Dr Kelsey Williams

Associate Professor

English Studies University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Dr Kelsey Williams

Contact details

About me

MSt, DPhil (Oxon.), FSAS, FHEA.

After completing my MSt and DPhil at Balliol College, Oxford, I was a lecturer at Jesus College, Oxford, and subsequently a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of St Andrews. I joined the University of Stirling in 2016.

I study the history of the book, mostly in early modernity and often in Scotland.  My latest monograph – ‘Some bonie litle bookes’: A History and Catalogue of the Lindsay Library, 1570-1792 (co-authored with William Zachs) – is now available from Brill and I’m currently working on two new projects: Bibliomania: Portrait of an Obsession (under contract with Oxford University Press), a study of the remarkable book-collecting career of the 2nd Earl Spencer, and Thomas Frognall Dibdin's 1836 Scottish Tour Revisited (co-authored with William Zachs; under contract with the Roxburghe Club), an examination and amplification of one of the seminal moments in nineteenth-century Scottish book history.

Of my previous books, The First Scottish Enlightenment: Rebels, Priest, and History (Oxford University Press, 2020) is a substantial reassessment of the Scottish Early Enlightenment and my first monograph – The Antiquary: John Aubrey’s Historical Scholarship (Oxford University Press, 2016) – was a study of the working methods of one of seventeenth-century Britain’s most innovative scholars. In between, I wrote the main commentary for and co-edited Aubrey’s Villa: An Edition of Bodleian MS Aubrey 17, Designatio de Easton-Piers in Com: Wilts (Old School Press, 2018).

In addition to these larger projects, I’ve also published or spoken on numerous aspects of early modern Scottish culture, Latin, Scots, and Gaelic poetry, the history of books, book collecting, and reading, canon and disciplinary formation, epigraphy and carved stones, Scandinavian state-sponsored antiquarianism, and early modern understandings of the ancient past.

I am also the director of the Pathfoot Press, the University of Stirling’s centre for letterpress learning and teaching. There I print – mostly Scots writing, ancient and modern – teach and talk to people about what letterpress is and why it matters more than ever in a digital age.

In addition, I serve as publications secretary of the Scottish History Society, established in 1886 and currently one of the oldest publication societies in Great Britain. In that capacity, I would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in publishing editions of primary texts from Scotland’s past.

At present (2024) I am undertaking a Senior Research Fellowship at Blackie House Library and Museum in Edinburgh, working with the team there on all aspects of cataloguing, acquisitions, access, and development.

I welcome enquiries from students on all of these topics.  If Scotland, material culture, old books, or printing are all or any of your cups of tea, drop me a line!

Award

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
University of St Andrews

I was funded by the British Academy to undertake a three-year research project based at the University of St Andrews with the title "Writing Scotland: Antiquarianism, Confessionalism, and National Identity in Early Modern Europe". The fruits of that research are now forthcoming as a monograph from Oxford University Press under the title, "The First Scottish Enlightenment".

Katharine Briggs Award Short List, 2017

My first monograph, "The Antiquary", was short-listed for the Katharine Briggs Award in 2017.

Professional membership

Council Member of the Scottish History Society

http://scottishhistorysociety.com/
I am a council member of the Scottish History Society, the leading publisher of original sources relating to the history of Scotland.

Secretary of the Universities Committee for Scottish Literature

https://ucsl-scotland.com/
From 2017 to 2022 I served as secretary for the Universities Committee for Scottish Literature, a national body of academics concerned with the condition, development and promotion of Scottish literary studies in higher education.

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
https://www.socantscot.org/
I am a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, one of the nation's oldest learned societies (founded in 1780), whose purpose is “to investigate both antiquities and natural and civil history in general, with the intention that the talents of mankind should be cultivated and that the study of natural and useful sciences should be promoted”.

General Editor of the Scottish History Society
I am the publications secretary and general editor of the Scottish History Society, Scotland's leading society for the publication of previously unpublished historical texts.

Professional qualification

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Outputs (49)

Book Chapter

Thomas Gray and Oriental Scholarship

Williams K (2025) Thomas Gray and Oriental Scholarship. In: Abbott R & Levinson E (eds.) Thomas Gray Among the Disciplines. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Thomas-Gray-among-the-Disciplines/Abbott-Levinson/p/book/9781032231570?srsltid=AfmBOoq3xYlXY_BKuGVnO34sN5zLZKYYzKTFdwNEmdJBY7Y-ya1x8C7f

Book Chapter

The Students of the Scots College in Rome

Jackson Williams K (2024) The Students of the Scots College in Rome. In: Amblard M & Montegre G (eds.) D'Écosse, de France et d'aillures: Communautés étrangers et dynamiques transculturelles dans la Rome du dix-huitième siècle. Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, pp. 147-162. https://pufc.univ-fcomte.fr/d-ecosse-de-france-et-d-ailleurs.html#

Book Chapter

Sale Catalogues

Williams K (2024) Sale Catalogues. In: History of the Book in Scotland, Volume I. Edinburgh University Press.

Book Chapter

Scottish Types

Williams K (2024) Scottish Types. In: History of the Book in Scotland, Volume I. Edinburgh University Press.

Book Chapter

Poets in the Age of James VI

Williams KJ (2021) Poets in the Age of James VI. In: The Blackwell Companion to Scottish Literature. London: Blackwell. https://www.wileyiran.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pisbn10=1119651565

Book Chapter

Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts

Williams KJ (2021) Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts. In: Pelling M & Jones E (eds.) A Cultural History of Historiography, Volume 4: The Age of Enlightenment and Revolution (1650-1800). The Cultural Histories Series. London: Bloomsbury.

Book Chapter

The Scottish Heresy: George Mackenzie's Pelagian Biographies

Williams KJ (2020) The Scottish Heresy: George Mackenzie's Pelagian Biographies. In: Loughlin F & Johnston A (eds.) Antiquity and Enlightenment Culture: New Approaches and Perspectives. Metaforms, 17. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 131-151. https://brill.com/view/title/55350

Book Review

Roman Coins, Money, and Society in Elizabethan England. Sir Thomas Smith’s ‘On the Wages of the Roman Footsoldier’

Jackson Williams K (2019) Roman Coins, Money, and Society in Elizabethan England. Sir Thomas Smith’s ‘On the Wages of the Roman Footsoldier’. Review of: Andrew Burnett, Richard Simpson and Deborah Thorpe, Roman Coins, Money, and Society in Elizabethan England. Sir Thomas Smith’s ‘On the Wages of the Roman Footsoldier’. New York, American Numismatic Society, 2017. ISBN978-0-89722-352-2. 222 pp., 27 col. illus., 7 b. & w. illus. £60. Journal of the History of Collections, 31 (2), pp. 431-432. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhy048

Book Review

Andrew Pettegree, ed. Broadsheets: Single-Sheet Publishing in the First Age of Print

Jackson Williams K (2018) Andrew Pettegree, ed. Broadsheets: Single-Sheet Publishing in the First Age of Print. Review of: Andrew Pettegree, ed. Broadsheets: Single-Sheet Publishing in the First Age of Print. Library of the Written Word 60 / The Handpress World 45. Leiden: Brill, 2017. 562 pp. ISBN: 9789004340312. Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, (13), pp. 124-126. http://www.edinburghbibliographicalsociety.org.uk/publications/journal-of-the-edinburgh-bibliographical-society-no-13-2018/

Book Chapter

The Antiquities at Stonehenge

Williams KJ (2017) The Antiquities at Stonehenge. In: Carter M, Lindfield P & Townshend D (eds.) Writing Britain's Ruins. London: British Library Publishing, pp. 76-78. http://bookshop.nationalarchives.gov.uk/9780712309783/Writing-Britain%27s-Ruins/

Authored Book

Aubrey's Villa

Williams K, Bennett K & Davidson P (2017) Aubrey's Villa. Seaton, Devon: The Old School Press.

Authored Book

The Antiquary: John Aubrey’s Historical Scholarship

Williams KJ (2016) The Antiquary: John Aubrey’s Historical Scholarship. Oxford English Monographs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-antiquary-9780198784296?cc=gb〈=en&

Book Review

World Antiquarianism: Comparative Perspectives. Edited by Alain Schnapp with Lothar von Falkenhausen, Peter N. Miller, and Tim Murray. Los Angeles, la: Getty Research Institute, 2013. ISBN 978-1-60606-148-0

Williams KJ (2016) World Antiquarianism: Comparative Perspectives. Edited by Alain Schnapp with Lothar von Falkenhausen, Peter N. Miller, and Tim Murray. Los Angeles, la: Getty Research Institute, 2013. ISBN 978-1-60606-148-0. Erudition and the Republic of Letters, 1 (1), pp. 107-111. https://doi.org/10.1163/24055069-00101005

Book Review

John Aubrey: Brief Lives with an Apparatus for the Lives of our English Mathematical Writers. Edited by KateBennett. 2 vols. Oxford University Press. 2015. clvii + 1,776pp. £250.00

Jackson Williams K (2016) John Aubrey: Brief Lives with an Apparatus for the Lives of our English Mathematical Writers. Edited by KateBennett. 2 vols. Oxford University Press. 2015. clvii + 1,776pp. £250.00. Review of: John Aubrey: Brief Lives with an Apparatus for the Lives of our English Mathematical Writers. Edited by Kate Bennett. 2 vols. Oxford University Press. 2015. clvii + 1,776pp. History, 101 (344), pp. 135-137. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229x.12160

Book Review

The Material Letter in Early Modern England: Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practices of Letter-Writing, 1512-1635. ByJames Daybell. Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. xv + 357pp. £60.00

Jackson Williams K (2015) The Material Letter in Early Modern England: Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practices of Letter-Writing, 1512-1635. ByJames Daybell. Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. xv + 357pp. £60.00. Review of: The Material Letter in Early Modern England: Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practices of Letter‐Writing, 1512‐1635. By Daybell, James. Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. xv + 357pp. History, 100 (341), pp. 454-455. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229x.12112_11

Book Review

Linda Phyllis Austern, Kari Boyd Mcbride, And David L. Orvis (eds), Psalms in the Early Modern World

Jackson Williams K (2014) Linda Phyllis Austern, Kari Boyd Mcbride, And David L. Orvis (eds), Psalms in the Early Modern World. Review of: Linda Phyllis Austern, Kari Boyd McBride, and David L. Orvis (eds), Psalms in the Early Modern World. Pp. xxiv + 385. Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate, 2011. (ISBN 978 1 4094 2282 2).. Notes and Queries, 61 (2), pp. 307-308. https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gju045

Book Review

ISABEL RIVERS and DAVID L. WYKES (eds), Dissenting Praise: Religious Dissent and the Hymn in England and Wales.

