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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 21h

Who is going to 16th century studies society in Chicago?

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I think we should just set computers on fire and start over. I will communicate by letterpress publication only.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Does it come with food stamps? Presume it does, since cost of living + MLIS loans make this insane

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I do not believe we have much hope for reconstructing the 17th century Chinese books in Philippines collections, given climate and changing views of the mission over the 17th century, but who knows? Anyways, big thanks to @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social for letting me sit on her couch and read.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I've written and presented a bit on (2) - something I call the global Sammelband - and now I think it will be interesting to zoom between the micro and the macro. Of course, there are huge missing pieces - i.e. the complete absence of remaining Chinese collections in the Philippines.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I see that there's 1) still a problem of synthesis - so a sort of panoptical view of the colonies and their collections is needed and 2) greater sensitivity to the flow between books as single objects and the 'cedula' and 'sammelband' nature of library/archival collections we see in practice.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I've worked through probably 20 articles and 2 books this week, in French, Spanish, and English, and so now have a better handle on what's going on. Thanks especially to @lankian.bsky.social @pedrorueda.bsky.social and @rmourr.bsky.social for putting me on the right bibliographical tracks.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For those following along, the scholar who seems to have put the most together - from Lyon to Medina del Campo to New Spain is Natalia Maillard-Álvarez (a number of good articles and chapters). The Philippines is does not appear in her work (that I can see).

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Would love to read anything that is forthcoming on this!

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What I am planning on doing is a big data set using catalogs for imprints up to 1700 from different Iberian imperial regions. I think that will get us a general sense of distribution and put some meet on the '2 cajas' of books being sent abroad.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I have spent the week with your work, and am so grateful for it! Reading much of the Spanish language materials for export to the new world has been interesting, since no one has given me much in the way of firm evidence of contracts directly linking Lyon to Sevilla to New Spain etc.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are enough new Aldines since that was produced that I may try to update in a few years. Trying to fill out our Lyon. But all this reading makes me also want to make a good Giunti trans European family-firm collection.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Oh my god. The bad old days here always sound utterly insane. I am not at all surprised. I'll ask for stories when RSA is in Rome (I am skipping this year)

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The occasional old book researcher here is notable. I begin every day by looking to see if there are any requests that seem to imply I need to invite a reader for coffee (3+ incunabula or 16th century books earns such luxury for people who would rather keep doing their research)

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If only I could get people here to use it! It is such an amazing resource that it is truly humbling.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I am absolutely 100% guilty of myopia since UCLA really only has ever cared about 16th century Italy. Now I am convinced my predecessors should have followed the Giunti across Europe for our collection development.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thanks for all these references. I'm two days into reading everything I can on Medina del Campo, and there's so much amazing stuff. I really had failed to appreciate the transcontinential nature of the early Spanish book trade, which is blowing my mind.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Thank you for this! The chapter, which I just read, was excellent and will get me started. Really interesting stuff.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Yes! I think the more interesting thing at this point is how scholarship hasn't really dug into this. Compared to the Lyon-Italy connections, I'm having a hard time finding much beyond a casual/anecdotal observation. Would be thankful for any information you care to share.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I am drinking starbucks and had vegan breakfast. I am so ready for Northampton

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Already on my way by making maps like this.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My only gripe with my job is that there is no leave, so I just have to make peace with projects taking 300x longer, or simply not happening.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

At the airport to go to MA to sit in @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social house for a week to try, for the love of god, to get any writing done. Taking time off to have time to get work done is peak silly.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I absolutely will at some point. Just as raw dating pointing to research questions there's tons of value.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Does a bluesky note count as a publication? If you are a librarian, it's all you get time for. 😑

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

So I noticed this Lyon thing while looking at Manila. But I am going totally insane because it is true of the entire Iberian colonial world. Lyon everywhere, and not a drop of scholarly ink in any language seems to have noticed this. Anyways, hereby I publish this finding, which is pretty wild.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I am obviously in the middle of this etc., but wild stuff as I keep going.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

My brain is already melting with doing work on holdings in Manila. Here is a chart with places of publication for 16th century books. I have some major news for you about the reading habits of Iberian colonial worlds.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

If you are a rare book dealer waiting on payment, this video is the Universe getting me back for you

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

You all may enjoy me earning some brian damage. I believe Andy Kong punched an entire language out of my head during my boxing debut. (I thought it would be funny to be a boxing rare book librarian, and I did about as well as the title implies)

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

If you don't know him, he is fabulously friendly and kind. Say hello! (Although when he is focused, he will not be deterred)

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Reorganizing universities according to neoliberal notions of profit will impoverish untold numbers of people. The freedom to think, read, and learn is globally under seige - from AI to our own university admins. "Practicality" is a cowardly discourse.

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Reposted by Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I’m sorry, but . . . just what the fuck are we doing?

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Amazing how willfully people ignore this

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I do have some very good faculty whom I work with, and teaching demand is very high. But you only need a handful of faculty for that, and there are entire departments who never come in to use materials unless I drag them kicking and screaming.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Sorry for triggering everyone. In truth, I feel that much of California is rather provincial in terms of its approach to rare books. Anecdotally, in the Mellon Society of Fellows of Crit Bib, there are only like... 7 of us on the entire West Coast, compared to 120 or so out East.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I think, in general, Western humanities has divested from philology and material textual training. There are probably only a handful of people on campus who I trust to talk about books as objects relating to their area of study. And a handful is probably optimistic.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I understand that I am paid to be intellectually ecumenical, but the amount of material primary source illiteracy in the humanities is stunning.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Nothing has lowered my estimation of the humanities more than my job 😆

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It is such an egregiously stupid statement, that it immediately makes me feel bad for our students.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I do think being a librarian has made me more realistic about the intelligence of many faculty, as I hear people say things like, "I am not sure that 15th and 16th Italian printing has any direct relationship to the history of Latin literature."

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I am friends with absolutely depraved freaks, but all of them have the weakness of believing in consent. We are too weak for any government jobs.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This timeline really keeps you guessing.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

America today is one where 49% of people genuinely think Mamdani should not be at the memorial service. And there is no reasoning with it. Just hope that someday, maybe, people will manage to get a grip again.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In my white working class family, 50% of the men (cousins included) in my generation ended up in the middle east. Their ptsd haunts them. They are now mostly conservative MAGA folks. The boomers all became evangelicals, with proudly racist views.

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Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot @devinfitz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I think, 25 years later, my view is that 9/11 ultimately did knock down American empire. It gave popular permission for American's to reengage brutal racist practices, lean into Christo-Fascism, and over the long term, seems to have made the world a very different place.

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