iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Thomas Bodley to librarian Thomas James in 1601: "It hath ever bin a note of your special good frindes, that yow are very muche inclined to embrace and undertake many thinges, to poursue them egerly a while, and then upon the soddaine, to give them over cleane".

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Sarah C E Ross @sarahceross.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

SRSly excited! And 👀 looking for a third panellist on Renaissance texts - English or otherwise - in 18th and 19th century dispersals. We are esp interested in global educational contexts (broadly conceived) and new archives of book/textual history. If this is you be in touch!

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Job status update: Today I've started as a postdoc on Warren Boutcher's TextDiveGlobal project at Queen Mary, till August 2027. Very pleased to be joining such a cool project, and also grateful for another year in academia. And I'll be cheering on the wonderful DORMEME (where I have been) from afar

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Smugly surveying my cleared-out local documents and downloads folders ahead of returning laptop, only to catch sight of the horror that is my desktop.

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Laura Cleaver @laurajcleaver.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Marking the 350th anniversary of the oldest English book auction catalogue, this year’s book trade history conference returns to the theme of auctions. 🧑‍⚖️ 📚 London 22-23 November, book now at www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

sas.ac.uk

47th Annual Conference on Book Trade History | Battling Over Books: Auction Catalogues and Their Contexts, 1676-2026

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The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

📢AUTUMN NEWSLETTER OUT TODAY📢 This edition includes an important update on some changes to the team that impact the project's future. Those on our mailing list should have a copy in their inbox, for others see below, or DM your address to receive a pdf. #EarlyModern 🗃️ #DigitalHumanities #HTR

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you feel like donating to the RNLI, here’s a link. I just have. Their minimum donation is £2: I think it might be nice for them to receive a lot of donations this week, even if they’re mostly very modest. Just so they know a lot of people out here appreciate their work. rnli.org/support-us/g...

rnli.org

Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea

Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

When asked in the Q&A about arts and humanities he says he personally values them (seems very genuine) but that he is the Science Minister, and it’s for the DCMS Minister to make the case for those. He’s perhaps not yet clocked he is responsible for all R&D. Would Wissenschaft Minister work better?

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Goodbye to the most fancily located office I’ve had. I will miss (among other, more important things) feeling like an important grown-up walking across Waterloo Bridge. (Reposted as I forgot alt text)

Photograph over Thames towards city of London from Waterloo Bridge.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Pondering the important question today of why there are not more blackberrying-themed idioms. "The juiciest blackberries are the ones just out of reach", "You can't make blackberry jam without being scratched by a few thorns" etc. etc.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

At the "this conference paper should have been a book project" stage of writing.

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Dr Helen Newsome-Chandler @hnewsome-chandler.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Thinking about putting together a panel on 'Early Modern Documents, Digitisation, and Editing' for @srsrensoc.bsky.social's conference at @warburginstitute.bsky.social (30 June–3 July 2027). I wondered if this might potentially be of interest to anyone?

static.klipy.com

Gandalf Reading Ancient Paper

Alt: A gif of Gandalf consulting manuscripts in the archives of Minas Tirith

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

If you haven't seen it, this is a nifty website for checking if your money is being used to fund fossil fuels: bank.green For the UK, some high street banks with good savings rates score really well (and some awfully), so it might not be as difficult to switch to a green bank as one might expect.

bank.green

Find Ethical & Sustainable Banks In Your Area

Bank.Green is sounding the alarm on the climate-destroying activities of banks while recommending sustainable alternatives and empowering consumer action.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Working on 16th c printed polyphony has given me such renewed appreciation of the relationship between textual technologies and knowledge--specifically my knowledge as I try to navigate partbooks of individual voices (unlike a modern score where they're all nicely vertically aligned).

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Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If anyone needs an early modernist for lecturing, consultation, copy editing, or freelance work. I have a lot of experience and would appreciate any work sent my way for the next academic year! #EarlyModern Things are looking a little grim!

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Other people are diligently informing friends, family, colleagues of each time it rains right? Anyway I think you should know that we had a lovely downpour just now.

