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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Had the classic 18thc book historian experience of thinking I'd made a new inference and then realised it's just buried somewhere in the Treadwell notes.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

There's a really interesting PhD advertised here on the history of the BL's erotic collections - now is an exciting time to be rooting through smut in libraries! www.bl.uk/services/res...

bl.uk

Collaborative Doctoral Landscape Awards

Fully-funded and jointly supervised studentships across four developing research areas.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Finally met the frontispiece of the Dunciad.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Horrifying realisation once I sit down and do it that I actually like writing academic prose about Alexander Pope.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

'I Pray God Preserve Good Old England and Divert his Judgement from us'. Houghton P (EB65 A100 B675b v.4).

Broadside entitled 'The True Figure of the Great Eclipse of the SUN'. Depicts the Sun (with a face) in the process of being covered by the moon, with lines showing where the eclipse is visible on earth.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Rotating the idea of 'Cleveland's Fanny Hill' in my mind.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I've been reading thids (admittedly quite massive) book on the history of reprographics on my commute. It's one of those fantastic works of bibliography that forces you to confront so many assumptions about how to look at documents. Like what do you mean there were pantographs in the 17thc!

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Unfortunate place to use a capital depicting Judith & Holofernes...

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I've been trying to get my head around precisely how these companies find books. Is it ISBN data alone? We sell some of the sorts of books AI companies want and haven't had any interaction, and I wonder of its because we never list ISBNs... www.404media.co/ai-companies...

404media.co

AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop

ISBNdb, a company that sources printed books for AI companies to turn into training data, tells clients “the optics problem is real.”

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Saw this in a shop in Valencia and decided I had to own it.

Duo-tone printed cover of a man watching his own skeleton smoke in an armchair.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Read this in one sitting in the local queer café today. V worthwhile read that I have already passed on to a fellow bibliographer. If someone asks me what they should read to learn desc bib I will now always say this!

Carlo Dumontet's 'Collation Reference Notation & Statement of Signing'

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Nice to see how scholars from other disciplines talk about handpress era books lol.

Quote reads: 'nothing is less becoming to the history of British printmaking than its belated and uncouth beginnings. The earliest woodcuts, published by William Caxton and his successors Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson, provide a certain dry sustenance for bibliophiles but they have little artistic value. Indeed, the term 'hack-work' has special aptness in the context of the early English woodcut.'

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

My partner and I watched all the (good) Pixar films in order, and now we're embarking on the natural follow-on to that: all the films of Philip Seymour Hoffman in no particular order.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

My favourite thing in the world is talking about weird/beautiful/old books while in the proximity of wine. If you're in the NE and share this feeling then you should sign up for an event that is just that. Link: www.tixtree.com/e/keel-row-l...

Poster reads: Keel Row Lates. Understand collectible books, one evening at a time. Illustratee books from woodcut to inkjet. Thursday 3 September 2026, 1800-2000. Booking appreciated.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

My graduation on Friday was a wonderful but bittersweet experience. I have long called the English department at Newcastle my home, and my fellow scholars there are so dear to my heart. Seeing the culmination of three degrees over nine years has felt like a homecoming...

Me (non-binary femme) in floral blouse with black, white and red academic gown smiling next to Kate (my supervisor) in scarlet and navy gown.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

My challenge today has been collating a poorly attested 18thc locally printed Bible which ESTC states is 'eratically signed' in lieu of any attempt at a pagination statement. There is a logic, but not one that is apparent to me.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A love poem for printers, in a Regency era guide to courtship.

Poem reads 'From a Printer These lines I compose, Valentine, To press you with love I declare, Don't think to impose my design, For you are my printer I swear. Oh! Print on my heart you approve, That capital letter I'll prize, well, I'll give you a proof of my love, corrected in every revisal'

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

'An admirable attempt at repair' on a 1600 Bible, BCP, and Psalms.

A full calf book with concave spine, amateurishly repaired with Frankenstein-esque rows of thread to upper board and spine.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Terrifying drawing in a 1589 Geneva Bible.

Double column printed Bible leaf with marginal drawing of disembodied(?) Stick figure.

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Beth DeBold @elizaaudacis.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Very proud of @18thcenturysam.bsky.social, who has been awarded a prize from @hassfacultyncl.bsky.social for her smashing thesis on erotic books!

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Pleased to say that as of September I'll be Visiting Fellow of Bibliography and Book History at Newcastle University. It's a largely honorary position but it's nice to have institutional recognition!

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Finally, children can feel how I do when I look at binder's waste and realise it's literally anything more interesting than a leaf of psalms. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Parents shocked after children’s paper hedgehogs found to contain pages from explicit novel

Handmade creations distributed to raise funds for charity prompt complaints to police

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Writing about the dildo-poem 'Monsieur Thing's Origin' today - which might be one of the gappiest title-pages of the hand-press era. A 'thing' made present by this absence perhaps?

T.p. reads 'Monsieur Thing's ORIGIN. [Large space] This thing can boast it's of no Party Cause Whether it meets, or meets not with Applause.'

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Finally, a beach bar for literary critics

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

The bookseller's label of the Dublin stationer Bennett Dugdale (fl. 1781-1800) in a manuscript. I don't often see letterpress 'sold by' labels in 18thc books!

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

A press room of 13-14 year olds at work, illustrating the young bookmakers who made the volume I'm currently cataloguing.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

First shortlist that I've put together includes a weird Maria Edgeworth first, a Cumbrian sexology pamphlet, and a BCP whose former owned *nailed* their book label to the book.

