Reposted by Kate BennettDr Louise Ryland-Epton @lrylandepton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026So proud to have been on the team that produced 👇. It is a great exhibition even if I say so myself. 😁 14015
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 22/04/2026digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/0b9a...digital.bodleian.ox.ac.ukMagdalen College MC:FA16/4/1AD/1View high resolution digitized images of Magdalen College MC:FA16/4/1AD/1 A plan for the improvement of Magdalen College, Oxford, by Humphry Repton and John Adey Repton, January the first MDCCCI 000
Reposted by Kate BennettDr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 25/03/2026The man who drew London: Wenceslaus Hollar, skilled Bohemian draughtsman & etcher of panoramic views, died #OTD 1677; worked in London under patronage of Thomas Howard, ‘Collector Earl’ of Arundel. Fisher Library | Yale University Art Gallery Centre for British Art 0225
Reposted by Kate BennettAdrian Streete @profastreete.bsky.social · 18/03/2026I’m pleased to say that we’re advertising for a permanent lectureship in early modern English Literature (grade 7). I’m happy to answer any questions via email. Please circulate. www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...jobs.gla.ac.ukLecturer in Early Modern English Literature (R&T)College of Arts & HumanitiesSchool of Critical Studies Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature (R&T)Vacancy Ref: 195373Salary, Grade 7, £41,064 - £46,049 per annum The School of Critica... 15264
Reposted by Kate BennettJohn Aubrey (1626–97) @john-aubrey.bsky.social · 12/03/2026The Native will be subject to Calumny & Troubles in the Course of his life ... a defect in the Elocution ... and not only so but superlative vexations in Matters Relating to Marriag, or great Discords if so united; besides wondrous Contests in Law suits. Nativity of John Aubrey, Aubrey 23, 104r-v. 111
Reposted by Kate BennettFiona Robertson @stonelands.bsky.social · 12/03/2026Happy John Aubrey Day – 400 years old today! The original stone botherer, who recognised the Avebury stones for the prehistoric marvel they are, and rightly commented that the site 'doth as much exceed Stonehenge as a cathedral doth a parish church'. 315745
Reposted by Kate BennettDr Louise Ryland-Epton @lrylandepton.bsky.social · 11/03/2026John Aubrey’s 400th tomorrow!! And at @chippenhammuseum.bsky.social we are celebrating his b’day & the launch of the Chippenham Our History festival & book with cake 🎂 An Aubrey exhib. & launch of @wiltshistory.bsky.social vol 20 & more to follow!! I hope Aubrey doesn’t mind us eating his face 🫢 0143
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 12/03/2026On this day 400 years ago, John Aubrey was born in the little Wiltshire hamlet of Easton Piercy, weak and like to die. To celebrate his unexpected flourishing, my new biography has been signed by Penguin Random House. and we are launching a new edition of ‘Aubrey’s Villa’ today… 020
Reposted by Kate BennettDr Louise Ryland-Epton @lrylandepton.bsky.social · 01/03/2026Born weak. Shipwrecked. Cursed by a witch. John Aubrey antiquary, naturalist, biographer, folklorist, visionary was born 400 years ago this month. Find out more and how we are celebrating 👇@chippenhammuseum.bsky.social @wiltshistory.bsky.social www.wiltshirehistory.org/news/john-au...wiltshirehistory.orgJohn Aubrey & the Quest for Knowledge — Wiltshire Victoria County HistoryJohn Aubrey was born ‘very weak and like to dye’ at Lower Easton Piercy in Kington St Michael on 12 March 1626. But he survived, and as an adult, he continued to cheat death. He survived smallpox. He ... 0269
Reposted by Kate BennettJohn Aubrey (1626–97) @john-aubrey.bsky.social · 11/02/2026They made little Gibbetts, and roasted Rumpes of Mutton, nay I sawe some very good Rumpes of Beefe: there were Healths to the King Charles II dranke in the streets by the Bonfires even on their Knees: 121
Reposted by Kate BennettJohn Aubrey (1626–97) @john-aubrey.bsky.social · 01/01/2026I wish this ensuing Yeare to be auspicious to you; with a succession of many others during your life. Aubrey to Wood, 1 Jan 1680. Wood F 39, f. 335r. 073
Reposted by Kate BennettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 23/12/2025‘Tomalin describes Pepys going “out on his rounds like an animal” – prowling Westminster and beyond for a woman or girl who would “tocar” his penis or let him kiss her “mamelles”, or in his favourite phrase, “do what I would with her”.’ Deborah Friedell on Samuel Pepys www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukDeborah Friedell · Lifted Up: Pepys DecipheredPepys was a meticulous – some might say compulsive – record-keeper. Into his diary’s pages went social debts (who... 191
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 22/12/2025Stained glass, open to the squawks of birds in Sta Theresa, Rio de Janeiro 020
Reposted by Kate BennettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 13/12/2025‘There was little point in listing the merits of Lady Mary if few other ladies could read about them. Two centuries later, knowledge of Latin was not assumed even in the most intelligent female company.’ Nicholas Penny on church monuments. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukNicholas Penny · Diary: Church MonumentsTo record the changing conventions of memorial sculpture is to trace the ways in which our ancestors affirmed their... 210525
Reposted by Kate BennettMargot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/10/2025'A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions, partly in the composer’s own hand – the first Purcell autograph to be found for more than 30 years.' 1/3theguardian.com‘Almost unheard of’: experts find more music by English composer Henry PurcellPrinted score and keyboard manuscript by Purcell, who died in 1695, unearthed in Worcestershire and Norfolk 47024
Reposted by Kate BennettAndy Arthur💃🏰⚓🦌 Threadinburgh 🧵 @threadinburgh.scot · 24/09/2025Look what we have here then. 533490928
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 20/09/2025On a whim I googled my grandmother’s name and found one of her paintings had been sold at auction. I wish I’d known. This is called The Rehearsal. 010
Reposted by Kate BennettDaniel F Gosling @thegozfather.bsky.social · 15/08/2025The National Archives is looking for an Early Modern Parliamentary Records Specialist. Pros: you'll get to work in the same department as me. Cons: you'll have to work in the same department as me. Details via the link. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOD893/r...jobs.ac.ukRecords Specialist - Early Modern Parliament at The National ArchivesStart your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top... 03039
Reposted by Kate BennettMark Williams @mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 07/08/2025Finally saw this in person earlier this week at the NPG in London: a figure of EIC governor Joseph Collet (ca. 1716), made by the Chinese sculptor 'Amoy Chinqua' from unfired clay on bamboo. Collet sent it home to England to his daughters as an 'image of himself'. #skystorians #earlymodern 37912
Reposted by Kate BennettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 12/07/2025‘It was in itself a perverse choice for an artist in the 1960s to take up flower painting, so far out of fashion as to be invisible from the modernist avant-garde.’ Rosemary Hill on the artist Rory McEwen: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukRosemary Hill · At the Driehaus Museum: Tulips, Fritillaries and AuriculasRory McEwen’s work is not only less concerned with conventional ideas of beauty, it lacks any obvious desire to please... 0151
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 18/06/2025Popped into Magdalen library today and there was the Nuremberg Chronicle, surrounded by admirers. It’s pretty special. Here is a locust plague enjoying their moment in the sun… 020
Reposted by Kate BennettPembroke College. Cambridge @pembroke1347.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Congratulations to alumna Blaise Metreweli CMG (Anthropology, 1995), who has been appointed the next Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). She will be the 18th Chief and the first woman to hold the position. www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news... Photo: UK Foreign Office/AP 061
Reposted by Kate BennettKevin Gardner @kg520.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Alexander Pope died #OTD in 1744. Heroes and Kings! your distance keep: In peace let one poor Poet sleep; Who never flatter’d folks like you: Let Horace blush, and Virgil too. 041
Reposted by Kate BennettKevin Gardner @kg520.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Alexander Pope was born #OTD in 1688 (OS). No poet has ever surpassed his ability to craft a line. To Lord Byron, Pope was ‘the most faultless of poets’. Eliot: ‘Unless we are able to enjoy the work of Pope, we cannot arrive at a full understanding of English poetry.’ 2132
Reposted by Kate BennettDr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Mary Anning, Lyme Regis fossil collector, whose finds advanced palaeontology, born #OTD 1799. Natural History Museum London | Cardiff Museum | Lyme Regis Museum 15512
Reposted by Kate BennettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 18/05/2025‘From the fifth-century legend of a mysterious peach blossom valley, the origin of the Western notion of ShangriLa, they began to conceive the idea of a treasure house hidden among mountains.’ Rosemary Hill visits the Miho Museum: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukRosemary Hill · At the Miho Museum: Habits of SeeingA visit to the Miho Museum has none of the razzmatazz of the Met or the Louvre. There are no queues or crowds. From the... 0142
Reposted by Kate BennettPope's Grotto Preservation Trust @popesgrotto.bsky.social · 18/05/2025❓Have you subscribed to our free emailing list yet ❓Subscribers get to hear all our news first and benefit from priority booking for our Open Days and other events! Sign up today via our website: popesgrotto.org.uk/subscribe/ #popesgrotto #support #alexanderpope #twickenham #londonluminaries 021
