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Rachel Eckersley

Rachel Eckersley

  • Position: Rare Book Specialist
  • Areas of expertise: Book and library history; rare books cataloguing; history of dissent; long 18th century history; public engagement
  • Email: R.E.Eckersley@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: Cultural Collections and Galleries (CC&G), Brotherton Library

Profile

I am the Rare Book Specialist for Cultural Collections and Galleries at the University of Leeds Libraries with responsibility for the curation of all the rare printed collections. I joined the University of Leeds in 2020 specifically to catalogue and research the John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History. I was trained in rare books cataloguing at Cambridge University Library and QMUL.

Prior to this, I was a Research Associate and then Visiting Research Fellow in Book and Library History at the Queen Mary Centre for Religion and Literature in English (QMCRLE), Queen Mary University of London (2012-2013, 2015-2021) working on the AHRC-funded Dissenting Academies Online project: Virtual Library System. I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the Centre for the Comparative History of Print at the University of Leeds (2015-16) and as a Library Digitisation Assistant and Editor at the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge (2013-2015). I have been a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University for the North West Universities Association (2000-2002) and in Modern History for the University of Wolverhampton (1999-2000). I was also a Research Development Manager for the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester (2002-2010).

Responsibilities

  • Developing, coordinating and implementing a plan for the cataloguing and digitizing of rare books
  • Guiding colleagues in acquiring new items to augment rare printed collections
  • Researching, publishing on, and promoting rare printed collections to both the public and academics

Research interests

I have previously researched the history of parliamentary reform and anti-slavery during the 18th and early 19th century and women’s history in the 19th and early 20th century. My current research interests focus on book and library history during the long 18th century, particularly dissenting academy libraries, provincial printing, and provenance.

My publications also include:

  • Eckersley, R., A fantastic copy of Breton's Fantasticks, The Book Collector, vol 74 no 1, Spring 2025, pp. 81-88.
  • Eckersley, R., Kirk, T., and Wheale, S., Four works by Robert Greene, The Blavatnik Honresfield Library: saved for the nation (Reading: Friends of the Nation's Libraries, 2023) pp. 114-116.
  • Bartley, P., Emmeline Pankhurst (Routledge, 2002) [researcher].
  • Eckersley, R., Burnley, K., and Evans, R., The Regional Mission, The North West (published report for HEFCE and Universities UK, June 2001).

Qualifications

  • PhD in 18th and 19th Century British Political History, The University of Manchester
  • MA Hons in History with German, The University of Edinburgh