Sign in

Dr Liam Sims

@liamsims.bsky.social
4.5K followers 1.5K following 2.6K posts

Rare Books Specialist @theul.bsky.social | Hon. Secretary @bibsoc.bsky.social | Fellow @antiquaries.bsky.social | Venetophile | Bellringer | PhD on antiquarian networks in 18thC Lincolnshire (thesis linked in pinned post) 🌈

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Alistair Coleman @alistaircoleman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
No she’s not.
TLS: Mary Beard on the Bayeux Tapestry.
1555795
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 6h
Part of @bibsoc.bsky.social's Caxton550 celebration! Caxton ephemera, annotated by Richard Farmer (d. 1797), great collector & @theul.bsky.social Librarian.
164
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 19/10/2024
Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't be sassy [Jan Luyken, after Cornelis van Dyk, Skeleton of a Man, 1680 etching, 139 mm × 86mm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)🎃💀]
A swaggering skeleton resting his hand on his hip, what's left of his hair blowing in the breeze. In the background a funeral procession leading to a church.
9516140
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
My lovely colleagues @bibsoc.bsky.social have done great work to mark the 550th anniversary of William #Caxton's work in Westminster. Check out the first batch of videos with curators, librarians and others sharing their favourite Caxtons!
274
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Did I just get back from a viewing at Bonhams auction house in NYC of cat-themed art? Why yes- yes I did. Did I take pictures, including of these Chinese ceramic cats from the Qing Dynasty? Also yes! Will I make a thread of some of them? Indeed I will, which will include...
Two ceramic cats in a vitrine
8716162
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Harry Spillane @harryspillane.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
How fitting that my episode on Tyndale with @onthetudortrail.bsky.social arrives on #internationaltranslationday Tyndale's English New Testament was the first to translate from Greek into English, and his Pentateuch the first from Hebrew into English. Listen to learn more about Tyndale's life...
youtube.com
Episode 362 - William Tyndale & the English Bible with Dr Harry Spillane
YouTube video by Talking Tudors
076
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Massimo (mirror) @rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The dog who supported his best friend in his first steps. Original post
26090861273
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Samuel Pepys @samuelpepys.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It fell to thunder, lighten, and rain so violently that my house was all afloat, and I in all the rain up to the gutters, and there dabbled in the rain and wet half an hour, enough to have killed a man.
0438
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Stonking sunset behind @theul.bsky.social!
0142
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Amusing email from the British Museum: ‘Dear Example Primary Salutation’ 😂
2260
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I reviewed @profdarryljones.bsky.social's new biography of M. R. James. Long-awaited by fans, and surely the most important book about MRJ yet to appear this century: drfrancisyoung.com/2026/09/28/r... 📚👻📜
drfrancisyoung.com
Review: ‘For the Dead Remember: The Life of M. R. James’ by Darryl Jones
Darryl Jones, For the Dead Remember: The Life of M. R. James (Oxford University Press, 2026), 437pp. M. R. James did not make it easy for anyone to write his biography. He introduced this difficult…
47929
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Cute beardy face doodled at the back of ‘The copies of certaine letters which have passed between Spaine and England in matter of religion’, edited by William Bedell (London, 1624). Part of Peterborough Cathedral Library, @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Pet.P.2.38.
0296
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Love an excuse for eighteenth-century glassware.
0250
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Dr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Tulip Mania: Semper Augustus, watercolour drawing of rare flamed carmine & white tulip; most expensive tulip sold during tulip mania 1634-37. Six Collection, Tulip Book, p. 59. With note recording sale price of ƒ3000 (~€38.000 in 2024). Rijksmuseum
07918
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Charlie Rozier @rozierhistorian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Cutting-edge fashion with @laurajcleaver.bsky.social and @lvhicks.bsky.social ! www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026...
theguardian.com
From bling and birds to ‘really fancy armour’ – the best dressed characters of the Bayeux tapestry
Medieval experts talk us through the fashion of the near-1,000-year-old embroidered work, and what it says about the characters wearing it
1208
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
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
11712
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Merchant Adventurers’ Hall @merchantshallyork.org · 24/09/2026
We are a very old building. We have lots of keys. We have lots of keys that don’t open anything. Join us for a one off installment of, “Keys of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall that are pretty but completely useless”. 🔑 🧵
We are looking at two pewter plates with an assortment of large brass and iron keys in various shapes and sizes.
