iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

Nicolaus De Missuria @deromaaliisque.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Another great exhibition at the @ransomcenter.bsky.social From early biblical fragments, to a huge Book of the Dead, this is something you need to see. Excellent, as always, @aarontpratt.bsky.social

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Gearing up to teach Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830, @ransomcenter.bsky.social for @rarebookschool.bsky.social next week. It’s gonna be hardcore, as all good bibliography is.

Group of ten syllabuses for Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830. All in stab-stitched “pamphlet” form.

Group of seven full library carts in front of glass-door fronted built-in bookcases.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I don't post much these days, but if you have any chance of being in Austin through Aug. 2, you should come see Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt at the Ransom Center. Most of the materials in the show have never been exhibited outside of Manchester—if ever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XMd...

youtube.com

Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt - Curatorial Panel Discussion

YouTube video by Harry Ransom Center

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Priority applications came in, and it looks like Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830, will be nice and full. BUT, I was willing to raise the cap to fifteen, meaning that I now have a couple of open spots, even without any attrition. Join me in Austin this June!

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

If you missed Ann Blair’s @ransomcenter.bsky.social Pforzheimer Lecture last night, you can check it out on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/u16QHaI... I think you’ll agree that it’s both sharp and a lot of fun.

youtube.com

Dr. Ann Blair - How Renaissance Scholars and Printers Decided on the Size of Books

YouTube video by Harry Ransom Center

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Tomorrow’s the first day of my grad seminar for @utaustin.bsky.social English, How to Read an Old Book, 1450–1830. Just finished stitching up my syllabuses, which we’ll spend quite a bit of time with—as bibliographical objects—for the first half or so of the term.

A somewhat spread out stack of stab-stitched (pamphlet-sewn) syllabuses for the course, How to Read an Old Book, 1450–1830. Viewed from above, on a wood table.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

For the first time ever, @ransomcenter.bsky.social host @rarebookschool.bsky.social courses this summer, June 7–12: L-165: Literary Manuscripts w/ Stephen Enniss & Megan Barnard (this will be excellent) G-60: Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830 w/ yours truly rarebookschool.org/schedule/

rarebookschool.org

Schedules | Rare Book School

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

In this article rebooting the @ransomcenter.bsky.social's series on Not Even Past, @utaustin.bsky.social English Ph.D. student Kōan Brink writes about a surprising find in the gutters of a new acquisition: "The Chopped-Up Second Life of a Coverdale Bible." notevenpast.org/primary-sour...

notevenpast.org

Primary Source: The Chopped-Up Second Life of a Coverdale Bible - Not Even Past

This and other articles in Primary Source: History from the Ransom Center Stacks represent an ongoing partnership between Not Even Past and the Harry Ransom Center, a world-renowned humanities researc...

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

claire m. l. bourne @roaringgirle.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

a tiny bit of good news is that we have secured funding to digitize john milton's copy of holinshed's CHRONICLES (1587). the images will form part of MILTON'S LIBRARY, an open-access site featuring the 10 books positively identified as milton's w/ transcriptions/translations of his marginal notes.

A close-up image of a handwritten note in a sixteenth-century book. The note reads: 'Spenser repor / teth otherwise / [o]f this Knight / [D]ialogue of Ire- / [la]nd / [p]. 76.

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

NPR @npr.org · 15/08/2025

Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.

n.pr

A lock of hair may have just changed what we know about life in the Incan Empire

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

Rebecca Baumann @arkhamlibrarian.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

As far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong!) the only pulp paperback to have been printed with fuzzy textured elements on the cover. #DailyPaperback

Two Much by Donald Westlake. Title is in pink fuzzy textured lettering. Two blonde white women are wearing bikinis made of the same pink fuzzy textured lettering and a white man in a suit lounges on the ground beneath them.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

On my way back to Austin and @ransomcenter.bsky.social after running a seminar on descriptive bibliography @calrbs.bsky.social. Books were collated. Formats were determined—and in some cases deemed undeterminable. Join me next year!

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

The print-run of my 2025 @calrbs.bsky.social Descriptive Bibliography syllabus is done, with all copies stab-stitched and ready to go. The variants are even crazier than they were last year. How many issues of the edition are there? Variants? What’s an ideal copy? What the hell is the format?

A hand gripping a stack of stab-stitched pamphlets on the surface of a table. The title page that’s visible identifies them as syllabuses for the 2025 Descriptive Bibliography course at California Rare Book School.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Well that’s a book to keep an eye out for at auction.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

As the submission deadline approaches, if anyone who hopes to go to RSA this coming year in San Francisco has a bookish panel they've put together that's in search of a sponsor guaranteeing acceptance, please let me know. Same if you'd like to whip together a panel in the next couple of weeks.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Sorta awake (since 3:00), which is both a win and a loss. Beginning my plane, train, and automobile trip to New Haven for RBMS (and, most importantly, some quality Beinecke time). Hope to see some of you there.

Self-portrait of a 40-something white dude who’s barely awake, sitting in an airplane seat. Wearing an Aus-Rotten t-shirt.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Just changed the opening in the Gutenberg Bible @ransomcenter.bsky.social. Here’s a detail from one of the pages on display. It shows a scrape-and-replace correction to 1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon) 1:21. An error, the printed text read, “et de ela ebal.” A scribe got it to “et decla ebal.”

