Wallace Kirsop (born 1933) is an eminent Australian scholar in French studies and in book trade history.Colin Nettlebeck
A Conversation with Wallace Kirsop
Institute for the Study of French Australian Relations, Inc. Retrieved 27 February 2017.Professor Wallace Kirsop
sydney.edu.au. Retrieved 19 July 2020.Wallace Kirsop
monash.edu.au. Retrieved 20 May 2018.Harold Love, "Wallace Kirsop", in: David Garrioch et al., eds., ''The Culture of the Book: Essays from Two Hemispheres in Honour of Wallace Kirsop'', Melbourne: Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, 1999, pp. xi-xiv.

Early life and education

Wallace Kirsop was born in Chatswood,

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on 4 November 1933. His parents were William Kirsop, an accountant and avid cricketer, and his wife, Doris Ida Kirsop (''née'' Harris). After attending North Sydney Boys High, he went in 1950 to the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

from which he graduated in 1955 with first class honours in both French and German. He undertook research for a doctorate at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris, France and in 1960 successfully defended his thesis titled, ''Clovis Hesteau, sieur de Nuysement, et la littérature alchimique de la fin du XVIe siècle et du début du XVIIe siècle'' on Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement, a French poet of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

who wrote several

alchemical Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

works.

Academic career

Having returned to Australia in 1960, Kirsop worked for two years as a Lecturer in French at the

. He then moved to Melbourne where he taught French language and literature at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

from 1962 until 1998 when he retired. From early in his career at Monash he insisted on a syllabus that moved beyond the normal bounds of French language and literature to include social and cultural history. He also taught advanced undergraduates and postgraduates "reference and physical bibliography" and book history, and he concentrated his research in those fields as well. In his research and teaching he has been an apostle for the French

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

school of

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

and for the Anglo-Saxon school of "new bibliography" (which had been developed by Sir Walter Wilson Greg,

Fredson Bowers Fredson Thayer Bowers (April 25, 1905 – April 11, 1991) was an American Bibliography, bibliographer and scholar of Textual criticism, textual editing. Life Bowers was a graduate of Brown University and Harvard University (Ph.D.). He taught at ...

and Douglas Francis McKenzie), the latter known in France, via his intellectual advocacy, as "bibliographie materielle". In the years 1968–2002 Kirsop was editor of the "international, peer-reviewed" ''Australian Journal of French Studies''. He was the founding editor of the Institute for the Study of French-Australian Relations's ''Explorations'' journal and was a board member of the

Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) formed in 1991 in the United States on the initiative of scholars Jonathan Rose, Simon Eliot, and others. Its members study the history of books and the "composition, mediati ...

(SHARP). Following his retirement he was appointed Honorary Professorial Fellow at Monash and as at 2018 he was "an Adjunct Professor in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics" at the same university. He taught book history at several Melbourne Rare Book Week events. In 2008 he was Honorary Director of Monash University's Centre for the Book. The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand named one its awards as the "Wallace Kirsop Conference Bursary" as a founding member of the Society and a "distinguished member" since 1969. He was elected a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

Wallace Kirsop - Fellows - Australian Academy of the Humanities
humanities.org.au. Retrieved 19 July 2020. in 1980.

Awards

* 1973: Chevalier dans l'

Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/ concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

List of Recipients of Palmes académiques in Australia - August 2017
isfar.org.au. Retrieved 19 July 2020. * 1999: Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) -

* 2003: Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes académiques

Select bibliography

Books: As author

* ''Towards a History of the Australian Book Trade'' (Sydney: Wentworth Books, 1969) * ''Research on Western European Languages and Literatures in Australia Since 1958'' (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1975) * ''Books for Colonial Readers: The Nineteenth-century Australian Experience'', Melbourne, The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand in association with The Centre for Bibliographical and Textual Studies, Monash University, 1995 (BSANZ Occasional Publication No. 5). * ''Catering for the Empire: Reactions to Macmillan's Colonial Library'', Clayton, Victoria: Ancora Press, 2009.

Books: As editor

* ''John Pascoe Fawkner's Library. Facsimile of the Sale Catalogue of 1868, with an introductory essay by Wallace Kirsop'' (Melbourne: Book Collectors' Society of Australia, 1985)Mary Turner Shaw, "Well-read Fawkner", ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'', 24 August 1985, p. 179. * ''The Book in Australia: Essays Towards a Cultural and Social History'', Clayton : Australian Reference Publications in association with the Centre for Bibliographical and Textual Studies, Monash University , 1988. Joint editor: D. H. Borchardt.

Articles

"The Legend of Bernard Palissy"
in: ''Ambix'', 1961, Volume 9, Issue 3.
"Brennan, critic and scholar"
in: '' Southerly'', Vol. 23, No. 3, September 1963: 203-210. * "The bibliography of French literary history: progress, problems, projects", in: ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', 1 (1964): 325–64.
"The Family of Love in France"
in: ''

Journal of Religious History The ''Journal of Religious History'' is an international peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Religious History Association. It covers current work in the history of religions. It also examines the relation ...

'', December 1964. * "Vers une collaboration de la bibliographie matérielle et de la critique textuelle", in: ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', 3 (1966): 227–51.
"The Greatest Renewal, the Greatest Revelation: Brennan's Commentary on Mallarmé"
in: ''

Meanjin Quarterly ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is an Australian literary magazine. The name is derived from the Turrbal word for the spike of land where the city of Brisbane is located. It was founded in 1940 in Brisban ...

'', Vol. 29, No. 3, 1970: 303-311. * "Literary History and Book Trade History: the Lessons of ''L'Apparition du livre''", in: ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', 16 (1979): 488–535. * "

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (, ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the '' Encyclopédie française'' together wi ...

and the ''

''", ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', 1979.
"The State of the Discipline: Booksellers and Their Customers: Some Reflections on Recent Research"
in: '' Book History'', vol. 1, 1998, p. 283-303.
"Behind the Scenes in Publishing in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Australia"
in: Russell, Mary, ed., ''The Indexing Life: Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers Conference, 15–17 March 2007'', Melbourne: Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers Conference, 2007, pp. 22-28.
"Libraries for an imperial power"
in: Giles Mandelbrote and K. A. Manley, eds., ''The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland, Volume 2: 1640-1850'', Cambridge University Press, 2009.
"Traditions: Tyranny and Freedom"
isfar.org.au, 2016.

Books about Wallace Kirsop

* David Garrioch et al., eds., ''The Culture of the Book: Essays from Two Hemispheres in Honour of Wallace Kirsop'', Melbourne: Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, 1999. For more comprehensive lists of Kirsop's books and articles, see https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/wallace-kirsop/publications/ and "Wallace Kirsop: List of Publications", in: David Garrioch et al., eds., ''The Culture of the Book...'' (1999)

References

External links

Wallace Kirsop - Biography
at

(archived copy)
Articles by Wallace Kirsop in ''La Trobe Journal''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirsop, Wallace 1933 births Australian literary critics Literary critics of French Monash University faculty University of Sydney faculty University of Sydney alumni Australian book and manuscript collectors Bibliographers Cultural historians Intellectual historians Living people Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities