From manuals to encyclopaedias: how was artisanal knowledge diffused in the 18thC? Stefanie Stockhorst (Universität Potsdam) discusses the case of bit-making at our Enlightenment Workshop, Wednesday (7 May), 5pm Magdalen College. voltaire.ox.ac.uk/home/research-…

Submissions for this year's R. Gapper Undergraduate Essay Prize, for the best essay submitted by an UG student at a university based in the UK or Ireland, are now open. For more information about eligibility and how to submit an entry, see the link below: sfs.ac.uk/prizes/r-gappe…

The diverse perspectives of Enlightenment authors on equality: Darrin McMahon Dartmouth 🌲 writes in our blog on 18thC discussions of equality and their legacies. voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/05/01/equ…

A computational approach to 18thC book history and intellectual history: Mikko Tolonen delivers our annual lecture in Digital Enlightenment Studies tomorrow (Fr. 9 May), 5pm, Weston Library Bodleian Libraries. voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/annual-v…

'Buffon and the degenerated human': Andrew Curran Wesleyan University in an freely streamed lecture at Turin Humanities Programme, convened by our Director, Nicholas Cronk. 29 May, 9.30 GMT/10.30 CET: voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/live-str…

It looks like the final programme has now been released for this year's Oxford Spinoza Conference, organised by Olivier de France and James Read:

Registration for our annual graduate conference is now open! To join us on the 5th of June, please register below ⬇️ intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/event/oxford-c…

Gainsborough born #onthisday in 1727 painted one of Waddesdon's most popular works: 'The Pink Boy'. It acquired its nickname in the 19th century, in the wake of the fame of the 'Blue Boy', now The Huntington

All welcome at the final session of our Enlightenment Workshop for this academic year! Giora Sternberg @hertfordcollege on ‘writing acts and the family in the 18th century’, Wed. 21 May, 5pm Magdalen College. Not to be missed! voltaire.ox.ac.uk/home/research-…

TODAY, 5PM Magdalen College!

The deadline for postdoc applications (30 May) is fast approaching!

📣 Calling all budding dix-huitiémistes! 📣 Applications are welcome until 1 July to the annual Early Career Seminar of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS/SIEDS) in summer 2026! oraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec.ca/portail/gscw03…

Reading Voltaire's entire correspondence (over 20,000 letters in 45 vols) has its disadvantages and rewards, says Gillian Pink (Gillian Pink). Read her blog post on one of the latter - a 1753 letter containing elements of Voltaire's Candide (1759): voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/06/20/fin…

Heute vor 300 Jahren wurde #Klopstock geboren. Wer wird nicht einen Klopstock loben? Doch wird ihn jeder lesen? – Nein. Wir wollen weniger erhoben, Und fleißiger gelesen sein. (Lessing)

How were 18thC Germans involved in transatlantic slavery, in the absence of an overseas empire? Morgan Golf-French (Fondazione1563 Turin) writes in our blog on the German Enlightenment's discourses on, and entanglements with, slavery: voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/06/27/tra…

Two books featured in roundtable discussions at our Enlightenment Workshop this year! voltaire.ox.ac.uk/home/research-…

Five funded PhD positions at the Politics of Enlightenment research group of our friends at IZEA Universität Halle (inaktiv)! Details here: polight.uni-halle.de/en/five-positi…