Jackson Williams K (2013) ISABEL RIVERS and DAVID L. WYKES (eds), Dissenting Praise: Religious Dissent and the Hymn in England and Wales.. Review of: Isabel Rivers and David L. Wykes (eds), Dissenting Praise: Religious Dissent and the Hymn in England and Wales. Pp. xiv + 299. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. (ISBN 978 0 19 954524 7). Notes and Queries, 60 (3), pp. 455-456. https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjt111

Book Review

NICOLAS K. KIESSLING (ed.), The Life of Anthony Wood in His Own Words

Jackson Williams K (2012) NICOLAS K. KIESSLING (ed.), The Life of Anthony Wood in His Own Words. Review of: Nicolas K. Kiessling (ed.), The Life of Anthony Wood in His Own Words. Pp. xii +  256. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2010 (ISBN 978 1 85124 308 2).. Notes and Queries, 59 (2), pp. 273-274. https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjs058

Book Review

REID BARBOUR and CLAIRE PRESTON (eds), Sir Thomas Browne: The World Proposed. KATHRYN MURPHY and RICHARD TODD (eds), 'A man very well studyed': New Contexts For Thomas Browne

Jackson Williams K (2010) REID BARBOUR and CLAIRE PRESTON (eds), Sir Thomas Browne: The World Proposed. KATHRYN MURPHY and RICHARD TODD (eds), 'A man very well studyed': New Contexts For Thomas Browne. Review of: Reid Barbour and Claire Preston (eds), Sir Thomas Browne: The World Proposed. Pp. xii + 368. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008 (ISBN 9780199236213). Kathryn Murphy and Richard Todd (eds), ‘A man very well studyed’: New Contexts For Thomas Browne. Pp. xviii + 314 (Intersections 10). Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008. Hardback (ISBN 9789004171732).. Notes and Queries, 57 (3), pp. 437-440. https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjq088

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

During the 2023-24 academic year I will be convening, leading seminars, lecturing or delivering digital content for:

  • ARTU9EC: Documenting the Eighteenth Century
  • ENGU9A1: Introduction to Literary Studies – Genre
  • ENGU9WI: Writing and Theory
  • ENGU9WH: Scotland and Empire (convener)
  • ENGU9EB: British Literature, 1700-1830
  • ENGU9ER: Renaissance Literature
  • ENGU9N2: Scotland’s Lost Renaissance (convener)
  • ENGU9DP: Dissertation Preparation (convener)

Masters Teaching

I was the programme director for the MRes Humanities at Stirling until January 2024. During the 2023-24 academic year I convened the following masters level modules:

  • ARTP001: Training for Masters in the Arts and Humanities I
  • HUMPP12: Research Preparation I

I am also teaching masters level workshops on:

  • Palaeography (both semesters)
  • Descriptive Bibliography (both semesters)

Doctoral Supervision

I am currently supervising the following doctoral projects:

  • Francesca Pontini, Reading the Margins: Investigating Reading Practices in Early Sixteenth-Century Scotland
  • Katharina Pruente, Kin, Clients, Friends, and Allies: The Social Networks of Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
  • Maria Gema Silva Ferrandez, The Rise and Fall of Walter Scott and Lord Byron

Former doctoral students who have now completed their studies include:

  • Maike Dinger, Fiction(s) of Political Participation: Literature, Media and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum (PhD, 2024)
  • Mhairi Rutherford, Intellectual Culture and Episcopal Identity in Scottish Episcopal Libraries: The Case of the Brechin Library, 1780-1800 (PhD, 2022)
  • Lorna Wallace, The Ideals of Duty: Renaissance History Plays and the Politics of Duty (PhD, 2021)
  • Mairi Macleod, The Metaphysical Landscapes of Neil M. Gunn (PhD, 2020)
  • Fanny Lacôte, Dark Channel Crossings: The Reception of the English Gothic Novel and French roman noir in Postrevolutionary France, 1789-1821 (PhD, 2018)

Outreach

I run regular letterpress workshops and classes with the Pathfoot Press interns and occasionally with fellow printer Dr. Dawn Hollis of the Crail Press for members of the university, students, and the general public. I also consult for libraries on all aspects of cataloguing, conservation, and preservation of early printed books and for community groups interested in preserving and/or interpreting the carved stones in their areas.

Past Teaching

Prior to arriving at Stirling I taught early modern and Romantic literature at Jesus College, Oxford, and early modern history at the University of St Andrews.

Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes