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Dr Liam Sims

@liamsims.bsky.social
4.5K followers 1.5K following 2.7K 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) 🌈

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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 10h
Not stupid at all! Often the space is left entirely blank; some were filled in, simply or more fully, & some were never decorated at all, but it depended on the £££ of the purchaser. Occasionally there's a little printed letter the same size as the text to remind them what the initial should be.
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 10h
Empty space I should think :)
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Fiona Chartres @chartresfi.bsky.social · 10h
Such a beautiful mix of textures. A little bit of everything to be seen looking at the rear wall of Trinity College, Trinity Lane, Cambridge. #WallsonWednesday
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Deborah @deborahzafer.bsky.social · 13h
Amazing news London people Persephone is coming back! 🥳
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 13h
Ooooft 🤩
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes they’re quite 3D aren’t they - almost carved!
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sibyllacumae.bsky.social @sibyllacumae.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
For every like, I will share a word, phrase or concept I think should be banned from rare book descriptions lmao
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
To my mind ‘unsophisticated’ generally means ‘bashed to hell but unrestored’
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Cool right! Part of the library of John Moore, Bishop of Ely (d. 1714).
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Andy Marshall @fotofacade.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
✨ It wasn’t until I first saw the Saxon crypt at St Wystan’s, Repton, that I understood John Betjeman’s words: ‘Holy air encased in stone.’ I’ve never felt the past so close, or found such comfort in feeling rooted in a longer story. A real hidden gem, a must see.
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
One for @jillwhitelock.bsky.social
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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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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Four exciting opportunities to co-supervise a PhD studentship with the Library We’re seeking proposals from academics who can bring their own expertise to four fascinating research projects exploring our collection and programme. Sound like you? Find out more and apply here link.bl.uk/9vj
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Poor Frank Raw @poorfrankraw.co.uk · 06/10/2026
Supplico stet cedula blackletter is on the easel. Quick bit of carving going on here. The letters are cut deep on the sides and left rough in the bottom, then filled with black paste. The rough stone in the cuts gives a good key for the paste to stick to.
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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is either the opening of an M R James story, or something more... X-rated?
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Harry Spillane @harryspillane.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
490 yrs ago today, William Tyndale was strangled and burned, having produced the English New Testament we celebrate 500 yrs of across 2026 His is a story that shows the violence and messiness of the early English Reformation and it opens my own study of how the English Bible became a bestseller
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Finch Collins @finchinthestacks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The CFP for *Queer Bibliography: Taking Stock* is now open! Full cfp below and at bit.ly/QB2027CfP (Please feel free to circulate these graphics off Bluesky! They're sized for an IG story.)
call for proposals

Queer Bibliography
TAKING STOCK
Manchester, UK and online
2-4 September 2027

details overleaf ❧ ❧ ❧call for proposals

Taking Stock marks the fifth annual Queer Bibliography conference and is a chance to pause and reflect and to queerly attend to the many meanings of “stock” in bibliography.

Where do we find ourselves and our work? 
How might we trace queer histories of queer bibliography? How can we imagine critical futures for bibliographical enquiry within and beyond its traditional academic locations? 
From the raw materials of books to the origins and shapes of personal, commercial, and institutional collections, how does "stock" participate in the production, articulation, and study of queer textuality and textual communities? 
What is queer about materiality, the ecology of books, and the processes of making and engaging with (collections of) physical textual objects?

We invite participants to engage in stock-taking or to reflect on bibliographical stock, broadly defined. We welcome meta, theoretical, and historiographical work that takes stock of queer bibliography, and we welcome proposals that relate to “stock” in bibliography, book history, and reception studies.

❧ abstracts due 29 January ☙

full cfp: https://bit.ly/QB2027CfP
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Matt Shaw @matthewshaw.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
today in codicology www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time?
Researchers argue incorrect binding of Voynich manuscript radically changes ideas about its drawings and indecipherable text
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thank you @bibliojenni.bsky.social!
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
😂
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
OH MY GOSH
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“Did Jesus come at you from the side Lola…?” One for @aglmasters.bsky.social
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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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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 · 04/10/2026
Oh lovely! I’m not a million miles away, in Hereford.
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Jens Notroff @jensnotroff.com · 02/10/2026
A shame that apparently even a valid museum ticket doesn't guarantee you can see the #BayeuxTapestry, but here's a breathtaking high-resolution resource that lets you get thread-counting close to it from the comfort of your own couch: www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeu...
bayeuxmuseum.com
Explore the Bayeux Tapestry online - Bayeux Museum
For the first time, you will be able to freely explore the entire Bayeux Tapestry scene by scene with a never seen quality of images !
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Antony Carpen @acarpen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Plurabelle books being moved out of their warehouse - all this lot going for free today (Sunday on Coldham’s Road) before being skipped tomorrow. 😱😭 Don’t know the background other than very short notice to move out
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Fiona Chartres @chartresfi.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Medieval fragments gathered together in the window at St Michael's, Cambridge including a rather nice Trinity shield. It was the chapel of Michaelhouse College until dissolved by Henry VIII, its lands went to fund Trinity College. Now in part a cafe with excellent breakfasts! #StainedGlassSunday
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And now my life is taken over by one particular committee 💀
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And I’m yet to see any material benefit, other than being announced as Dr Sims in the dentist’s waiting room.
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Ha. Like, I avoided applying for jobs I’d have killed for because I just couldn’t cope with the thought of moving and PhDing, or taking on committee stuff.
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
@aglmasters.bsky.social 👀
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I had a great experience with mine (brill supervisors & enjoyed the subject). But over 6 years PT there were career dev opportunities I avoided cos I was too busy. Mine was also my 3rd try: 1st was my own project (got a place; no funding); 2nd was a CDA that went to someone else.
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Yay!
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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Cherries and cheese by a beautiful blue pitcher in 1760 by Luis Egidio Melendez. It's his day.
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
OMG excite! 👏
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🥵
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Hurrah!
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Maybe some Christmas presents for yourself, @harryspillane.bsky.social...
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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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lamusee.bsky.social @lamusee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Cette semaine on s'occupe de sceaux en tout genre, cachets posés sur des lettres ou des papiers On commence avec ce gros point rouge posé dans une annonciation peinte dans le Tyrol A voir par ici 👉 lamusee.fr/painting/3162
détail d'une peinture: des mains tenant un papier avec du texte et un cachet qui pend
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Mary Flannery @15thcgossipgirl.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This week’s Page by Page is in honour of one of the most wonderful colleagues I ever had the pleasure of working with: Julia Boffey (1953-2026). maryflannery.substack.com/p/for-julia-...
maryflannery.substack.com
For Julia, with gratitude
Remembering the kindness of a dear colleague
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Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yeah it’s f*ckin’ hot 👀
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marybeard @wmarybeard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Why is noone talking about the LATIN of the Bayeux Tapestry. We explain why it is so interesting here on Instant Classics: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
The Bayeux Tapestry: Britain’s Lost Latin masterpiece
Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 1 October · 56min
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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 · 01/10/2026
SEXY
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