Reposted by Kate BennettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 17/05/2025‘Here are the genial announcers saying “bitch” over and over: obedience bitch, limit bitch, postgraduate bitch, this magnificent young bitch from Venice, this famous bitch from America.’ Rosa Lyster goes to Crufts: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...lrb.co.ukRosa Lyster · At CruftsHere, in an arena where the Sugababes recently performed, is a crowd bursting into applause as a spaniel steadfastly... 082
Reposted by Kate BennettJoumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 15/05/2025A manuscript thread for birders in particular! Last year I wrote a post showcasing all the beautiful illuminated #birds in @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social MS Bodl.264, but there were many I couldn't identify. Maybe a group effort can help fill the gaps? 🧵 majnouna.substack.com/p/dawn-chorusmajnouna.substack.comDawn ChorusMedieval birds to gladden the heart 1418881
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 13/05/2025bibsoc.org.uk/relaunch-of-...bibsoc.org.ukRelaunch of the English Short-Title Catalogue - Bibliographical SocietyThe Bibliographical Society is pleased to welcome the announcement of the relaunch of the English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC), now accessible on the servers of the Consortium of European Research Lib... 031
Reposted by Kate BennettJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 07/05/2025Eyes down, Conclave watchers! A few facts for your scorecards: - Shortest Conclave: 1503, three hours or so. - Longest Conclave: 1268, three years or so. - Last Conclave to elect someone from outside: 1378, Urban VI. - Last Pope to exhume his predecessor and put them on trial: Stephen VI, 897. 691577418
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 01/05/2025In seventeenth century Oxford, “the Boyes doe blow Cowshorns and hollow Canes all night; and on May-day the young maids of every parish carry about their parish Garlands of Flowers, which afterwards they hang up in their Churches.” Happy May Day! 010
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 28/04/2025youtu.be/dNwJ54EMLVIyoutu.beSir Philip Sidney's Funeral, 1587YouTube video by FolgerLibrary 000
Reposted by Kate BennettThe Society of Antiquaries of London @antiquaries.bsky.social · 28/04/2025Exciting recruitment news, we're now advertising for the role of Head of Collections (Library, Museum and Archives)! Closing date is 18 May. For all the details on the role and how to join our friendly team, please see the link. www.sal.org.uk/about-us/vac...sal.org.ukVacancies & Volunteering - Society of Antiquaries of LondonCurrent roles available: Assistant Librarian (full time) 04143
Reposted by Kate BennettDr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 26/04/2025Portrait of a woman, 1435. Don't know what I love more: the eyes, the subtlety of the purple robe, the incredible headscarf (the layers! the folds!) or the pins. The pins! Robert Campin, you did well. 1594348410
Reposted by Kate BennettLondon Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 24/04/2025On the podcast: in an excerpt from orur Close Readings series ‘Novel Approaches’, Colin Burrow and Rosemary Hill join @moonjets.bsky.social to discuss William Thackeray’s ‘Vanity Fair’: clothes, curry and the Battle of Waterloo. Listen wherever you get podcasts or here: www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...lrb.co.ukPodcast: Rosemary Hill, Colin Burrow and Thomas Jones · Close Readings: ‘Vanity Fair’ by William Makepeace Thackeray 084
Reposted by Kate BennettMalcolm Stoneman @malcolmstoneman.bsky.social · 23/04/2025👀 St Mary the Virgin, #Newport #Essex 13th Century Portable Altar A chest, lid of which could form a reredos. Paintings of St Peter, St Mary, the Crucifixion, St John & St Paul. “Very early examples of oil painting on woodland #Pevsner @yalebooks.bsky.social #WoodcarvingWednesday #Woodensday 27410
Reposted by Kate BennettDr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 22/04/2025Whitehall Palace in its eclectic glory, featuring especially the Banqueting House w/ ceiling decorated by me! As recorded in the 1670s by Hendrick Danckerts, whose day is today. 1535
Reposted by Kate BennettWard Q. Normal (he/him) @wardqnormal.bsky.social · 20/04/2025The reason for the season: 20963313
Reposted by Kate BennettHelen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 18/04/2025Thank goodness this guy is there to make sure we are not a force to be reckoned with. 12415
Kate Bennett @anecdotalksb.bsky.social · 16/04/2025www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/b...royalacademy.org.ukBrasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism | Royal Academy of ArtsA major exhibition featuring over 130 works by ten important Brazilian artists from the twentieth century, capturing the diversity of Brazilian art at the time. 000
Reposted by Kate BennettJohn Raimo @johnraimo.bsky.social · 21/03/2025I, for one, very firmly believe that we need more ridicule in the arts and society. Everywhere in the world, too! Dan Sperrin, State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature (@princetonupress.bsky.social, 2025; #skystorians) press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...press.princeton.eduState of RidiculeA history of political satire in English literature from its Roman foundations to the present day 14814
