Dr Helen Williams: EDITION Autumn Lecture and workshop

Associate Professor of English Literature at Northumbria University, Helen Williams, will give the Edition Autumn lecture, titled 'From Newcastle to the Middle East: The Work of Sarah Hodgson, Printer'. It will be held in the Collections Space, Centre for Research Collections (CRC), 6th Floor Main Library at 4pm to 5:30pm. You can find the details below.

The Autumn lecture will be preceded from 2pm until 3pm by an optional workshop at the Centre for Research Collections. This workshop is titled 'Identifying Women’s Work in the Newcastle Book Trades', and will also be led by Dr Williams.

Capacity for this workshop is limited, so please book separately for it and the Autumn lecture.

You should arrive at the Main Library foyer around fifteen minutes before either the workshop or lecture starts and give your name at the desk to the right of the main entrance doors. A member of staff will greet you and take you to the 6th floor, which is accessible via lifts. There are lockers at the Centre for Research Collections where you should deposit coats, bags, food and drink, and anything that might damage the rare books. Information about visiting the Centre and accessibility is available on the library's website.

Visit the library's website

The Bible that Sarah Hodgson printed in the Arabic language in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1811 was the first to emerge in England since the seventeenth century. That it should be produced in the North East, rather than in one of the two university towns, seemed unthinkable, and for a time, was under question. This talk examines the Bible as a transnational commodity that provides insights into the challenges and ingenuity of a woman’s work in a global book trade during the early years of the nineteenth century.

Autumn's EDITION workshop, led by Dr Helen Williams, will explore women's work in the early nineteenth-century Newcastle book trades and engage with rare books in the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh. The books will include a Bible in the Arabic language printed by Sarah Hodgson, which Dr Williams will discuss in her lecture later in the afternoon.

If you choose to attend the workshop, please remember to provide your name as you enter the Main Library so you can be admitted.

About Edition

Edition (formerly the Centre for the History of the Book) is a collaborative initiative at the University of Edinburgh supporting new research in all aspects of the history of the book, from traditional forms of bibliography, codicology and textual editing to the latest theoretical and digital innovations.

Access and recording

Please note that this lecture is a free, in-person event held on the University of Edinburgh campus. It will not be live streamed - tickets are for access to the venue. However, the lecture may be photographed and/or recorded and added to the University website afterwards. If you would prefer not to appear in any recordings, please contact us in advance or speak to us on the day. It's not a problem.

After the event

We may like to contact you in the future to hear what you thought of the lecture and invite you to other Edition events. Please tell us at the time of booking if you are happy for us to do that.

Host or Publisher School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures