The eighteenth century is, currently, a relatively neglected area in the history of education. Recently, however, there has been renewed interest taken in the long eighteenth century in history of education and social and cultural history circles and thus it seems a golden opportunity to redress the balance and offer a special issue of History of Education.

This special issue signals a number of developments in Enlightenment studies. One is a growing interest in its English dimension, including the ‘Midlands Enlightenment’ and explorations of the way industrial and technological advances combined with the fruits of discovery, science, art, literature and culture.