 314:
In Part 3: Editorial Interventions, the inimitable combination of Charley Matthews and @drwilliams.bsky.social tackles the legacies of women’s labour as editors, anthologisers, and polymaths by looking at Mary Hays and Constantia Grierson.
January 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
In Part 3: Editorial Interventions, the inimitable combination of Charley Matthews and @drwilliams.bsky.social tackles the legacies of women’s labour as editors, anthologisers, and polymaths by looking at Mary Hays and Constantia Grierson.
Part 2: Publishing Gender, examines the role of gender in publishing in very different contexts: in South Africa (Elizabeth Le Roux), in 20c paperback publishing (@arkhamlibrarian.bsky.social), and 19c/20c Britain (Sarah Lubelski). Gendered expectations manifested in the workplace (p. 100):
January 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Part 2: Publishing Gender, examines the role of gender in publishing in very different contexts: in South Africa (Elizabeth Le Roux), in 20c paperback publishing (@arkhamlibrarian.bsky.social), and 19c/20c Britain (Sarah Lubelski). Gendered expectations manifested in the workplace (p. 100):
In our introduction, Jessica Farrell-Jobst, @noraepstein.bsky.social and I argue that it is time to take gender seriously as a methodology in book history. You can read the chapter here (or ask any of us for a PDF): www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...
January 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
In our introduction, Jessica Farrell-Jobst, @noraepstein.bsky.social and I argue that it is time to take gender seriously as a methodology in book history. You can read the chapter here (or ask any of us for a PDF): www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...
Had the most magical week pre-holidays at the #NewberryLibrary: huge thanks to @noraepstein.bsky.social @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social and all the staff for such a warm welcome! Check out that double volvelle 👀 (Newberry Wing ZP 646 .R57 & Case NE 1070 .S33 1648)
December 31, 2024 at 3:14 PM
Had the most magical week pre-holidays at the #NewberryLibrary: huge thanks to @noraepstein.bsky.social @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social and all the staff for such a warm welcome! Check out that double volvelle 👀 (Newberry Wing ZP 646 .R57 & Case NE 1070 .S33 1648)
Trying to get any work done the Friday before Christmas (Het Wonder Leven van de H. Rosa de S. Maria van Lima, 1678, USTC 1537320)
December 20, 2024 at 7:05 PM
Trying to get any work done the Friday before Christmas (Het Wonder Leven van de H. Rosa de S. Maria van Lima, 1678, USTC 1537320)
Curious what anyone else thinks of this: these are editions of the same text by the same firm in the same year, one with an imprint ascribing it to the widow and heirs of Jan Cnobbaert, one just to the widow. Why might this be? Inheritance drama? (USTC 1835465 & 1536702)
November 4, 2024 at 2:46 PM
Curious what anyone else thinks of this: these are editions of the same text by the same firm in the same year, one with an imprint ascribing it to the widow and heirs of Jan Cnobbaert, one just to the widow. Why might this be? Inheritance drama? (USTC 1835465 & 1536702)
A rare and remarkable occurrence of two female printer-publishers not only working together but using their given names: Yolande Bonhomme's imprint and Charlotte Guillard's colophon in an edition of Augustine published in Paris in 1541 (USTC 204524)! hdl.handle.net/10481/10736
October 15, 2024 at 10:19 AM
A rare and remarkable occurrence of two female printer-publishers not only working together but using their given names: Yolande Bonhomme's imprint and Charlotte Guillard's colophon in an edition of Augustine published in Paris in 1541 (USTC 204524)! hdl.handle.net/10481/10736
You know, I usually appreciate someone coming out of the gate swinging with an article opener, but I'm not so sure about this one...
October 7, 2024 at 2:11 PM
You know, I usually appreciate someone coming out of the gate swinging with an article opener, but I'm not so sure about this one...
Today marks the beginning of my British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship studying female collaboration in the early modern book trade- unbelievably excited to get started! I'm going to be better about posting highlights here, watch this space 👀 (USTC 6110476)
October 1, 2024 at 3:34 PM
Today marks the beginning of my British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship studying female collaboration in the early modern book trade- unbelievably excited to get started! I'm going to be better about posting highlights here, watch this space 👀 (USTC 6110476)
As someone who does (and teaches) bibliography, I care about whose labour is credited in the process of making and describing a book. We can use queer approaches to do this more accurately and inclusively, and you can read my piece in PBSA about it now! t.co/hA3oYKtWDB
June 5, 2024 at 10:49 AM
As someone who does (and teaches) bibliography, I care about whose labour is credited in the process of making and describing a book. We can use queer approaches to do this more accurately and inclusively, and you can read my piece in PBSA about it now! t.co/hA3oYKtWDB
Calling all #bookhistory enthusiasts: I'm intrigued by this 18c imprint that identifies the 'De Goesin sisters' as printers/publishers. In my experience sisters who worked in the family biz usually used the conveniently genderless 'heirs of' in imprints: anyone seen this before?
April 23, 2024 at 9:26 AM
Calling all #bookhistory enthusiasts: I'm intrigued by this 18c imprint that identifies the 'De Goesin sisters' as printers/publishers. In my experience sisters who worked in the family biz usually used the conveniently genderless 'heirs of' in imprints: anyone seen this before?
Is this the best false imprint ever!? 'On the teaching of women', printed in *Gynaecocratopoli* (USTC 2022138) digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/...
September 29, 2023 at 8:43 AM
Is this the best false imprint ever!? 'On the teaching of women', printed in *Gynaecocratopoli* (USTC 2022138) digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/...
Like my folk hero St Wilgefortis, patron of unhappy relationships, I've made it to greener (bluer?) pastures! Hello again, I've missed so many of you who jumped ship early!
September 26, 2023 at 3:44 PM
Like my folk hero St Wilgefortis, patron of unhappy relationships, I've made it to greener (bluer?) pastures! Hello again, I've missed so many of you who jumped ship early!