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Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Historian looking for freelance work. I’m a very experienced RA, I’m looking for anything really that might help me pay my bills, because in general my profession does not, and no one will let me try doing anything else…

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James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I've just heard that the BA/BSc Geography programme is to close at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) in Cornwall. This programme was made up of excellent modules with original and content, taught brilliantly—often with real innovation—by extremely 1/9

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

If I ever leave the academic job market you will know when your feed is full of all the funny* mildly self-deprecating posts I suppress in case a Prospective Employer is reading. * to me

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Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

How do you decide which digital tools will help structure your historical research data? How can you organise your notes, tables and/or spreadsheets to help with your analysis? Join @justincolson.bsky.social at his IHR short course Sources to Data to find out more! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

history.ac.uk

Sources to Data: Excel and Alternatives for Historians

IHR Short Course (PAID)

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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 27/07/2026

🔥🔥🔥Newspaper frontpages🔥🔥🔥

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David Parry @drdavidparry.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Hello everyone! Making the move to Bluesky - I'm an early modernist with many interests, clustering around the intersection of literature, intellectual history, rhetoric and religion from 1500 to 1800. I have a few things to update everyone on.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Last week, about a third of the History department were able to gather together on graduation day. Rather than lend our intellectual authority to the official procession and ceremony we invited our students to come and celebrate their achievements with us in a shady courtyard. They came. 1/

A group of world leading historians in their finery, some in gowns, stand together under a tree. Some carry signs saying 'Historian at risk', other raise a glass to the camera.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Very on-brand moment in which I took my newly sewn up skirt (ft. nasturtium print) for its first outing (to the allotment) and promptly got it covered in courgette juice. (The entirely foreseeable sequence of events in which Nice New Clothes promptly got dirty is the most Anna-esque thing here)

Photograph of quite parched allotments in full sun in which the most prominent plants are verbena in the very foreground and climbing beans with orange flowers to the right.

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Oliver House @oliverhouse.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

‘The toolkit offers a structured, high-level guide to help cultural heritage professionals and researchers approach legacy media across its entire lifecycle…It also gives researchers a reference point for engaging critically with legacy media as historical subjects in their own right.’

sas.ac.uk

New toolkit offers practical guide to preserving legacy media

A newly launched toolkit offers practical guidance to cultural heritage professionals and researchers on preserving fragile and outdated media formats.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

For anyone not familiar: the British Academy is the UK's national academy for the humanities & social sciences. Each year the BA elects to its fellowship outstanding UK-based scholars who have achieved distinction in their work. It is the highest accolade a UK HASS scholar can receive.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Professor Whittle is one of four colleagues in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty at the University of Exeter elected to Fellowship of the British Academy this year. 🗃️ ALL FOUR of these outstanding scholars were placed at risk of redundancy last month. Here's their statement:

A written statement from from University of Exeter scholars just elected to the British Academy Fellowship 2026. There are photos of each scholar at the side of the text.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

🥳 Enormous congratulations to my outstanding colleague & friend Prof. Jane Whittle, on her election to the Fellowship of the British Academy. Jane is a world renowned scholar of the history of work & gender in preindustrial Europe. She currently leads The Material Culture of Wills project. 🗃️

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Feels a bit weird to post book history when the world (literally) and academia (metaphorically) are on fire, but here are some some nice shiny coated fore-edge tabs from a set of sixteenth-century music part books. British Library K.3.c.2., Heinrich Isaac, Coralis Constantini (Nuremberg, 1550+).

Photograph of printed 16th-century music book showing fore edge with shiny red leather tabs protruding.

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 01/07/2026

NEW BLOG FOR YOU Google's energy consumption numbers in their new climate report are mind-blowing. 2 years ago they flipped from linear to exponential growth, and their climate impact is blowing out, too. A WILD testament to the obscene bloat and waste of GenAI: ketanjoshi.co/2026/07/01/g...

a chart showing google's rising energy consumption - huge, and rising faster than ever before

Google's total energy consumption more than new zealand

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Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Hopefully exciting news for anyone interested in medieval religious communities in general and in Devon in particular. Paging @lsangha.bsky.social, @westgarthdes.bsky.social, @graffitiginger.bsky.social, @balhnews.bsky.social. #Skystorians

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Struggling to parse this. Exeter is celebrating its overall global ranking to 136th, comprised (it reports) of 151st (Natural Sciences), 131st (Life Sciences & Medicine) and 76th (Arts & Humanities) while announcing plans to make 25% of Arts & Humanities staff redundant. Does this compute?

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Elsa Devienne @elsadevienne.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

📣 People are understandably up in the arms about this (it is horrible). But just want to wave a hand out there 👋 as we're going through the same thing in Humanities at Northumbria (1 out of 5 staff need to go by end of July). 1/?

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Iain Soutar @isoutar.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Many are following this. Those at risk here on Exeter's Cornwall campus include myself and colleagues in Geography, Environmental Science, Marine Science, Renewable Energy, and Environmental Maths, Humanities, and 1/2 the Environment and Sustainability Institute. I really hope this can be resolved.

bbc.co.uk

University of Exeter in talks to cut about 150 members of staff

The university says it is consulting with colleagues over "limited and specific potential changes".

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Exeter Green Party @exetergreens.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Exeter Green Party stands in solidarity with the Exeter University and College Union in condemning the University of Exeter’s announcement of sweeping job cuts. These plans will recklessly imperil the University’s vital contributions to the social, cultural, and economic life of the city. 1/4

Graphic which reads: Statement of solidarity with Exeter University and College Union.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

One hour in to trying to change my train tickets on Trainline (to the exact same journey, just on different dates) without having made ANY progress, and deeply regretting using them for 'convenience'

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Heather Froehlich @heatherfro.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Great new article by Lizzy Williamson on how the digital provenance of our databases and resources can unlock & contextualize data ethics to inform our use of them academic.oup.com/dsh/advance-...

academic.oup.com

Validate User

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Tim Wade @tpwade.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

My book now has a cover and it is all starting to feel very real. I just need to finish the proofs... 🗃️ #BookHistory #EarlyModern brill.com/display/titl...

brill.com

Readers of Erasmus

"Readers of Erasmus" published on 18 Nov 2026 by Brill.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Trying to design a conference slide showing the movement of bibliographic information in and around the early Bodleian, and feel like I should just insert that meme instead for the same effect.

static.klipy.com

Charlie Day's Pepe Silvia Conspiracy

Alt: Charlie Day's Pepe Silvia Conspiracy

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CEMS KCL @cemskcl.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A week of CEMS events... including PGR lightning talks, our first article workshop, a book launch, and our annual CEMS Colloquium. Full details in the thread below! Join us if you can! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events

kingsearlymodern.co.uk

Events — CEMS KCL Blog

'What's On' at CEMS. We run workshops, seminars, conferences, social and networking events, symposia, and more.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Excited to learn that not one but FOUR of the books gifted to the Totnes town library in the 1620s and 30s, which I thought missing, have recently been unearthed. One was a gift of townswoman Elizabeth Wise, described here (please excuse blurry photo from the olden, pre-decent-phone-camera days)

Photograph of 1630s donor register describing the £10 bequest of Elizabeth Wise and listing the books purchased.
Ref: Devon Archives, 1579A/13/1.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Fascinated by the placement of signature marks in this 1512 music publication. Surely so unhelpful for the binder, but I love how it pulls them into the text. 'Aus sonderer kunstlicher Art' (Augsburg: Öglin, 1512), Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, altus part, viewer.onb.ac.at/10044E73

Photograph of page of early printed music in mensural notation. The signature mark, "dd2", has been printed part way up the page, below the second to last stave, so that it is next to notation. The final stave is only partially filled with music.

Photograph of page of early printed music in mensural notation. The signature mark, "dd3", has been printed part way up the page, below the first stave, so that it is next to notation. The second stave is only partially filled with music and the third and fourth stave have no notation.

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Sian Berry MP @sianberry.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I have written to the Prime Minister and Bridget Phillipson, calling for the cruel and confusing EHRC Code of Practice to be rejected. Legislative action must be taken to create an equalities framework that protects trans people’s safety, dignity and humanity.

Image is a letter. It reads: Dear Keir and Bridget,
Reject the EHRC’s Code of Practice
I am writing as Interim Women and Equalities lead of the Parliamentary Green Party to raise
serious concerns over proposed guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission,
which is not fit for purpose and will harm trans people living in the UK.
The Code of Practice for services, public functions, and associations is the culmination of
years of well-funded campaigns to drive a minority group out of British public life. It sets out
a system of segregation where trans people are excluded from services and spaces that reflect
their gender, and in some cases also excluded from services and spaces that reflect their sex
assigned at birth. Where unisex facilities exist, trans people will be forced into them. Where
they do not exist, trans people will be left with nowhere to go.
Your own Equalities Impact Assessment1 on the code admits there will be a significant
impact on those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment - from forcing trans
people to out themselves by using disabled toilets to putting trans women at greater risk of
sexual violence by making them use men’s services.
The Code of Practice is both cruel and confusing. Inconsistencies between the Code of
Practice and its Equalities Impact Assessment, the Gender Recognition Act and the European
Convention on Human Rights will leave organisations and service providers at risk of
litigation from all sides. Frontline staff in spaces like cafes, gyms, and offices will be forced
to police gender, whilst the costs of creating self-contained gender neutral facilities are
estimated by your advisors as reaching £600m, which the government is providing no
funding to cover.2 I am pleased to see associations, like the Women’s Institute and
Girlguiding, given a potential route to serving trans and cisgender women, but this does not
counteract the pain caused by the majority of the guidance.

