Adam Smyth

Biography

Adam Smyth is Professor of English Literature and the History of the Book at Balliol College, Oxford University. He works on the connections between literature and material texts, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries, but also more widely. Adam is the author of five books; the editor or co-editor of four collections of essays; and the co-founder and co-editor of the creative-critical journal Inscription: The Journal of Material Text – Theory, Practice, History. Adam is currently editing Shakespeare’s Pericles for Arden Shakespeare. Adam is a founder member of the 39 Steps Press printing collective, based in a barn in Oxfordshire. He writes regularly for the London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. His popular Substack, TEXT!, is at adamsmyth.substack.com.

Adam's latest book, The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives, is published by Bodley Head, and has been translated into several languages. Writing with Chloë Houston as Frances Wise, Adam is also the author of the novel The Book Game, published by 4th Estate.