Monday 16th October 2023
Venue: Online
In this online talk, July Visiting Fellow Rose McKean discusses the rare and popular Gothic chapbooks in the Chawton House collection.
Cheaply printed and garishly illustrated, Gothic chapbooks of the Romantic period became a popular way to access Gothic narratives. Ranging from 24-76 pages in length, chapbooks offered readers a wealth of affordable and digestible narratives, ranging from adaptations and abridgements to ‘original romances’ and ghost tales. Though often consigned to the lowly status of literary trash, these pamphlets present a rich resource for the study of Gothic spectacle and affect.
A range of chapbooks have been carefully preserved in the Chawton House collection. This talk will highlight research completed during the Chawton House Library Fellowship, a unique opportunity to spend dedicated time recovering the miniature delights of the Gothic chapbook.
About the speaker: Rose Mckean is a Wolfson Foundation Funded PhD-researcher at the University of York. She is currently completing her thesis ‘Objects of Terror’: Replication and Adaptation in the Illustrated Gothic Chapbook’, an interdisciplinary study focusing on the work of chapbook author Sarah Wilkinson and chapbook publisher Ann Lemoine. She is currently co-chair of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies Postgraduate Forum, and recently completed the Chawton House Visiting Fellowship. She also completed her MA in Eighteenth Century Studies and BA in English at the University of York.
Tickets: £6
