iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

how much good could a good book do if a good book would get read

an early jacket design for the novel A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK by elizabeth taylor. it features hand-drawn letters for title and author as head and foot of a larger image of two branching trees. between the two trees, a much smaller scaled couple walks.

Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

My point is a sociological one about the publishing profession, rather than scholars. Between the loss of institutional memory and the fact of worker displacement, I don’t find succor in a smart use of an LLM in our moment (I know that's not your point). Because in the future that wise colleague...

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

If you tire of the dumb Emerald Fennell thing within 20, 10, 5 minutes, why not try its opposite: ON THE BULLET TRAIN WITH EMILY BRONTE, the capacious, witty, and crazy smart book by mighty @judithmpascoe.bsky.social

The book cover of Judith Pascoe's ON THE BULLET TRAIN WITH EMILY BRONTE featuring 9 squares with images ranging from manga Heathcliffs to a photographed, supersonic Tokyo railcar

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Post your favorite Lord of the Rings character. Wrong answers only.

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

i can't make it to toronto for #mla2026 but my book got there. go say hi to THE NOVEL AND THE BLANK at the johns hopkins up exhibit table. #mla26 #bookhistory #18c #c18 #vastearlyamerica

the cover of my newish book *the novel and the blank*

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

in my book, books talk to other books. grab *the novel and the _____* now at the @hopkinspress.bsky.social website with the discount code HTNAB25 #vastearlyamerica #bookhistory #18c #c18

a screenshot from a page of *the novel and the blank*, from a 1768 auction catalogue that imagines two books trash-talking each other across colonial and class divides in rhyming couplets

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

boycott Sinclair advertisers Menard's, Lebeda Mattress Factory, Wendy's, Liberty Mutual and let them know

The text of a message to Lebeda Mattress Factory:
Due to Lebeda's support of the Sinclair-owned television station KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I will be boycotting Lebeda and will be telling my community of friends, family, and co-workers to do the same. Lebeda is paying for advertising with a Sinclair station. As such, Lebeda is supporting a company that is trampling on free speech rights. Sinclair is using its power to disallow comments that reflect anything but approval for Donald Trump and his administration's behavior. This is how an authoritarian regime works, not how a democracy works. Aligning yourself with the values of democracy will help your business prosper.

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

everything's awful but just a note to say my new book is a valentine to the amazing place that is the library company of philadelphia, here's their swag from a few years back on my noggin, the novel & the blank is out and you can get it using the discount code HTNAB25 at JHUP site all praise the lcp

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

gotta rethink their adhesion optics

bottle of gorilla glue with is label detached

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

what is "small data" and what do archive rats do with it? *the novel and the _____* is out now! #bookhistory #18c #c18 #vastearlyamerica

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

my book launched yesterday and i was so busy with the first day of classes that i forgot my book launched yesterday. anyway here was my preferred cover image created by mel andringa and i'm glad it wasn't selected

mel andringa creates art by joining two jigsaw puzzles that have matching dye cuts but distinct images. this one combines the spirit of 76 painting with an early iconographic portrait of george washington

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

can monographs match the temporal experience of their subject matter? i give it a stab in *the novel and the blank*, dropping tuesday, august 26 from powerhouse @hopkinspress.bsky.social discount code HTNAB25 #skystorians #bookhistory #vastearlyamerica #18c #c18

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

felt the Bern in the quad cities last night. tbh, indivisible energy feels like it is meeting the moment more than bernie. but one effect of his doing town halls now is that it models peers (rather than electeds) leading a movement. #bernie #iowa #fightoligarchy

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

the book trades unconscious, whaaaa? check out The Novel and the Blank, dropping august 26 from mighty @hopkinspress.bsky.social #bookhistory #vastearlyamerica

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

ended yesterday with the beginning, starting today with the end...new book drops august 26 from mighty @hopkinspress.bsky.social. discount code is HTANB25! #bookhistory #SHARP2025 #skystorians

wordle game board from july 9, landing on the answer "NOVEL"

wordle game board, starting with first entry before bot assesses accuracy. that word is "BLANK."

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

zero bingo content in this banger

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

how much good could a good book do if good book would get read

The cover image for Jonathan Blitzer's EVERYONE WHO IS GONE IS HERE, a history of immigration at the U.S. border with Mexico

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

what if we have benjamin franklin all wrong? stay tuned for *the novel and the _____*, coming this fall from @hopkinspress.bsky.social

screenshot from the page proofs of THE NOVEL AND THE BLANK, featuring a header on Benjamin Franklin's less known world view

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

working backwards through proofs and i got to this page 🙌

table of contents page for *the novel and the blank*

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

guys come for the book trades yawning, stay for the sex-gender system critique, THE NOVEL AND THE BLANK forthcoming august 2025 from big ups publisher @hopkinspress.bsky.social

page proof prose from *the novel and the blank: a literary history of the book trades in eighteenth-century british america*

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

yesterday was the day we’ve all been waiting for

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

What do the shop habits of Hugh Gaine, the colonial New York City printer, have in common with early Asian book formatting? Look out for THE NOVEL AND THE BLANK, coming this fall from the crushing-it-publisher @hopkinspress.bsky.social

the first leaf of a 1765 almanac, which was assembled in modular gatherings that included or excluded an essay or calendar

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

guys pre-order *the n and the b* now please it helps with film rights

the table of contents for the next banger from johns hopkins university press called THE NOVEL AND THE BLANK

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Matthew P. Brown @mpbrown.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

pro tip for professing sung-era china is imagining your mighty team teacher colleague as a scholar-official with comparable powers in our current moment