My research focuses on the history of the book, with publications like Old Books & New Histories (2006) and the edited Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book (2015). For many years, my special interest has been history books (and articles about history in the periodical press), their authorship, publishing and reading – the question of how historical knowledge has been mediated by publishers, and why it matters – in Past into Print (2009) and several articles as well as lectures and conference papers.

I’ve also contributed to women’s and feminist history – with articles including “Women & Book History” (1998), and research on the first English woman to earn a law degree, Eliza Orme (1848-1937).

I taught British history and book history at the University of Windsor from 1993 to 2015 then retired with the rank of Distinguished University Professor (Emerita) and moved to Toronto, where I hold a Senior Research Fellowship with the Centre for Digital Humanities at Toronto Metropolitan University and manage HBooks, a webpage about accounts and reviews of History in the Victorian periodical press.

I have been General Editor of the University of Toronto Press series, Studies in Book & Print Culture since 2000. https://utorontopress.com/ca/books/by-series/studies-in-book-and-print-culture

And I am Past President of SHARP, the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (VP 2005-2009; President 2009-2013).