On Saturday, May 19, 2018, the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will mark a tremendous moment for the “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States. Like many of my compatriots, I will be celebrating this occasion by watching the live broadcast of the Royal Wedding and enjoying a cup or two of Fortnum & Mason’s Royal Blend. On this day, however, I will be marking my own important rite of passage in the form of a lecture. When it comes to Ouida, first and foremost I see myself as a devoted fan. In this way, the Ouida Otaku project stands as an exploration of fandom rather than any serious attempt at scholarly investigation. For the most part, I have tried to maintain a sense of frivolity in my blog posts in my effort to avoid the solemnity that often accompanies the gravitas and rigor of academic study. With some exceptions here and there, I believe that I will continue to do so. Yet, I am beginning to make certain accommodations in my work in terms of integrating my passion for Ouida’s novels into the trajectory of my career as a scholar-librarian. And so, I am making my first formal expedition into the scholarly discourse on Ouida next month. Of course, given my academic background in bibliography, book history, and print culture, my engagement with and contribution to the scholarship will focus on the material manifestations of her works in the form of physical books, published serials, and printed articles. The book project, for instance, that I have been independently working on for more than a year now combines my mission to produce a descriptive bibliography on Ouida and a critical analysis of the print culture embodied in her published works (hopefully, I will be able to finish this book in the next couple of years). Accordingly, the talk I am giving in May, “Ouida Illustrated: Commerce, Politics, and Representation in the Illustrated Editions of Ouida’s Works,” will look at the various illustrations found in her books and what they have to say about the social climate of their times. The talk will be presented at this year’s Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies symposium: Books and Illustration at the Turn of the Century in Britain and America. Fittingly, the event will be held at the Delaware Art Museum—an institution that holds its own spectacular collection of book illustration. Honestly, I am honored to be presenting for such a prestigious and storied group of book clubs. I am deeply indebted, moreover, to the many brilliant Ouida scholars that have provided me with so much learning on her life and works over the past four to five years. Although I will never claim to be a literary scholar myself, I hope that my expertise in printing history and bibliography will be of some value to the scholarly discourse on my all-time favorite author.
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