MELBOURNE RARE BOOK WEEK EVENT | Leaping the Barrier: Women as authors in Georgian and Regency England with Professor Christopher Browne

Saturday 20 Jul 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

From Aphra Behn to Mary Shelley, women have had to fight to overcome the many barriers to publication that have been placed in their paths by society, their family and men. Presented as part of Melbourne Rare Book Week, join Professor Chris Browne as he tells the stories of these talented and enterprising pioneers using examples of their books from his extensive collection of 18th and 19th century literature to illustrate his discussion.

Professor Emeritus Chris Browne is a retired medical researcher and academic who spent much of his childhood in British colonial Africa and the middle-east, before returning to the UK to attend school. After degrees from the Universities of York and Oxford, followed by five years in medical research at McGill University in Montreal in the late 1970s, he has spent most of his working life in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University.

He has enjoyed reading from an early age, and became a serious book collector in 1970, and has put together, during the last 55 years, a personal library of around 15,000 books. His main interests are English literature and juvenilia from 1780 to 1940, fine illustrated books and the history of English publishing and printing. He is currently the Program Director of Melbourne Rare Book Week. Unsurprisingly, his main hobby is reading.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the lecture, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This lecture is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our exhibition-house, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This lecture has been generously supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Image: Edward Francisco Burney, Frances d'Arblay ('Fanny Burney'), 1784. National Portrait Gallery, London.

SOLD OUT This event is currently at capacity. If you wish to be added to the waitlist, please email visitorservices@johnstoncollection.org or call The Johnston Collection on (03) 9416 2515 and we will contact you if places become available.