17515128
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ali and I have been working on this essay cluster on antiquarianism and literary history-- with wonderful contributions from @bkadams.bsky.social, David Landreth, @crystal-b-lake.bsky.social, and Jane Raisch-- for a really REALLY long time, and it is finally out! read.dukeupress.edu/modern-langu...
read.dukeupress.edu
Criticism, Antiquarianism, and Literary History
If a literary historian knows one piece of antiquarian writing from early modern England, it is likely Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall, Thomas Browne’s fascinating and fascinated 1658 catalog of ancient fu...
23915
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
my favourite typo is, & will always be, ‘the literary cannon’
4943249
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ten years today (plus eight). How the time flies. Off to Simpson’s in the Strand for dinner. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.
1281
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
On a train. Group of three friends (three women in their fifties) in the back end of the carriage. One is dominating the conversation: “And then he married this other girl - I can’t remember her name but I’ve never liked her anyway”.
1111
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
For those not on Instagram, details of a memorial service in memory of Rosamond McKitterick: 5 p.m. on Friday 23 October 2026, at Great St Mary’s, the University Church.
screen shot from Sidney Sussex College's Instagram account.
03219
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Trinity College Library, Cambridge @trincolllibcam.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Exhibition News! Trinity In the Mountains, A Higher Education, celebrates the rich history of climbing and literature of mountains among Trinity members from the 17th c to the present day. Open to visitors 12pm-2pm Monday to Friday, free entry. www.trin.cam.ac.uk/library/visi... #cambridge #climbing
096
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Prof. Dimitra Fimi @dimitrafimi.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Wonderful #Tolkien news! Westminster Abbey has announced that J.R.R. Tolkien will be honoured with a memorial in Poets' Corner. I've known about this project for some years + was privileged to be consulted during its development. Great to see it made public! www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/a...
010941
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Made a cottage pie on Sunday. Extremely delicious 🤤
1180
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨📚📜🚨 "With a chirograph, Pope Leo has granted the Vatican Apostolic Archive and Vatican Apostolic Library an additional area within the Vatican City State, and asked that a new building be constructed."❗️ www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
vaticannews.va
Pope orders expansion of Vatican Apostolic Archive and Library - Vatican News
Given the increase in the Holy See’s bibliographic holdings and documentary production, the Pope expands the Vatican’s archive and library, and asks ...
26724
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
There's some incredible cat-themed art in this upcoming auction, but this dapper fellow - a cat lantern from China's Qing dynasty - has to be one of my favorites😻 www.bonhams.com/auction/3258...
A blue-and-white ceramic cat, who looks kind of like a Victorian gentleman...?
38327
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
21st September is the feast of St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. Bodleian Library MS. Auct. D. 2. 16; Gospels; 10th century; France, Brittany, Landevennec; f.28v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk
13611
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Spalding Gentlemen’s Society @17sgs10.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Hear more about the building works that took place at our Museum on Broad Street earlier this year, including the unusual features that were uncovered. Keep an eye out for updates on further progress from this summer, which we'll be posting about soon! www.sgsoc.org/looking-back...
sgsoc.org
Looking back at the museum’s refurbishment progress - Spalding Gentlemen's Society
Hear about the work that took place at our museum in spring 2026. Our second update, covering summer 2026, will be coming soon.
