Principal Investigator

• Professor Simon Burrows, University of Leeds (2007-2012), Western Sydney University (2013-present)

Post-doctoral Research Fellow

• Dr Mark Curran (2007-2011)

Leeds Electronic Text Centre (Computing Support)

• Dr Sarah Kattau (2007-2008)
• Amyas (Henry) Merivale (2008-2011)

GIS Research Assistant and Data Interface & Website Development Officer

• Dr Vincent Hiribarren (2010-2013)

Associated PhD Student

• Louise Seaward (2009-2012)

Professor Simon Burrows

During the project, Simon Burrows (BA, D.Phil. Oxon.) was Professor of Modern European History at Leeds and director of the Centre for the Comparative History of Print.  He is now Professor in History at the University of Western Sydney.  He specialises in the history of French print culture and politics in the second half of the long eighteenth century.  He has published three books on French refugee writers in London, French Exile Journalism and European Politics, 1792-1814 (RHS, 2000); Blackmail, Scandal and Revolution: London’s French Libellistes, 1758-1792 (Manchester, 2006); and A King’s Ransom: The Life of Charles Théveneau de Morande, Blackmailer, Scandalmonger and Master-Spy (London, 2010).  He is a co-editor of three further works: Press, Politics and the Public Sphere in Europe and North America, 1760-1820 (Cambridge, 2002) with Hannah Barker; The Chevalier d’Eon and his Worlds: Gender, Espionage and Politics in the Eighteenth Century (London, 2010) with Jonathan Conlin, Russell Goulbourne and Valerie Mainz; and Cultural Transfers: France and Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century(Oxford, 2010) with Ann Thomson and Edmond Dziembowski.  Before coming to Leeds in 2000 he taught for seven years at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. For publications arising from the project please visit here.

Dr Mark Curran

From June 2007 to September 2011, Dr Mark Curran was a Research Fellow in the School of History at Leeds working on the French Book Trade project, having accompanied Simon Burrows on the pilot project in 2006.  He specialises in print culture and is especially interested in the margins of the Enlightenment – from the radical atheism of d’Holbach to the extent that Enlightenment can be detected in devotional tracts and educational primers.  When in Neuchâtel, he spent his days recording the purchases and sales of around one million volumes over a 20 year period.  He was appointed to the Munby Fellow in bibliography at Cambridge for 2011-2012 to work on further projects on the book trade, and has been appointed as a temporary lecturer at Queen Mary’s University of London from 2012-2015.  Mark’s activities can be followed on his blog and his most recent book is Atheism, Religion and Enlightenment in Eighteenth Century France published in the Royal Historical Society ‘Studies in History’ series (ISBN 978-0861933167).

Dr Sarah Kattau

I studied Mathematics and Philosophy at the University of Leeds, then went on to take an MSc in Pure Mathematics and a PhD in Philosophy (on “The Applicability of Mathematics”).  In 2000 I started teaching in the School of Computing, specialising in programming, databases, and the processing of bibliographical information, as well as more general IT.  As part of this role I produced a number of teaching publications.  Then in 2005 I became Research Officer and Teaching Fellow within the Leeds Electronic Text Centre, continuing to teach IT to Joint Honours students, but with a principal focus on developing and supporting research projects in the Humanities.  I continued to work for the Leeds Electronic Text Centre until September, 2008.  Within the current project my main roles were to design and implement the database, to act as both web designer and webmaster, to develop software for data entry, and to provide technical advice.  On leaving, the bulk of the database design had been completed, and the software was in a stable state, along with a complete help file.

Amyas Merivale

Amyas (Henry) Merivale took a BA (Hons) in Mathematics and Philosophy at Oxford University, then studied Music informally at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich for a year, before returning to Oxford for the BPhil in Philosophy, graduating in June 2008.  His interests are wide, but in philosophy have settled on the philosophy of language, descriptive metaphysics, and the history of the early modern period (especially David Hume).  He joined the Leeds Electronic Text Centre as a Research Officer in July 2008.  His role in the present project was to act as web designer and web master, provide technical advice, and in particular to build the database search interface. Henry ceased working for the project in September 2011. Additionally, though unrelated to this project, he is currently working towards a PhD on Hume’s Four Dissertations. For more information, visit his website.

Dr Vincent Hiribarren

I first took part in this project as a GIS research assistant. This GIS project was part of my training for my PhD as I had to create maps for my thesis and I still design the maps for my publications about the territory and boundaries of Borno, Nigeria (1810-2010).  Since January 2010, I have developed maps based on the Societe Typographique de Neuchatel database.  My aim was to create maps to illustrate various trends and patterns present in the European public sphere in the second half of the eighteenth century. Since January 2012, I have worked for the current project as ‘Data Interface and Website Development Officer’ in the School of History to update the website, database and interface.  My role was to prepare the interface for its release in June 2012. I have also worked on data preservation and collaborated in August 2013 with C18 Connect. I am now a Lecturer in World History at King’s College London. For more information, see my website.

Dr Louise Seaward

Louise Seaward completed her MA and PhD at the University of Leeds.  Her research interests lie in the political and cultural history of ancien régime France and the French Revolution. During the course of her Master’s degree she travelled to Neuchâtel to explore the STN archives.  Here, she undertook research closely connected with, but separate from the French Book Trade project.  Her MA dissertation focused on the STN’s correspondence with government officials from across Europe and in November 2009 it was awarded the Marion Sharples for best Master’s Dissertation from the School of History at the University of Leeds. Louise’s doctoral research centred on the issue of censorship and considers how the French government strove to police the literature produced outside France’s borders.  This work interacts with the French Book Trade project and also aims to engage with debates relating to the nature and strength of the eighteenth-century book trade and the role of print in the origins of the French Revolution.  Louise presented her work on the STN at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in January 2012 and discussed her findings further in June and July 2012 at the conferences of SHARP and the Society for the Study of French History.