Dr Patrick Spedding
- BA (Hons) (Uni. of Tas.), PhD (Monash)
- ARC Postdoctoral Fellow
- Contact details
- Full Curriculum Vitae
(PDF)
Background
Patrick Spedding is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the English section of ECPS. He holds a BA (Hons I) from The University of Tasmania (1993) and a PhD from Monash University (2004). Patrick is the author of the MLA prize-winning study, A Bibliography of Eliza Haywood (2004). He has published on erotica, eighteenth-century literature and book history and is the editor of Script & Print.
Research interests
My present research project concerns the clandestine publication of erotica in London in the eighteenth century. I am intrigued by how this material was written, printed, published, distributed, sold, read, interpreted and (usually) destroyed. I am also interested in the steps that were taken to suppress erotica. My critical study of eighteenth-century erotica will appear in a series of conference-papers and articles, these will form the basis of a book-length study.
My research into eighteenth-century erotica is the, somewhat surprising, outgrowth of my biographical and bibliographical work on Eliza Haywood (1693–1756), who has been the major focus of my literary research for over a decade. My chance discovery that Haywood and her lover, William Hatchett (c.1701–68), were involved in writing, translating and (probably) selling erotica suggested the potential value of this research. The first-fruit of this discovery was a 1999 conference paper; thereafter my research into eighteenth-century erotica has run parallel to my work on Haywood.
Broadly speaking, my research areas are book history or print culture and Eighteenth-century literature, and I am interested in supervising projects in these areas. I would be particularly interested in projects focussing on Haywood, and other women writers of the ‘long’ eighteenth-century, or in projects focusing on the British book trade, and the relationship between authors, publishers, readers and other stakeholders, in the eighteenth-century.
Selected Publications
Patrick Spedding, A Bibliography of Eliza Haywood (2004)
This 848-page, MLA prize-winning, bibliography is the definitive study of Haywood, and a landmark in the study of eighteenth-century authorship and book history. Described as an “astounding achievement” (MLA citation), this meticulous record of the literary life of one of England’s earliest professional women writers is “without question, the most important development in Haywood scholarship of our time” (Norma Clarke) and an “indispensable aide to the literary scholar and cultural historian” (James Raven).
Patrick Spedding and Alexander Pettit, general editors of Eighteenth-Century British Erotica I (2002), 5 vols., and Eighteenth-Century British Erotica II (2004), 5 vols.
This “splendid collection” (Michael T. Davis) includes one hundred texts “with excellent historical and textual introductions” (Norbert Schürer) by eight expert scholars from the U.S.A., U.K., and Europe.
Patrick Spedding, editor of Script and Print: Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand from vol. 30, no. 1 (2006 [issued 2007]).
Script & Print (previously, the BSANZ Bulletin) has been the leading Australasian journal of bibliography, book history and print cultures for over thirty years. The content is diverse, with peer-reviewed articles from a range of disciplines concerned with manuscripts, books and publication.
Patrick Spedding, “Eliza Haywood, Writing (and) Pornography in 1742,” in Women Writing 1550–1750, ed. Jo Wallwork and Paul Salzman (Melbourne: Meridian, 2001), 237–51.
This is my exposé of Eliza Haywood and William Hatchett’s involvement in writing, translating, publishing and selling erotic books in Covent Garden in 1742. Based on my 1999 conference paper of the same name, this essay announces the discovery of copyright receipts, which established for the first time the direct involvement of a woman in the writing of erotica in the eighteenth century.
Patrick Spedding, “Measuring the Success of Haywood’s Female Spectator (1744–46),” in Fair Philosopher: Eliza Haywood and The Female Spectator, ed. Lynn Marie Wright and Don Newman (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2006), 212–42.
This essay tackles the problem of defining and assessing the relative success of writers such as Haywood. The fruit of over a decade of research, this essay brings together a mass of publishing information and obscure references to establish the cultural impact of The Female Spectator, the first periodical written by a woman, for women.
Patrick Spedding, consulting editor on Selected Works of Eliza Haywood I (2000), 3 vols., and Selected Works of Eliza Haywood II (2001), 3 vols.
The most substantial body of Haywood’s works yet published in a rigorously edited form; an indispensable aide to scholars. I provided Alexander Pettit, the editor, with advice on text-selection and with information for the headnotes, which were cross-referenced to my Bibliography.
Patrick Spedding, consulting editor on Whore Biographies, 1700–1825 [Pt.1] (2006), 4 vols., and Whore Biographies, 1700–1825 [Pt.2] (2007), 4 vols.
This important set brings together over thirty biographical and autobiographical accounts of women in the eighteenth-century sex industry, providing an invaluable primary sources for the study of sexuality and gender. I provided Julie Peakman, the editor, with advice on text-selection and with information for the headnotes.