065
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This little chap screams #OWL but according to the text is in fact a night heron or ‘nycticorax’ (nuktos “night” and korax, “raven”). From the ‘Dialogus Creaturarum’, a 14thC compilation of fables. This copy was printed at Antwerp by Gerard Leeu in 1491. @cambridgeuniversitylibrary Inc.5.F.6.2[3391]
2225
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Glass plate with a scene of Venice (Murano, 1741) #c18 #c18th #18thc @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social
White glass plate with a view of SS Giovanni e Paolo, gondolas in the foreground
1146
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Dr Mike Nevell @archaeotea.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Bronze Age burial mound in Somerset suffers 'significant damage' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Bronze Age burial mound in Somerset suffers 'significant damage'
The 4,000-year-old cairn on the Quantock Hills has had its stones removed and piled around it.
067
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Finally found the Bayeux Tapestry panorama I bought when I saw it on a school trip aged about 12 (circa 1998)! #bayeuxtapestry
5325
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
John Ingle, Headmaster of the King’s School Ely 1852-61 was in 1858 accused of imparting popish doctrines to his pupils, partly because he’d been spotted taking part in services at All Saints Margaret Street!
2112
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
💅🏻
040
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
KosmicKris @kosmickris.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
RIP to the magnificent Stephanie Cole. A sublime and protean talent. The priceless ability to project an icy cold or a beautiful warmth but with infinite depth and nuance. Go well amazing lady x
Stephanie Cole
1028173
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Off to the cinema with @aglmasters.bsky.social
040
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Sarah Kirchberger @sarahkirchberger.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
26326
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This shallow glass drinking cup is Roman and made in the millefiori style, still used today most notably in Venice and Murano. It is absolutely stunning. With its vibrant colours, it’s like a meadow in spring. 🕰️1st century AD 🏛️Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich 📷Vassil
618947
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 15/09/2026
Do I know any journalists or folks with large platforms who might be up for promoting the launch of some new trans-inclusive fieldwork guidance from researchers at a UK university? It's almost ready for launch and I want to make sure they're seen and used by as many people as possible...
1511892
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The staircase at Somerset House in the wing that housed the Royal Academy, the Antiquaries and the Royal Society, satirised as the ‘Exhibition Stare Case’ by Thomas Rowlandson #c18 #c18th #18thc
View of the staircase from below with a round window at the top and metalwork balustrades painted blue along the not-quite-circular staircase descending through white plasterworkAnother view, from the side in a landingReproduction of Rowlandson ‘Exhibition Stare Case’ (c1811) with Royal Academy visitors toppling down it
1123
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Sarah Dempster @dempster2000.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“Piddington”
1630850
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The gilt arms of Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-91), Lord Chancellor and favourite of Elizabeth I. On a copy of Livy (Frankfurt, 1568) presented to Hatton by Richard Swale, President & Bursar of Gonville & Caius College Cambridge. Now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social I*.7.3-4(A).
2153
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Toby Miller @tobytram.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
From the BBC documentary on the Bayeux tapestry. I love that this is a dance, then it becomes a forensic cop show, then it’s a dance again. The rhythm of it. Lovely as he is we don’t need Michael Palin’s narration. Brilliant camera work and editing here as well. Leaving the wide shot until last.
1359
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Will Tullett @willtullett.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Anybody know of anything good (art history, history, visual anthropology, whatever) on 1980s graffiti scene in Britain - especially outside London? Preferably something that is about the scene itself and not merely the criminalisation of graffiti...
116
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
How your email finds me
a dead whale head with tongue out
341384
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Watching ‘Dr No’ (1962). With @aglmasters.bsky.social.
030
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
confirmed cigarette @philford.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I'm running the Red Run for @positiveeast.bsky.social again this year! Everyone has been so generous in past years and it's always been so heartwarming when I'm running around the park in the cold! Please donate if you can 🥹 www.justgiving.com/page/philip-...
justgiving.com
Pip does the Red Run 26!
Help Philip Ford raise money to support Positive East
37514
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Dr Karen Di Franco @archivist23.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We have a new vacancy for a Lecturer at MA Curating and Collections, see the details in the ad: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSW984/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer MA Curating and Collections at University Of The Arts London
Apply now for the Lecturer MA Curating and Collections role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.
0714
Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Oh great.
090