iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Thank you for organising it, I learned a lot from the day!

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Dr Louise Ryland-Epton @lrylandepton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

John Aubrey’s Natural History is out tomorrow!! Begun 370 years ago and never published before in full, it is remarkable (though I would say that as its editor). Just hoping that someone will a) turn up to the launch b) buy it. In the meantime a blog. 😁 www.louiserylandepton.co.uk/blog/john-au...

louiserylandepton.co.uk

John Aubrey’s Natural History, Part 14: The Royal Society Copy — Louise Ryland-Epton

The Royal Society's copy of Aubrey's Natural History is the most complete version of the text in existence and for one more week it is out of the library and on show in Chippenham, open at his chapt...

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Jack Gann @jackgann.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Coincidentally, there were a few weeks this summer in which both us and the Ashmolean's just-closed 'In Bloom' exhibition were displaying Elizabeth Blackwell's 1730s 'A Curious Herbal' open to the same of the book's 500 beautiful full colour plates. But what is this odd fluffy golden thing anyway?

A photo of an old book on display in a museum exhibition. It is open to a page with a colour illustration of something that might be a plant or an animal. It is a fluffy gold-coloured shape with four stalk-like legs and what might be a mousy looking head at one end.

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Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Reminder. There's an early modern pub night for PhDs & ECRs (& others interested at any stage of their careers) held in London every month. To be added to the mailing list, send me a DM. It's an informal welcoming event. We meet at different historic pubs across central London. #earlymodern

Woodcut image from the 17th-century ballad, Londons ordinary: or, Every man in his humour.
On the right, in the image, a man with a prominent moustache stands. He has something on his back and is holding what looks like a ring in his right hand and a hammer in his left. He has a dark cap on and is wearing seventeenth-century clothing with his calves on show. To the left of the image is a table with a candle, a tankard, a cup and a bottle upon it and something, maybe cards, lying flat.

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Lucy Razzall @lucyrazzall.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/professional... CFP! Spaces and Places of Care at The National Archives, UK Symposium: 7 Dec Proposals: 18 Sept We would love to hear from you if you work on archival collections and histories of care or welfare in any time period or global context. Please share!

nationalarchives.gov.uk

Talking Records

Talking Records is a collections-based symposium held at The National Archives every year.

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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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Katie Birkwood @girlinthe.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Gorgeous, stunning book, and a splendid bit of #RareBooks detective work in determining its story. From the RHS libraries, by Jessican Hudson. #GLAMS 📚 collections.rhs.org.uk/view/446769

collections.rhs.org.uk

Painted leaves: tracing the history of a remarkable botanical book

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I’m so grateful to @leverhulme.ac.uk & to everyone at Birkbeck and beyond who supported my application, from early conversations and advice to reading drafts, especially as it meant giving up their time for me when there’s little to spare at the moment. I’m looking forward to getting started! (3/3)

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

My starting point will be mapping the hundreds of London plant sites mentioned in John Gerard’s 1597 herbal. If your library has a copy of the first edition, and especially if it’s annotated/hand-coloured or contains plant matter(!), I’d love to chat! 🍁 (2/3)

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I’m thrilled to share officially that I’m returning to Birkbeck from September to begin a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. My project, ‘London’s Green Archive: Writing Plants, 1562-1612’, will explore how Londoners wrote about their everyday experiences of living & working with plants 🌳 (1/3)

A hand-coloured ‘double wallflower’ in a 1597 edition of Gerard’s herbal, from the Clark Library, UCLA.

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Chloe Fairbanks @fairbanc.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

📢 Excited to announce this Call for Papers for 'Imagining Diﬀerence in Early Modern London', a conference exploring how EM Londoners experienced and negotiated forms of diﬀerence.

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BOO! k HistoriAAAH 🎃 @book-historia.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Little flower wreath pressed in a 1771 edition of the works of William Penn 🌸

A very old circle of pressed flowers, maybe pansies?

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

It’s the last day of my Huntington Library fellowship today, during which I’ve been on the hunt for imaginative readers of #earlymodern instruction & recipe books 👀 It’s been such a wonderful place to read and write over the summer, especially about plant knowledge!

Hand-coloured image of a rose in the 1633 edition of Gerard’s herbal at the Huntington

Printer’s device (1610) of a Pegasus annotated with the word ‘hors[e]

Statue of Diana outside the American gallery

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Always so grateful for my time at the BL!