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

Lund Humphries @lhartbooks.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Now is the time to get to know still life artist Clara Peeters, as her only known self-portrait comes to auction! To do so, check out our #IlluminatingWomenArtists series monograph on #ClaraPeeters by Alejandro Vergara-Sharp: www.lundhumphries.com/collections/... news.artnet.com/market/clara...

news.artnet.com

Only Known Self-Portrait by Clara Peeters Comes to Auction

The only self-portrait by Clara Peeters may smash the 17th-century Flemish still life painter's auction record next month at Sotheby's London

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

We’ve acquired a remarkable group of rare medieval manuscripts that reveal new insights into life in Britain & Ireland during the Middle Ages – from religious dialogue to daily urban life. Items include…

Trilingual dictionary, Psalter, and Hebrew grammar. Add MS 89788

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

jordanrbrower.bsky.social @jordanrbrower.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

At long last, “A24’s Academic Style; or, Coming of Age in an Era of Student Debt” is now out with @jcmsjournal.bsky.social quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Been thinkin’ about Egyptian obelisks in Rome. #allegyptallthetime

Opening of a book printed in 1588 celebrating Pope Sixtus V’s architectural achievements. Copperplate print on the let shows the Lateran Obelisk. On the right is a letterpress poem in Neo-Latin about it.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

I only wish the worst for LLM advocates and apologists.

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

Shakespeare Association of America @saaupdates.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

ICYMI: the #Shax2025 plenary papers are available online! Watch this year's three brilliant papers on the SAA Youtube channel, linked here and in our bio: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mux...

Image of a video player that is pretend-playing the hashtag Shax 2025 plenary panel, titled Sweet Master Shakespeare: Sugar, Books, and Shakespeare, and featuring work from Brandi K. Adams, Kim F. Hall, and Emma Smith. End ID.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Love the semi-colon, but editors I have—especially for public-facing things like exhibition labels—almost always nuke them in favor of hard stops. Gotta trust people to figure ‘em out, re-normalize.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

If you missed my sniffly @nvshakespeare.bsky.social talk on author attribution in early English playbooks—both print and manuscript!—last month, a recording is available online: newvariorumshakespeare.org/news/ You can find it by scrolling down to the April 2, 2025 news item about my visit.

Screenshot from a Zoom presentation that shows a PowerPoint slide introducing a talk, "Selling Your Plan in Jacobean England," by Aaron T. Pratt of the Harry Ransom Center. In a camera feed located in the upper-right corner, Pratt begins his talk.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Hallelujah—a new beta version of the ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue) is now hosted by CERL: datb.cerl.org/estc

datb.cerl.org

English Short Title Catalogue

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Reposted by Aaron T. Pratt

Helen Smith @wordsmith.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

OMG!! The ESTC is back!!!! datb.cerl.org/estc/

datb.cerl.org

English Short Title Catalogue

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

This otherwise unremarkable—and kinda shabby—copy of the Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica w/ Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and The Garden of Cyrus (1659) happens to be the one formerly at Penshurst, home of the Sidneys.

Title page of Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1659).

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

There are 16hrs left to support Lives & Literacy in Ancient Egypt, a historic exhibition @ransomcenter.bsky.social in 2026. We're teaming up @thejohnrylands.bsky.social—w/ help from the Manchester Museum—to explore the cultural landscape of the Greco-Roman era through papyri, art, and artifacts.

givecampus.com

Harry Ransom Center

Join me and make a gift to 40 Hours for The Forty Acres

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

This German broadside from 1605—by Heinrich Ulrich— illustrates the papal conclave that elected Camillo Borghese that May. He became Pope Paul V. (@ransomcenter.bsky.social Popular Imagery Collection 285)

Photograph of a printed broadside from 1605 that depicts and describes (in German) the people and places involved in the papal conclave that May.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

CED content is my kind of content.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Nick’s classes are always a highlight of my year!

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Austin and other Central Texas heads—keep an eye out for House Education Committee hearing, show up, and submit written testimony against this nightmare legislation, which among other things would hurt the education that students receive.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

@valeriewayne.bsky.social, it's great to see you on here. And I /think/ I saw you on the list of folks tuning in to my wacky @nvshakespeare.bsky.social talk on Zoom last week—thanks a ton. Means a lot.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Really appreciated the opportunity to tie some strands of research I've been pursuing over the last several years for the @nvshakespeare.bsky.social and @tamu.bsky.social communities. And, more importantly, getting to meet and re-meet so many great people—faculty, grad students—in College Station.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Putting the finishing touches on my talk and PowerPoint for today's @nvshakespeare.bsky.social seminar. (If the end is chattier and less polished than the beginning, you now know why.) Am on at 1:00PM CDT. You can find a Zoom link here: newvariorumshakespeare.org/news/

newvariorumshakespeare.org

New Variorum Shakespearehamburgercrossarrowarrowarrowarrowarrowarrowarrowarrowarrowarrow

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Booking my travel for the upcoming RBMS conference in New Haven. Hope to see a bunch of you there in June.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Snagged another Berlemont edition that was printed in the dumbest format. If you know, you know.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

This'll be fun. Most of my work on playbooks focuses on bookselling and collecting, but in my NVS talk I'll consider the evidence we have for playwrights selling their own plays to publishers and its implications for how we read plays.

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Aaron T. Pratt @aarontpratt.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Reading a particularly apposite Civil War sermon this morning, Stephen Marshall’s Meroz Cursed (1642). Taking Judges 5:23 as his text—Curse ye Meroz!—Marshall rebukes those who stand by and tolerate the King’s tyranny, those who refuse to stand up in defense of the good. Was preached > 60 times.

Hand holding a copy of Meroz Cursed (1642) open to its title page, with a cup of coffee and unlit candle in the background.

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