The Women's Print History Project

Thanks, Leslie!

Required reading for #bookhistory and “fembib. Collaboration, mentorship, “data intimacy” and research.

Being sincere in public sets off my fight-or-flight response, but adding my favourite meme of all time to the social media posts helps.

A classic meme: Hugh Laurie's head on top of a giant manatee that is crashing into an air station. The caption reads, "OH, THE HUGH MANATEE."

For our final spotlight in the Research in Reflection series, join PI Michelle Levy and Lead Editor Kandice Sharren as they muse on 10 years of the WPHP—their regrets, their accomplishments, and how they have tried to keep the humans involved at the forefront of of the project: tinyurl.com/23ajexte

A woman pushes a the book cart of shame, laden with old books, through the Rare Books and Manuscripts reading room at the British Library.

In 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

Continuing our "Research in Reflection Spotlight Series," RA Belle Eist details how following a rabbit hole into Jane Loudon's life informed both her MA project and her WPHP work: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/150.

In our next installment of the "Research in Reflection Spotlight Series, join RA Salena Wiener as she recounts how the WPHP helped shape her PhD research on women's labour in the production of manuscripts: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/149.

First up, in "Reflections of a Research Assistant:
The Multitudes of WPHP Work," Amanda Law discusses the several roles she took on as an RA for the project, and the special place Phillis Wheatley Peters and her book of poetry hold in her memories: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/146.

As the WPHP comes to a bittersweet close this summer (😭), we're releasing one last Spotlight series to celebrate! Join our team down memory lane in our "Research in Reflection Spotlight Series" which will be published throughout the rest of August: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/148.

Two women stand and smile in an office with a desk, laptop, open books, papers, and a computer with a screen displaying data.

Seven people sit around a table in a brightly lit cafe, smiling, with books, drinks, and snacks on the table.

How it started How it ended

I had forgotten quite how long I’ve been doing #fembib #bookhistory till this lovely podcast opportunity with @thewphp.bsky.social .

We were so excited (and a little starstruck!) to get a chance to talk to them about how things have changed for women’s book history since they began their careers (and how they haven’t). (3/3)

Since beginning this podcast, we have spent a lot of time thinking and talking about the researchers who have made the Women’s Print History Project possible, whether through the projects they have created or the critiques they have levied. (2/3)

A graphic in the style of a nineteenth century title page that reads: "The WPHP Monthly Mercury No. 5.5 FINDING, BUILDING, SUSTAINING, SUPPORTING feat. Isobel Grundy, Leslie Howsam, Maureen Bell | VANCOUVER: Hosted by Moffatt & Sharren, Vancouver and Saskatoon 2025." Pencil annotations note the names "Kate & Kandice) and the date "Aug. 13."

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)

Come for the witch trials, stay for the informative chapter about Newcastle architecture.

A graphic formatted like an eighteenth century title page that reads: The WPHP Monthly Mercury No 5.4 A Newcastle Novelist feat. Tricia Monsour Vancouver: Hosted by Moffatt & Sharren, [pencil annotation: Kate & Kandice] Vancouver and Saskatoon [pencil annotation: Feb. 19th] 2025.

This month’s episode of the WPHP Monthly Mercury features research by recent PhD graduate Tricia Monsour, who completed a scholarly edition of Jane Harvey’s The Castle of Tynemouth. We never can resist a bonkers novel—and we hope you can’t either: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/145

Seven people sitting around a table in a restaurant, smiling at the camera. Books and food are on the table. Bright interior with tall windows and yellow accents.

Happy 2025 and ten year anniversary of the WPHP! To find out what we've been up to in the lead up to this milestone (and to see a throwback photo of Lead Editor Kandice and Project Director Michelle in 2015), take a look at our 2024 Year in Review: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/144.

Oh hey it’s me. Check it out.

