William St Clair

William St Clair
Born	1937 United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Occupation	Academic
Academic background
Alma mater	St John's College, Oxford
Academic work
Institutions	Royal Society of Literature All Souls College, Oxford Huntington Library, California British Academy Trinity College, Cambridge Institute of English Studies Centre for History and Economics, Cambridge and Harvard

William St Clair, FBA, FRSL (born 1937) is a British historian, senior research fellow at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, and author.

Biography

William St Clair received his education at Kilsyth Academy, Comely Park School, Falkirk, Edinburgh Academy, and St John's College, Oxford.

William St Clair started his academic career as Fellow of Royal Society of Literature in 1973 He was Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 1981–82. In 1985 he became fellow of Huntington Library, California. Since 1992 he is fellow of British Academy, and was Member of Council from 1996 to 2000. From 1992 to 1996 he was also fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University. In the year 1998–99 he was Visiting Fellow Commoner, Trinity College, Cambridge University. From 1999 to 2006 he was fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University, 1999–2006 Since 2005 he is senior research fellow at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Since 2008 he is also senior research fellow at the Centre for History and Economics, Cambridge and Harvard.

William St Clair is also chairman of Open Book Publishers, an academic publisher of peer-reviewed monographs in the humanities and social sciences since 2008. Since 2008 he is also member of the Enterprise Management Committee, Re Enlightenment Project, main partners New York University, New York Public Library, and University of Cambridge.

Work

His research interests lie, in large part, in the history of books and reading, ancient Greece and biography. St Clair is a founding member of Open Book Publishers, based in Cambridge (UK), and an active supporter of the Open Access movement.

Relating to the history of books and reading

• The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). The book centres on the Romantic period in the English-speaking world, but ranges across the whole print era, to reach conclusions about the forces that determined how ideas were carried, through print, into wider society. It provides an investigation of information on prices, print runs, intellectual property, and readerships gathered from over fifty publishing and printing archives.
• The Political Economy of Reading, revised edition, John Coffin Memorial Lecture in the History of the Book (University of London: School of Advanced Study, 2005).
• 'Publishing, Authorship, and Reading' in The Cambridge Companion to Fiction of the Romantic Period (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
• 'Following up The Reading Nation in The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, Volume VI, 1830–1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
• 'Metaphors of Intellectual Property' in Privilege and Property. Essays on the History of Copyright, eds. Lionel Bently, Ronan Deazley & Martin Kretschmer (Open Book Publishers, 2010).
• A Gentleman of Literary Eminence': A Review Essay, with Roger Paulin & Elinor Shaffer (University of London: School of Advanced Study, 2008).

Relating to the Parthenon and Elgin Marbles

• Lord Elgin and the Marbles (London: Oxford University Press, 1967; 3rd Revised Edition, 1998). Translated into Italian, French and Greek.
• 'The Elgin Marbles: Questions of Authenticity and Accountability', International Journal of Cultural Property, 2 (1999).
• 'The Parthenon in 1687: New Sources' with Robert Picken, in The Parthenon and its Sculpture, ed. Michael Cosmopoulos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
• 'Imperial Appropriations of the Parthenon', in Imperialism, Art and Restitution, ed. John Henry Merryman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Chinese translation published by Tongji University Press, 2009.

History and biography

• That Greece Might Still Be Free. The Philhellenes in the War of Independence (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1972). Awarded Heinemann prize by Royal Society of Literature. New edition with additional material, extra illustrations, an updated bibliography, and a New Introduction by Roderick Beaton (Open Book, 2008). An account of the philhellenes - or 'lovers of Greece' - who volunteered to fight for the Greek cause during the War of Independence (1821), against the rule of the Ottoman Turks.
• Adventures of a Younger Son by Edward John Trelawny, with an Introduction by William St. Clair (London: Oxford University Press, 1974).
• Trelawny, the Incurable Romancer (London: J. Murray, 1977).
• The Godwins and the Shelleys, The Biography of a Family (London: Faber and Faber and New York: Norton, 1989). Awarded Time-Life prize and Macmillan Silver Pen for an outstanding work of British non-fiction.
• Mapping Lives: The Uses of Biography, eds. Peter France & William St Clair (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy 2002). Essays on the nature of biography commissioned as part of the centenary celebrations of the British Academy. William St. Clair's essay is 'The Biographer as Archaeologist.'
• The Grand Slave Emporium: Cape Coast Castle and the British Slave Trade (London: Profile, 2006). Published in the U.S. as The Door of No Return, The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (New York, N.Y.: Bluebridge, 2007). Based on a huge archive of original documents previously scarcely explored.

Conduct literature

• Conduct Literature for Women, 1500–1640, eds. William St Clair & Irmgard Maassen (6 Volumes) (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2000).
• Conduct Literature for Women, 1640–1710, eds. William St Clair & Irmgard Maassen (6 Volumes) (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2002).

Evaluation

As part of work in the Treasury, William St Clair authored:

• Policy Evaluation: A Guide for Managers (HMSO, 1988). Translated, with adaptations, into several languages including, French, Arabic and Turkish.
• Executive Agencies: A Guide to Setting Targets and Judging Performance (HMSO, 1992).

External links

• William St Clair at Institute of English Studies