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Keel Row Books @keelrowbooks.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

We're pleased to share a few highlights from our first short-list, a mix of 15 items that are rare, interesting, or that we just have a fondness for. 👉 mailchi.mp/b53332ba368f... The books are not online, so order by contacting us at: 📧 mail@keelrowbooks.com or ☎️ (+44) 0191 296 0664

A chromolithograph of a fountain made from nougat.

The upper cover of a pamphlet entitled 'Man and His Sexual Relation'

The dust-wrapper of Maria Edgeworth's 'The Most Unfortunate Day of my Life', buff wrapper with pink printed text and illustration.

A watercolour by Joseph Crawhall of George Morland, in Regency country costume.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Anyone able to identify this mysterious bookplate? Late 18th/early 19thC, engraved & printed in blue-green ink. The monogram with three letters, perhaps “B S D”, beneath a jewelled turban. In a work by Pope Pius II printed at Cologne by Ulrich Zel c. 1470. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Inc.5.A.4.1[287]

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I have found many things in books, snakeskin is a first though...

A shed snakeskin in tissue paper on the title page of Hemingway's A Farewall to Arms.

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Carlisle Yingst @ceyingst.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

come listen to and help me work through many complicated thoughts about the relations between (New) Bibliography and Theory! And of course stay for brilliant work by everyone else :)

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The Bibliographical Society of America @bibsocamer.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

The BSA Events Committee is proud to support Queer Bibliography in the South, a multi-day conference including both panels and workshops. Both in person and virtual attendance is free, but registration is required. 🔗Link to the full program details and registration form in bio

The background is a bright magenta. At the center, there is a rounded rectangle with a white and pink gradient. On the left, a large pale pink circle contains the word "BIBLIO" in bold, outlined letters. Next to it, the word "GRAPHY" is in a large bold pink font, with the word "Queer" above it. A black circle in the bottom right corner contains the text "Registration required!" Below the central rectangle, in white text on the magenta background, is "QUEER BIBLIOGRAPHY IN THE SOUTH

Pink text on a white background with information about the Queer Bibliography in the South hybrid conference from 12 to 14 March 2026

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I'm going to start citing Bowers whenever I'm asked to produce a timeline for a grant application.

'Ideally, time in bibliography is no object, and if a certain task of large dimensions needs doing, it is worth a lifetime.'

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Beth DeBold @elizaaudacis.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

The survey is live until 12 February; please take a moment to comment.

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Sarah Pyke @sarahpyke.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

filled out the horrible settlement consultation and I’m sorry, the question that is framed as a negative so that you have to ‘strongly disagree’ with something not happening?? This has enraged me

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

A reminder that next week I'll be speaking alongside @heggledepeg.bsky.social at @keelrowbooks.bsky.social. There will be wine and hand-press era books in ample supply. RSVP: www.tixtree.com/e/seminar-in...

Poster for a public lecture in early modern studies. Two talks are listed: Down and Out in Late-Tudor London: Elizabethan Authorship and a history of the hustle (Matt Ryan) & Slop: Writing as excrement from Gutemberg to Chat GPT (Sam Bailey). The evemt is 5-7pm 19 February.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Assembling my first catalogue has made me realise I have a type: obscure 17th-18thc novels in questionable bindings.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Are there any Leverhulme/BA postdocs on here that would be willing to share their successful application with me? All disciplines welcome!

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Some very clean offsetting in a Huguenot Utopian novel.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Thesis submitted! 🍾🍾🍾 If you'd like to read something that contains both bibliographical formulae and discussions of rimming, then it may be for you!

Title page of Erotic Books in Eighteenth-Century England (by me)

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

I wouldn't normally go to bat for Kipling but the pictorial paper wraps on this 1st British ed of 'The Phantom Rickshaw' are just tremendous. Link: keelrowbooks.com/item/14704/t...

Grey Paper wraps of 'The Phantom Rickshaw' illustrated with a skeletral ghost.

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

@elizaaudacis.bsky.social has returned from the US with perhaps the best belated Christmas gift I could ask for: a crisp first edition of Fredson Bowers' 'Dog Owner's Handbook'.

Title page of The Dog Owner's Handbook by Fredson Thayer Bowers

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Keel Row Books @keelrowbooks.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Hitting the road for the first book fair of 2026... Join us this weekend for the January York book fair, a bite sized version of the well loved September fair 👇🏽 Sat 10th Jan 10am - 4.30pm Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, YO23 1EX. For free tickets & more, visit yorkbookfair.com

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Dr Sam Bailey @18thcenturysam.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

On February 19 I'll be speaking alongside the excellent @heggledepeg.bsky.social at @keelrowbooks.bsky.social about aspects of early modern book history. I'm truly hoping to supply quality slop for the hogs. If you're in the area, you can sign-up here: www.tixtree.com/e/seminar-in...

Poster reads: Public lecture in early modern studies. (Title 1) 'Down and out in late-Tudor London: Elizabethan authorship and a history of the hustle' - Matt Ryan. (Title 2) 'Slop: writing as excrement from Gutenberg to ChatGPT' Free drinks reception and showcase of antiquarian books. 5-7pm 19 Feb.

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Kelly Rene Bullard @kellyrenebullard.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Applications due January 16th! Apply for research fellowships at Houghton Library! Work with collections including Printing & Graphic Arts! Bother me irl with your ideas, questions, and quandaries! (It’s not a bother.)

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