Letter continued: By enacting this guidance, trans people will simply be scapegoated. Research by Translucent
found there was just one complaint to English Unitary Authorities in 2025 concerning trans
women’s use of single-sex spaces, such as toilets and changing rooms.3 By refusing to act,
your government is once again playing politics with trans people’s lives, rather than tackling
real problems, like the soaring cost of living, rising inequality and the ongoing climate
crisis.

Trans people of all ages and backgrounds exist in communities across the country - and
always have. They have every right to thrive just as their cisgender friends, family members,
and colleagues do. When Labour brought in the Gender Recognition Act in 2004 it promised
trans people they could live their lives with peace, privacy, and dignity. Now you are
breaking that promise.
I believe there is a real risk of trans people being essentially segregated from public spaces. I
urge you to withdraw the code and take legislative action to create an equalities framework
that protects trans people’s safety, dignity and humanity.

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RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Back in December 2025 we shared a tour of exhibition 'A body of knowledge' & host two talks on recent research into how we investigate the history of libraries with doctoral researcher Samantha Brown & Dr Alice Wickenden. Watch back history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/investi... @rcphysicians.bsky.social

Talk cover slide titled: Moving Libraries - from the personal to the institutional

Talk cover slide: Islamic Knowledge in an Elizabethan Physician's Library - Lancelot Browne & his Arabic books

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Some consolation for having to regularly take the slow train to/from London: seeing hares is now a thing that happens in my life

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Dr. Adelle Bricking 🌼 @archaedelle.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

An unusual request in the name of archaeological science: Would anyone happen to have a Shetland or Exmoor pony that wouldn’t mind sending some fur samples to me? We’re trying to compare a potentially preserved fur specimen but there’s (perhaps unsurprisingly) few sources on fur fibre diameters!

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Society for Renaissance Studies @srsrensoc.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Annual @cemskcl.bsky.social Colloquium: "Periodizing the Early/Modern", 11 June 2026, King's College London rensoc.org.uk/announcement... #EarlyModern #EarlyModernEvents #IsItEarlyModernThough

Annual KCL CEMS Colloquium: Periodizing the Early/Modern

Date: 11 June 2026

Location: King's College London

Visit website →

This year’s colloquium is on ‘Periodizing the Early/Modern and organised by Dr. Hannah Crawforth, Dr. Sarah Lewis, Prof. Lucy Munro, and Dr. Hannah Murphy. The colloquium will take place on Thursday 11th June at King’s College London and will consist of a series of panels and a roundtable.

A provisional schedule is available here: https://kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/cfp-periodizing-the-earlymodern-annual-cems-colloquium

Colloquium Theme

When does early modernity begin and end? How do we understand the relation between the early modern and the historical periods that precede and follow it? Is it important to how we construe of early modernity that it be thought of as a boundaried entity, complete in itself? Or might the early modern be less a historical period and more a mode of thought? Much has been written about periodization in relation to the early modern. The Medieval/Renaissance divide (or lack of divide) has been theorized by a range of scholars, most notably perhaps Margreta De Grazia. But this symposium will consider the question of periodizing the early modern in a more forward-looking way, situating this temporal and theoretical construct in relation to our own contemporary moment.

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Anna-Lujz Gilbert @annalujz.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A promotional post for cebeme.manchester.ac.uk/en, a platform for searching and visualising data across PLRE, Renaissance Cultural Crossroads, Plantin sales and provincial booksellers' inventories, c. 1500–1640. So, ownership, sales, and translations of books in #earlyModern England. #bookHistory

A screenshot of the Items perspective of https://cebeme.manchester.ac.uk, filtered by French language of publication and book owner social status of "middle class"

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