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New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b

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Rachel Winchcombe @rachelwinchers.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

In eighteenth-century Europe pineapples were everywhere. They featured in paintings, adorned buildings, appeared on ceramics and silverware, and crowned dining tables. Was pineapple mania simply about rarity and sweetness? Not quite.

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Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Many years ago, a snake shed its skin in Norfolk. A clergyman and naturalist, Revett Sheppard, found it and pasted it into his ‘Naturalist’s Calendar’. Sheppard (1779-1830) began his ‘Naturalist’s Calendar’ in 1798, when he was a young student in Cambridge. #WorldSnakeDay MS Add.9839/22/1

A high-angle, close-up photograph of an open historic manuscript journal or notebook. Pressed onto the left-hand page, under the heading "May", is a preserved piece of textured, golden-brown shed snake skin, showing distinct rows of small diamond-shaped scales alongside larger, horizontal belly scales.

Below the snake skin, an inscription in elegant cursive ink handwriting reads: "Part of the slough of a snake which I found in the channel fen at Barton in Norfolk famous for rare Insects and plants and much resorted to by me at the time I was with Mr Forby."

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Lily Freeman-Jones @freemanjones.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

***job klaxon!*** Postdoctoral Research Associate on ERC-funded project TextDiveGlobal at QMUL 12 month post from 1 September 2026 Apply by 28 July: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSG130/p...

jobs.ac.uk

Postdoctoral Research Associate - 'TextDiveGlobal' at Queen Mary University of London

Apply now for the Postdoctoral Research Associate - 'TextDiveGlobal' role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

An unexpected highlight of my fellowship at the Huntington this summer: getting to see & smell two corpse flowers blooming this morning (one, nicknamed Odorysseus, is making its public debut!). They only flower for 24 hours or so once every 2-3 years, so a double bloom is a real botanical event!

Two corpse flowers blooming at the Huntington in Pasadena, CA

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Digital Scholarship @ British Library @bldigischol.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

EThOS platform restored! 'Following restoration work, all metadata records previously available on EThOS have now been restored, along with an additional 14,000 records added since the service was taken offline' - more to come www.bl.uk/stories/news/ethos-record…

bl.uk

EThOS records restored

We are pleased to share that EThOS (E-Theses Online Service) is now available again following restoration work after the cyber-attack.

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Andrea Reyes E (she/her) @altibel.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Flowers are not only outside the library but also inside Special Collections. I found this pretty dried flower when consulting a volume from Dulcet i Palau's Manual. #BookHistory

A dried flower in between the pages of a book. The visible entries are Salamanca, Salamó, Salanio, Salanoba.

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Suzanne Karr Schmidt @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

OK! I'll Wear Gardening Gloves Made a rare exception, putting on cotton gloves to examine a gorgeous floral English embroidered dos-à-dos binding at the Fisher Library yesterday! (The metallic thread made them necessary.) Like the Newberry puzzle binding, it's 17th c. and religious in nature...

Front view of the double decker book with its gilded edges, on a white pillow, showing the metallic thread and yellow iris design.

Book in box with sign saying "must wear gloves when handling".

Title page of the 1636 New Testament text.

Book of Psalmes title page. Gloves are visible.

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Meryl Faiers @merylf.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

My latest post for the Kings Women follows the archival traces of two women in the 1580s who ran their own businesses and took on apprentices, Anne Collins and Annabell Baye, paid up members of the Grocers Company. www.kingswomen.org/post/the-sis... #earlymodern #womenshistory #londonhistory

kingswomen.org

The Sisterhood of Grocers

by Meryl Faiers, 9 June 2026My most recent post (20 April 2026) offered a reconstruction of the life of Rebecca Heminges, the wife of a grocer (and actor - John Heminges). Now I'm looking at two of th...

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prince egregious, heir apparent @sonofahurricane.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I know the discourse is over and I already weighed in elsewhere but it is actually important to me that y’all know that Zotero isn’t AI. It just isn’t, even under an expansive definition.

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Alice Marples @alicemarples.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

We have two new 12-month postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at the British Library! Applications open soon to co-design projects in the following areas: - Colonial Deposit and our Newspaper Collection - Local Large Language Models and Personal Born-Digital Archives www.bl.uk/services/res...

bl.uk

The Joanna and Graham Barker Fellowship Scheme

Two funded-fellowship opportunities for early career, postdoctoral researchers.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

The best kind of book owner: Edward Lightbourne left not only his lovely signature, but also the year he bought this collection of John Milton's pamphlets, and the cost.

Detail from the inside cover of a 17th century book binding showing 'Edward Lightbourne his book 1647 0-20-4' a library shelfmark and other letters.

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Isabella Rosner @isabellarosner.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Making a rare appearance on here to ask for thoughts on an embroidery from 1668. Do you have any idea what Old Testament story/stories these panels represent? Previously labeled as Abraham and Isaac but I’m not convinced. I think they may be the same figures in both. Thank you for your ideas!

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Max Riviera @maxriviera.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that @academic.oup.com just published my first monograph, "Richard Barnfield and Queer Classicism in Elizabethan England", which is now available both online and in print. #earlymodern academic.oup.com/book/62509

academic.oup.com

Richard Barnfield and Queer Classicism in Elizabethan England

Abstract. Richard Barnfield and Queer Classicism in Elizabethan England offers a comprehensive reappraisal of the work of Richard Barnfield, the Elizabetha

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Cambridge Collections Connections Communities @camglamresearch.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

A pleasure to host a @camglamresearch.bsky.social workshop yesterday @theul.bsky.social on ‘Discovering pressed plants in books and how to care for them’, led by @annalsvensson.bsky.social.

Montage of three images showing pressed plants in printed books.

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London Renaissance Seminar (LRS) @londrenaissance.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/post... Written Worlds 17C Non-elite Writing 2 x Postdocs 0.5. Please consider applying.

Project Name Written Worlds funded by Leverhulme Trust at Birkbeck

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IHR Society, Culture & Belief, 1500-1800 @ihrscb.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Just a reminder... Tomorrow, 5 March, 5.30 pm ✨ Sue Wiseman, Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social , and Michael Powell Davies @mdpowelldavies.bsky.social speaking on "Written Worlds: Non-Elite Writers in Early Modern England" Sign-up in person & online: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

history.ac.uk

Written Worlds: Non-Elite Writers in Early Modern England

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Finally (inevitably?) I have succumbed to How X Read His Y! Grateful for the chance to revisit Joseph Banks’ copy (actually copies) of Thomas Tusser’s husbandry manual in verse, among other plant marginalia. And looking forward to what promises to be a great 2 days! Registration ⬇️

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Emily Rowe @emilyrowe1.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

In person early modern metals event in London next month with me, @laurenworking.bsky.social, and Lubaaba Al-Azami. Please repost and share widely! And register here -- forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

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Wojciech Kordyzon @wkordyzon.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Job alert! This is a reminder that I'm looking for a team member to work on a book history project 📚 that explores the networks 🕸️ of Protestant book agents in Poland-Lithuania and Prussia! Details: konkursydlanauczycieli.uw.edu.pl/api/document... (EN version at p. 7). Send an application by 9.03!

konkursydlanauczycieli.uw.edu.pl

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

I was definitely too busy sampling cheese yesterday to remember to take any pics but a huge thank you to @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social and @cheesetastingco.bsky.social for a fantastic event - to be repeated... ?

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Alasdair McNeill @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Yesterday, on the first sunny day of the year, @cheesetastingco.bsky.social and I ran the Tasting History event at Birkbeck. We tasted cheese, had a conversation with a brilliant audience, and hopefully brought to life the history of the trade and the people who made it happen.

A plate of various cheeses in front of a PowerPoint slide with the words ‘Tasting History’.

Two presenters in front of a PowerPoint slide.

Man looking pensively at a table of cheese bathed in late winter sunshine.

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Grace Murray @mazinggrace.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

VERY sad to miss you this year conference bud!!

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Lily Freeman-Jones @freemanjones.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

PGR event! Having sampled the fantastic produce of @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social, I recommend running, not walking, to book your ticket for this...

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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

And later this term, we'll be hosting ‘Whose Middle Ages?’, the Annual Birkbeck Medieval Seminar, with Daniel Sawyer, Rebecca Menmuir, Olenka Pevny, George Bartlett. More information about the event and booking here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event... www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Birkbeck Medieval Seminar 2026: Whose Middle Ages?

