Martin Hewitt

The official CFP is a few days off, but I can't wait that long to announce that #BAVS2026 will be held in Liverpool, 27-29 July. We hope that some of the @rs4vp crowd will be able to make the trip over from #RSVP2026 in Dublin and join @bavsuk.

Book launch for Darwinism's Generations (academic.oup.com/book/58805) today at 5pm GMT, School of English, University of Leeds. Still chance to register to come in person, or just join via Teams. ticketsource.co.uk/universit…

It can be a long time after publication before reviews start to appear. So I thought I'd write my own! If you want a more detailed sense of Darwinism's Generations and why I think it's an important book for all Victorianists, head to my 'autoreview' at profmartinhewitt.com.

Brian has always been a one of a kind scholar, and its been my pleasure and privilege over the years to work with him in various ways. My relationship with pineapples was transformed by one of his papers. I'm sure this event will be a joyous celebration of him and his work.

Courier arrived with an unexpected parcel, so of course we had to have a celebration. Ten years in the making, but now I think we can say it has been *published*. Hopefully understandings of Victorian generations will never be the same again! Available via @OUPAcademic

st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/people-lif… Competition now open for the 2025/26 Belcher Visiting Fellowship in Victorian Studies at St Hugh's College, Oxford. Now with added potential for teaching buyout to support a full year's residence. I can highly recommend it!

At the OUP archive doing a bit of digging in the OED papers, and what should I spy on the desk. (Almost) Literally hot off the Press!

Sorry, that link may not work, but if you head direct to the Oxford Academic webpage, you should be able to find from there.

Well, it would seem that Darwinism's Generations is actually 'published' in its e-version, and available to anyone whose institution has a subscription to Oxford Academic. Head to academic.oup.com/book/58805 Please repost and tell your friends! And then tell me what you think of it!

I'm told Darwinism's Generations is at the printers, and author's copies might be sent out within the next fortnight, which is pretty exciting. So here is a promo code giving 30% off, for anyone interested in buying or recommending a purchase.

How often does it happen? Had a fascinating discussion of the challenges of interpreting press 'leading articles' with @lesliehowsam and @RS4VP last week. And today stumble across a detailed account by Thomas Wemyss Reid of how the collective 'we' of the leaders was constructed.

I knew that a lot of archival work went into Darwinism's Generations, but even so, pretty surprised to find how many library IDs and passes I seem to have accumulated over the years. Favourite reading room? National Library of Scotland. Huntington the best all round visit. Yours?

Final corrections submitted! Publication date mid-November. Am now more than slightly queasy at the thought that it's too late to pick up any more errors. But at least I finally have a cast iron argument against further attempts to ferret out more reactions to Darwin.