A graphic formatted like an eighteenth century title page that reads: The WPHP Monthly Mercury No 5.3 Bibliographic Intimacies feat. Megan Peiser & Emily Spunaugle Vancouver: Hosted by Moffatt & Sharren, [pencil annotation: Kate & Kandice] Vancouver and Saskatoon [pencil annotation: Dec 11th] 2024

An image of one woman's hand holding another woman's hand with a long green nail, captioned: really holding space for the Marguerite Hicks collection

For S5E3 of the WPHP Monthly Mercury, join us as we interview @meganpeiser.bsky.social and @embrarian.bsky.social about their work on the Hicks Collection. This episode has it all—a badass woman book collector, a Boston marriage, and even a heist (!!!): womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/143

Title page of The Happy Family; or, Winter Evenings' Employment. Consisting of Reading and Conversations, in seven parts

And the anonymously authored The Happy Family; or, Winter Evenings' Employment. Consisting of Reading and Conversations, in seven parts, which features passages by Hannah More: womensprinthistoryproject.com/title/17534.

Title page of Rachel Revel’s Winter Evening Pastimes; or, the Merry-Makers Companion

The pseudonymous Rachel Revel’s Winter Evening Pastimes; or, the Merry-Makers Companion which claims to promote “harmless mirth and innocent amusement:” womensprinthistoryproject.com/title/21890;

Title page of Isabella Jane Towers’s The Children's Fire-side: Being a Series of Tales for Winter Evenings

Some highlights include Isabella Jane Towers’s The Children's Fire-side: Being a Series of Tales for Winter Evenings: womensprinthistoryproject.com/title/10444;

Black and white engraving from The Happy Family; or, Winter Evenings' Employment. Consisting of Reading and Conversations, in seven parts of a five people sitting in chairs around a lit fireplace.

Happy December WPHP friends! Are you hosting a holiday gathering this year and looking for some entertainment? Search “winter evening” in our Titles search for some 19th century inspiration: womensprinthistoryproject.com/title/.

Check out the series here: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/112.

This series includes spotlights on early 18th century printer Anne Dodd, the rivalries of the women in the Farley family, Scottish Royal Printer Agnes Campbell, American printer Jane Aitkin, and obscured London bookseller and printer Ann Vernor.

Collage of five book title pages.

As we continue to verify over 1500 firms on our Firms to Final Check list, you can revisit our Down the Rabbit Hole: Researching Women in the Book Trades Spotlight Series to learn about some of the extensive research we undertake to determine if a firm is woman-run.

A graphic in the style of a title page that reads: "The WPHP Monthly Mercury No 5.2, Deal with the Devil, Feat. Kate Ozment. // Vancouver: Hosted by Moffatt and Sharren, Vancouver and Saskatoon // 2024." "Kate & Kandice" and "Oct. 30th" is written in pencil next to the imprint and a devil tail is curling over the edge of the page.

A tombstone reads, "Yeet not lest ye be yeeted."

Happy Halloween! This year, we’re literally taking a trip to hell with Charlotte Dacre’s Zofloya. It’s Kandice’s favourite time of the year, so she sat down with WPHP collaborator Kate Ozment to talk about this demonic, orientalist bloodbath of a novel: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/141

Swapping witch hunting for ghost hunting in Season Three, Kate and Kandice read Mary Tuck’s Durston Castle; or, The Ghost of Eleonora (1804), reflecting on the eighteenth-century practice of reading aloud and the practicalities of sleeping in chainmail: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/132.

Season Two took Kate and Kandice on a witch hunt through the database to find only five titles that mention witches. Though there were only a few, our hosts encountered all manner of witches, from the silly to the eerie: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/89.

In Season One, Kate and Kandice read WPHP favourite, Elisabeth Guénard’s The Three Monks!! (1803), and Catherine Cuthbertson’s Romance of the Pyrenees (1803), novels rife with gothic tropes like abducted women, banditti, and dark family secrets: womensprinthistoryproject.com/blog/post/47.