Please join the University of Illinois’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library virtually on April 20 at 12pm CDT for a special presentation on “perfect Tranquillity, faithful Friends and the best library: Aphra Behn and RBML.”
Former RBML John "Bud" Velde visiting scholars Claire Bowditch and Elaine Hobby (Loughborough University, UK) will discuss how their fellowships at the RBML informed and shaped their research of Aphra Behn, one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing. The RBML holds 79 early editions of Behn’s works, making it one of the largest collections in the country!
Following the publication of volume IV of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Aphra Behn, Bowditch and Hobby will share how their time spent with RBML collections informed and shaped the research not only for that volume but for all eight volumes in this new complete works of the author who was lauded by Virginia Woolf as responsible for earning women "the right to speak their minds". This talk will draw particular attention to some of Behn's works that exist in either unique or rare states amongst the RBML's collections including Behn's smash-hit farce The Emperor of the Moon (1687).
Attendees must register in advance at https://go.illinois.edu/AphraBehn.
