The debut issue of The Second Shelf: Rare Books and Words By Women was published in September 2018 as a manifesto of sorts. Our goal was to demonstrate a range of possibilities in collecting books by women and in the kinds of conversations and writing we would like to publish.

Contributors: Barbara Boswell, Gwendolyn Brooks, Michelle Dean, A. N. Devers, Lauren Groff, Mary Horlock, Shoshana Kessler, Susan Scarf Merrell, Dorthe Nors, Ariana Reines, Lucy Scholes, Nell Stevens, Catherine Taylor, Joanna Walsh

Publisher and Editor: A. N. Devers, Managing Editor: Lucy Scholes, Designer: Nele Wellens, Photographer: Jo Emmerson

Contributing Editors: Brooke Palmieri & Sanam Mahloudji

Catalogue Editors: Grace Barham, Kathryn Hyde, Lauren LaTulip, Brooke Palmieri, Ceri Thompson

Advisory Board: Nicole Antebi, Gabrielle Bellot, Sinéad Gleeson, Lauren Groff, Sophie Hunter, TJ Jarrett, Morgan Jerkins, Laura Lippman, Elizabeth McCracken, Susan Scarf Merrell, Laurie Muchnick, Roachele Negron, Audrey Niffenegger, Nadxi Nieto, Lara Prescott, Dorthe Nors, Lucy Scholes, Marisa Siegel, Cheryl Strayed, Rachel Syme, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Dr. Amara Thornton, Joanna Walsh, Jesmyn Ward, Sarah Weinman, Khaliah Williams

Printed by Calverts, a Workers Co-operative, formed in East London, in 1977. Their name is an homage to Giles & Elizabeth Calvert, radical printers and publishers during the English Revolution of the 1640s.