It is with great sadness that we learned of the recent passing of Mark Salber Phillips, esteemed member of the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
A historian of ideas, Mark's teaching and work were interdisciplinary well before this approach was widely adopted, reflecting his deep love and broad knowledge of literature and art. Mark worked initially on the Italian Renaissance, before turning his attention towards eighteenth-century British historiography and the Scottish Enlightenment. "Society and Sentiment: Genres of Historical Writing in Britain", 1740-1820 (2000), perhaps his most influential book, was followed a decade later by the work he regarded as his most important, "On Historical Distance" (2013). Beyond these monographs he also published a wide range of important scholarly articles and three co-edited volumes on concepts of tradition, historical distance, and, toward the end of his life, history painting.
We express our most sincere condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.
You may consult his obituary here: https://benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca/ServiceDetails?snum=140803&fg=0
