Biography

Mary O’Connell is a lecturer in the Department of English, University College Cork, teaching in the areas of 19th century literature and crime fiction. She completed an IRC funded doctoral thesis in 2009 and subsequently held the position of Leverhulme Fellow at the School of English, University of St. Andrews. Following that, she was NUI Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of English, UCC.
Her first monograph, Byron and John Murray: A Poet and His Publisher (Liverpool University Press, 2015) was the first major study of Byron’s literary association and personal friendship with his publisher and represented a significant contribution to the field of Byron studies.

She co-edited (with Graham Allen and Carrie Griffin) Readings on Audience and Textual Materiality (Pickering & Chatto, 2014) and with Griffin has worked extensively on the archive of the Victorian printer Charles Clark. The Clark project won several awards, including the Bibliographical Society’s Antiquarian Booksellers Award.

She has published in the areas of Romantic literature, book history, and particularly Regency Print Culture. Her areas of research interest include 19th century book history, Romantic literature, and detective fiction.

Research Interests

Romantic Literature, Victorian Literature, Publishing History, Book History, Crime Fiction.

Research Grants

  Project Funding
Body 		Start Date End Date Award
Leverhulme Visiting Fellow Leverhulme Trust 01-JAN-12 31-DEC-12 €27,000.00
PhD Scholarship Irish Research Council 01-OCT-04 01-OCT-07
Mobility Grant Royal Irish Academy 02-NOV-14 08-NOV-14 €2,000.00
John Murray II: A Life National University of Ireland (NUI) 01-JAN-15 31-DEC-16 €80,000.00

Books

  Year Publication
(2015) Byron and John Murray: A Poet and His Publisher.
Mary O'Connell (2015) Byron and John Murray: A Poet and His Publisher. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. [ Publisher's Version] [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2024) 'Byron and Regency Print Culture'
Mary O'Connell (2024) 'Byron and Regency Print Culture' In: Jonathon Shears and Alan Rawes (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Lord Byron. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Details]
(2020) 'Romantic Letter Writing and the Publisher'
Mary O'Connell (2020) 'Romantic Letter Writing and the Publisher' In: Madeline Callaghan and Anthony Howe (eds). Romanticism and the Letter. UK: Palgrave. [Details]
(2019) 'Byron and his Publishers'
Mary O'Connell (2019) 'Byron and his Publishers' In: Clara Tuite (eds). Byron in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Details]
(2011) 'Introduction'
Griffin, Carrie, Graham Allen and Mary O'Connell; (2011) 'Introduction' In: Readings on Audience and Textual Materiality. London: Pickering and Chatto. [Details]
(2011) 'Charles Clark, His Books, and His Bookplate Poem'
Griffin, Carrie and Mary O'Connell; (2011) 'Charles Clark, His Books, and His Bookplate Poem' In: Readings on Audience and Textual Materiality. London: Pickering and Chatto. [ Publisher's Version] [Details]
(2008) ''Byron and Albemarle Street''
Mary O'Connell (2008) ''Byron and Albemarle Street'' In: Peter Cochran (eds). Byron and London. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [ Publisher's Version] [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
2014 National University of Ireland Posdoctoral Fellowship National University of Ireland
2013 Leverhulme Visiting Fellowship Leverhulme

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2013) Research Seminar Series,
Carrie Griffin and Mary O'Connell (2013) The Only Way is Essex: Charles Clark, John Russell Smith, and the Practicalities of Victorian Book-Exchange. [Oral Presentation], Research Seminar Series, School of English UCC , 27-FEB-13 - 27-FEB-13. [Details]
(2010) Material Cultures 2010,
Griffin, Carrie and Mary O'Connell; (2010) ¿Charles Clark, Bard of Totham, and the Materiality of Book Consumption¿. [Oral Presentation], Material Cultures 2010, Edinburg , 16-JUL-10 - 18-JUL-10. [Details]
(2008) Making Books, Shaping Readers, Second Annual Conference on Selection & Editing,
Griffin, Carrie & Mary O' Connell; (2008) “Editing the Interface: A Fifteenth Century Manuscript and a Nineteenth Century Bookplate”. [Oral Presentation], Making Books, Shaping Readers, Second Annual Conference on Selection & Editing, UCC , 02-APR-08 - 04-APR-08. [Details]
(2008) Making Books, Shaping Readers,
Griffin, Carrie, and Mary O'Connell; (2008) Editing the Interface: A Fifteenth Century Manuscript and a Nineteenth Century Bookplate. [Oral Presentation], Making Books, Shaping Readers, UCC , 03-APR-08 - 04-APR-08. [Details]

Teaching Interests

Romantic Literature, Victorian Literature, Detective Fiction