His research interests lie, in large part, in the history of books and reading, ancient Greece and biography. St Clair is a founding member of Open Book Publishers, based in Cambridge, and an active supporter of the Open Access movement.
Relating to the history of books and reading
The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period. The book centres on the Romantic period in the English-speaking world, but ranges across the whole print era, to reach conclusions about the forces that determined how ideas were carried, through print, into wider society. It provides an investigation of information on prices, print runs, intellectual property, and readerships gathered from over fifty publishing and printing archives.
Lord Elgin and the Marbles. Translated into Italian, French and Greek.
'The Elgin Marbles: Questions of Authenticity and Accountability', International Journal of Cultural Property, 2.
'The Parthenon in 1687: New Sources' with Robert Picken, in The Parthenon and its Sculpture, ed. Michael Cosmopoulos.
'Imperial Appropriations of the Parthenon', in Imperialism, Art and Restitution, ed. John Henry Merryman. Chinese translation published by Tongji University Press, 2009.
History and biography
That Greece Might Still Be Free. The Philhellenes in the War of Independence. Awarded Heinemann prize by Royal Society of Literature. New edition with additional material, extra illustrations, an updated bibliography, and a New Introduction by Roderick Beaton. An account of the philhellenes - or 'lovers of Greece' - who volunteered to fight for the Greek cause during the War of Independence, against the rule of the Ottoman Turks.
Adventures of a Younger Son by Edward John Trelawny, with an Introduction by William St. Clair.
Trelawny, the Incurable Romancer.
The Godwins and the Shelleys, The Biography of a Family. Awarded Time-Life prize and Macmillan Silver Pen for an outstanding work of British non-fiction.
Mapping Lives: The Uses of Biography, eds. Peter France & William St Clair. Essays on the nature of biography commissioned as part of the centenary celebrations of the British Academy. William St. Clair's essay is 'The Biographer as Archaeologist.'
The Grand Slave Emporium: Cape Coast Castle and the British Slave Trade. Published in the U.S. as The Door of No Return, The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Based on a huge archive of original documents previously scarcely explored.
Conduct literature
Conduct Literature for Women, 1500–1640, eds. William St Clair & Irmgard Maassen .
Conduct Literature for Women, 1640–1710, eds. William St Clair & Irmgard Maassen .
Evaluation
As part of work in the Treasury, William St Clair authored:
Policy Evaluation: A Guide for Managers. Translated, with adaptations, into several languages including, French, Arabic and Turkish.
Executive Agencies: A Guide to Setting Targets and Judging Performance.