When: 27 March 2026, 10:00 — 17:00
Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

Book your place

The Middle Ages are all around us. As the philosopher, medievalist and novelist Umberto Eco pointed out 30 years ago, 'before rejoicing or grieving over a return of the Middle Ages, we have the moral and cultural duty of spelling out what kind of Middle Ages we are talking about'. Since then, we have seen a diversification of scholarly approaches to the Middle Ages, including global and decolonial approaches. But how have these academic discussions related to discussions and representations of the Middle Ages in the wider culture?

At the 2026 Birkbeck Medieval Seminar, join us for a day of discussion about the claims that are placed upon the Middle Ages, in poetry, art and the wider culture. Taking up the question asked by Andrew Albin et al. in their 2019 book, Whose Middle Ages? Teachable Moments in an Ill-Used Past, Birkbeck's Dr Daniel Sawyer and Dr Nick Evans will be joined by Dr Rebecca Menmuir (University of Oxford), Dr Olenka Pevny (University of Cambridge) and Dr George Bartlett (Courtauld) to assess the continued power of ideas from and about the Middle Ages in contemporary culture.

Full programme to follow.

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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

‘Tasting History: Researching and Experiencing the Development of the Cheese Trade’, with @cheesetastingco.bsky.social and @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social, hosted by Birkbeck's Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Feb 24th! Register here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Tasting History

Researching and Experiencing the Development of the Cheese Trade

Keynes Library, Gordon Square

Tuesday 24 February 2026
1500-1730
This interactive, experiential event will include a discussion with Ned Palmer, author of A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, and Alasdair McNeill, a Birkbeck doctoral student researching the early modern cheese trade. It will be accompanied by a free tasting of six historic cheeses.

Ned will introduce each cheese by placing it in its historical context, and the tastings will be interspersed with a conversation between Ned and Alasdair about the development of the trade and its importance to broader histories of commercialisation, labour relations, and women’s social and economic role. They will also discuss the value, and limits, of experiential food studies. How can the history of cheese – from milking to mongering – illuminate the role of ordinary women and men in their local communities and wider society? How can producing and tasting historic foods help us understand their histories?

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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Birkbeck is hiring a Lecturer in Medieval Studies (c.1300-1500), full-time and open-ended. They will be formally based in English but expected to be able to contribute about 0.5FTE to History, including teaching and supervision. Closing date Feb 23rd: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

Birkbeck, University of London, is seeking a Lecturer in Medieval Studies to join our dynamic team within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Autumn 2026.

As Lecturer in Medieval Studies you will contribute to the teaching of Medieval English literature and Medieval history across the Faculty, within our School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, and School of Historical Studies - this includes our BA English and BA History programmes, as well as postgraduate taught programmes in the two subject areas.

This post is offered on a permanent contract at Birkbeck, full time 35 hours per week, with a salary of £44,247 rising to £60,858 per year. Teaching hours will vary from 6pm - 9pm, Monday to Friday.

To be successful, you will bring research expertise in the literature, history and culture of the Late Medieval period (c.1300-1500), and demonstrate a capacity to contribute to interdisciplinary research and teaching, participate actively in curriculum development, supervise doctoral students, and help shape the intellectual life of our vibrant academic community.

We would also welcome applicants who would be able to contribute to collaborative teaching programmes or research in the Faculty, in areas such as identity, race/ethnicity, or gender - experience of collaboration with cultural institutions, whether through research or teaching, is also welcome.

Core responsibilities will initially include programme/module administration, teaching, supervision, assessment, student support and pastoral care. You will also be equipped to supervise doctoral students.

With a PhD in any area of Medieval Studies, you will contribute the Faculty’s and Schools’ research impact and culture, and to the intellectual and cultural life of the institution and the various communities and partners with whom we work and serve.

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Stefan Hanß @stefanhanss.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

If you ever wondered what biochemical traces of past users of medical recipes may tell us about early modern haircare, see @uk.theconversation.com's discussion of our @historians.org article: doi.org/10.64628/AB.... Research supported by @thejohnrylands.bsky.social & @britishacademy.bsky.social

doi.org

What Renaissance readers left behind in haircare books

New biochemical techniques offer unmatched insight into early modern medicine, as traces of plants, animals and even human waste have been sampled from pages.

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Seb Falk @sebfalk.com · 05/01/2026

JOB ALERT! 3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community. PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.

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