iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

The device of the Madrid-based printer Juan de la Cuesta, in a copy of Don Quixote (Madrid, 1608). It features a falcon & a sleeping lion, with the motto ‘post tenebras spero lucem’ (I hope for light after the darkness, from Job 17:12). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Hisp.5.60.2.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

The gilt arms of Augustus, Elector of Saxony (1526-86). On the ‘Elogia’ (biographical sketches) of the Italian humanist Paolo Giovio (Basel, 1556). Augustus had extensive museum collections, including the famous mechanical galleon now in the British Museum. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social SSS.33.21.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Cute little portrait inside this initial H. In a copy of Eusebius’s ‘De evangelica praeparatione’ (Treviso, 1480). Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1938 by Sir Stephen Gaselee, successively Pepys Librarian at Magdalene College & Librarian of the Foreign Office. CUL Inc.2.B.9.2[4196].

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The seventeenth-century tower of Great St Mary’s church in Cambridge, in the early evening sun today. The bells were ringing too.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Just Googled the sixteenth-century #Venice imprint 'Hieronymum Scotum' and AI has provided much mirth (assumed I was searching for 'Hieronymum Scrotum')...

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Pretty convinced, once again, that football has absolutely zero redeeming features.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Absolutely LOVE the floral initials in this copy of the works of Apuleius, one of the first books printed at Rome (by Sweynheym & Pannartz) in 1469. The initials apparently added in France, perhaps in the 1480s or 90s. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Inc.2.B.2.1[1124].

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Quite like ‘Sir Dugly* Digges’ as a typo! In the auction catalogue of duplicates from John Moore’s library, sold in Cambridge in 1742 @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Cam.d.742.1(2). *Dudley

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Lovely annual visit to Hereford Cathedral & its stunning library. Great exhibition inspired by the 550th Caxton anniversary, including an incunable (printed in 1473) given to the cathedral in 1478.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The @theul.bsky.social copy came to us under legal deposit in April 1988 - part of the vast collections of UK-published books & ephemera we preserve for posterity. It even comes with its counters & a dice. (2/2) idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/44...

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Stopped in my tracks yesterday by ‘Snakes and ladders: a game for learning about AIDS/HIV’ (London, 1988), which a colleague got out for a display. Self-explanatory but brings home the randomness & chance of it all at the time. At least 10,000 men died from HIV/AIDS in the USA in 1987. (1/2)

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Not sure how these are related…

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Gorgeous (first) visit to the Fellows’ Library at Clare College today, in the room fitted up for it in the 1720s. Pretty lovely.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Amusing email from the British Museum: ‘Dear Example Primary Salutation’ 😂

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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.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Love an excuse for eighteenth-century glassware.

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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.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Made a cottage pie on Sunday. Extremely delicious 🤤

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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]

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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

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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!

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

There is an ex dono inscription which it has been assumed (given the arms) was to Hatton. It’s dated October 1591 which is the month before Hatton died. I see Swale was a ‘close friend’ of the unmarried Hatton - does that mean what I’d like or to mean @mcculloughp.bsky.social?

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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).

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Isaac Barrow (1630-77): mathematician & Master of Trinity College Cambridge. The first holder of the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics & during his Mastership the foundation stones were laid of the new college library, designed by his friend Christopher Wren. Statue by Matthew Noble, 1853.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The Registrar at Jean & Lionel’s wedding (As Time Goes By: 1995) is Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Barbara Leigh-Hunt)!

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Lovely fresh green orzotto (by @aglmasters.bsky.social): asparagus, spinach, peas, parsley & chicken 🤤

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

On the drive back from Champagne today we stopped in Amiens. Utterly astonished by the scale of the cathedral (said to be the largest surviving medieval cathedral). Gorgeous details too: the 16thC polychrome carvings & wonderful paintwork. Alive in the sun with a wedding taking place.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Today’s 480km road trip home 💀

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

And our final champagne tour: J. Desruets, founded in 1888. A nice intimate tasting, and came away with another bottle. Gorgeous scenery around Hautvillers too and a very camp statue of Dom Perignon. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A visit this afternoon to Hautvillers Abbey (we’ve been staying next door). Founded in 650 it was home to Dom Perignon in the 17thC (he’s buried here too). The gorgeous choir stalls were installed during his time, in 1672. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Fourth champagne tour this morning: Roger Constant Lemaire, a little way out of Hautvillers. Very small house and a great tour. Came away with a few bottles too! With @aglmasters.bsky.social.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Champagne Museum in Epernay, in the most gorgeous building! With @aglmasters.bsky.social.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Our third champagne house of the trip: Mercier. Definitely enjoyed the blanc de noirs most of all. And the cellar tour by mini train was ACE. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Thursday in Epernay. First the church of Notre Dame (late nineteenth century). With @aglmasters.bsky.social.

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Champagne tour 2 (Taittinger), on the site of the medieval Abbey of Saint Nicaise (suppressed at the Revolution) and incorporating some of its below-ground structures. With @aglmasters.bsky.social.