Testimonials‘I also thank Fiona Little, sincerely and deeply, for her patience and exactitude during the copy editing process.’ – Emily I. Dolan (Associate Professor of Music, University of Pennsylvania), The Orchestral Revolution: Haydn and the Technologies of Timbre (Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. xiii. ‘Fiona Little’s work on Library & Information History has been invaluable, imposing a consistent style and format on submissions that come from all manner of disciplinary backgrounds (history, literature, library and information science, modern languages, art history, and architecture to name but a few) and from either side of the Atlantic. Fiona has been a pleasure to deal with throughout, responding to queries promptly and with utmost professionalism, and tolerating my own editorial shortcomings with good grace.’
– Dr Mark R. M. Towsey, Editor-in-Chief, Library & Information History, 2014. ‘As Dr Little had just copy-edited my essay in a volume of conference papers, I asked her to look over the recently completed text of a book of mine, having seen at first hand her expertise in a job that requires extremely close attention to detail, an extraordinary level of concentration and a high boredom threshold. Of course, I was paying her to do something that the publisher should be undertaking but I have never regretted my decision. Although I pride myself on having a sound grasp of grammar and a fluent, readable writing style, Dr Little unerringly and with embarrassing regularity highlighted my shortcomings in both areas. Moreover, I found it very useful to have an academic, whose specialism is different from the subject of the book, to take an intelligent outsider’s view and to point out those passages in which I had been repetitive, precious, lacking in clarity or presumptuous, or a combination of all four.’ – Peter Edwards (Professor Emeritus of Early Modern British Social History, University of Roehampton, London), author of Horses and the Aristocratic Lifestyle: The Role of Horses in the Public and Private Lives of William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, 1597–1623 (Boydell Press, 2018). ‘Fiona Little worked with me extremely impressively and effectively on all three projects. Her skill and imagination to turn a solid text into concise, gripping, expressive, and imaginative prose is superb. She has the ability to get into the mind of the author and to make choices that are truly convincing and, frankly, that highlight the skills and talents of the author in an amazing way, thereby displaying what the author wrote in a much improved way, and in a stunning, new light! Fiona Little works with great depth and an eye to detail: she asks many questions and proposes alternative ways of expressing passages. She focuses her energy on readability. Thus, texts that she has worked on are easy to read and easy to follow and just enjoyable to spend time with.’ – Katharina Uhde (Associate Professor, Valparaiso University), author of The Music of Joseph Joachim (Boydell & Brewer, 2018) and ‘Reconsidering the Young Composer-Performer, Joseph Joachim, 1841–1853’, in The Creative Worlds of Joseph Joachim, ed. Valerie Woodring Goertzen and Robert Whitehouse Eshbach (Boydell Press, 2021); editor (with Michael Uhde) of Joseph Joachim: Identities/Identitäten (Olms, projected publication 2023). |
‘It was such a delight to work with Fiona. She put such incredible care into copyediting and my manuscript has benefited enormously as a result. I am so glad that it has had the benefit of her careful and thoughtful work before going out into the world. Fiona’s rigour and attention to intricate detail is superb and the breadth of her knowledge is just phenomenal. I cannot recommend her highly enough.’
- Fiona Smyth (Trinity College Dublin), author of Pistols at St Paul's: Science, Music, and Architecture in the Twentieth Century (Manchester University Press, forthcoming 2024). ‘Fiona offers unparalleled copy-editing services. She has an unsurpassed eye for detail, reads (and re-reads) thoroughly, readily adapts to the peculiarities of less-than-mainstream subject matter, and is overall a joy to work with. I could not recommend her more highly.’ – Wm. Matthew Kennedy, author of The Imperial Commonwealth: Australia and the Project of Empire, 1867–1914 (Manchester University Press, 2023) ‘I just wanted to thank you for all your time and patience on my manuscript. You’ve made the process so straightforward for me when I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve really appreciated your wonderful manner, and I’ve not once felt defensive. ... I’m very grateful for your eagle-eyed professionalism.’ – Dr Hannah French, author of Sir Henry Wood: Champion of J. S. Bach (Boydell & Brewer, 2019). ‘I am particularly indebted to Fiona Little for the extraordinary patience with which she has guided me through the copy-editing process.’ – Christopher Marsh (Professor of Early Modern Cultural History, Queen's University, Belfast), Music and Society in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. xi. ‘Dr Little’s very professional help enabled me to turn around a difficult research article rapidly. Not only was I working to tight deadlines and with a text using several different languages, but the journal had completely changed its citation style between the submission of my article and its acceptance for publication. Dr Little’s editing exposed my editorial shortcomings and then helpfully enabled me to rectify them.’
– Elizabeth Baigent (University Reader in the History of Geography, University of Oxford), author of ‘Travelling Bodies, Texts, and Reputations: The Gendered Life and Afterlife of Kate Marsden and her Mission to Siberian Lepers in the 1890s’, Studies in Travel Writing, 18/1 (2014), 34–56. ‘Fiona Little did an outstanding job of copy-editing and it has been my very good fortune to have had her hawk-eyed and patient assistance. She has saved me from innumerable errors and omissions.’ - Ali Rattansi (Visiting Professor of Sociology, University of London), author of Bauman and Contemporary Sociology: An Analysis (Manchester University Press, 2017). ‘Working with Fiona in my first academic book was a blessing. Not only is she an excellent and experienced editor, but her way of communication is clear, respectful, and kind. She polished my prose without making it sound like it was hers (or somebody else’s). That’s a feat considering that I am not a native English writer.’ - Juan Diego Díaz (Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of California, Davis), author of Africanness in Action: Essentialism and Musical Imaginations of Africa in Brazil (Oxford University Press, 2021), awarded Special Commendation, British Forum for Ethnomusicology Book Prize 2021. |