Radical Print Culture in the Long Eighteenth Century

The York Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies symposium explores radical print in the long eighteenth century. The symposium will bring together work on newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, and other forms of print, including graphic representations such as satirical prints, that shaped debates around protest, satire, political reform, and social change across Britain and beyond. It seeks to challenge and expand our understanding of key concepts associated with these debates, such as “radicalism,” “protest,” and “the political”, and that interrogate what counts as print culture. Interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome, including work from literary studies, history, political theory, visual culture, book and print history, and cultural studies.

York provides a uniquely rich context for these conversations. The city and surrounding region were home to a remarkable network of radical printers and writers in the late eighteenth century, from Christopher Wyvill and the Yorkshire Association, to the Sheffield-based James Montgomery, whose newspapers, periodicals, and prints offer fertile ground for exploring the intersections of print, politics, and literary culture. The conference will build on Jon Mee’s work (Print, Publicity, and Popular Radicalism: The Laurel of Liberty, 2016), which illuminates the role of print in the emergence of popular politics and the culture of radicalism in the 1790s.

Radical Print Symposium Programme (PDF , 265kb)

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