iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

“What color was his robe?” “Blue!” “No, Lola, that was a demon!”

msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I get it. My 7yo niece proudly told me she had organized her books into fiction & nonfiction. I said, “Let’s share shelfies!” knowing that she’d find reused manuscript material fascinating. She yawned at my pic, wearily explaining, “Uncle Michael, this is what a book collection should look like.”

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

That’s exactly how I felt when working with this missal fragment. Me: “Those minims are all over the place!” Later, also me: “Duh. They’re neumes.”

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Just entered this fragment on @archive.org. Took some work to ID text and chant due to dyed parchment but thanks to multispectral (re)imaging™ and Cantus DB (thank you @dact-fragments.bsky.social!), it's done. As @lisafdavis.bsky.social says: MSI FTW! But now my head hurts. #fragmentology

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Reposted by @msabinus.bsky.social

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Friends, Romans, fellow late antiquity fans! The first issue of Essays in Long Late Antiquity, a new journal published fully in open access by Liverpool University Press is out! We have a stunning volume for you to read with amazing contributions. 1/ liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/toc/ella/cur...

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

Contents | Essays in Long Late Antiquity 1, 1

This editorial introduction explains the rationale for this journal and its place in the current research landscape of late antique studies. While this field has “exploded”, different specialisms and disciplines continue to approach the period through ...

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

6 months ago, I posted that a martyrology leaf, damaged but largely intact, had been recently sliced and the lower half offered on eBay. Reader, the top half has just been listed for sale. Fragmentoclasm is a thing, apparently. *anguished cry* Caveat emptor fragmentorum.

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Omnes quae extant D. Heironymi Tom. 1 (Basel: Froben, 1537; also bound with volumes 2&3, so rather hefty). Poor thing didn’t stand a chance. @book-historia.bsky.social must have some examples

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Microsoft Access. Old School (I’ve been using it a long time!), but easy to use, generates reports, and I can readily use the data (and mail merge) to create labels for folders and ID strips. Not the same question, but I also post my fragments on @archive.org to make them accessible.

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

I know that Roman Cursive (Old or New) can be terrifying — even seemingly impossible— but I took @lisafdavis.bsky.social’s paleography course at @rarebookschool.bsky.social and my New Roman Cursive transcriptions were triumphant! Folks, if I can do it, so can you.

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

8000 fragments! Congratulations, @fragmentarium.bsky.social! Folks, PLEASE survey your early modern bindings and share what you find. #fragmentology

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

When asked just what do I do, I often utter darkly, “I rescue manuscripts before they become someone’s découpage project.” I never truly believed that anyone selling a fragment would encourage such a practice — then I saw this on eBay. Perfect entry for “10 Word Horror Story” contest. #fragmentology

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

I know about book breaking but had no idea that fragment breaking was a thing. A martyrology leaf offered recently by a respected dealer is now offered on eBay, having been recently (within the past 2 months) sliced in half. The other half has gone missing. *angry sigh* Caveat emptor fragmentorum.

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

For me, this is what #fragmentology is all about. So much information can be gleaned from a multi-faceted approach to researching a single fragment. It’s impossible to pose too many questions.

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

See Pickwoad, Nicholas, "The Use of Fragments in Medieval Manuscrips in the Construction and Covering of Bindings on Printed Books" in Brownrigg and Smith (eds.), Interpreting and Collecting Fragments of Medieval Books, p. 2. #fragmentology

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

"If the famous lament of John Bale is to be believed, there was a considerable international trade in the material as old manuscripts were 'sent ouersee to the bokebynders, not in small nombre, but at time whole shyppes full, to the wonderynge of the foren nacyons.'"

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

What a great thread! I hadn’t realized how much I missed #breakfastpaleography. When I first encountered this ampersand in a fragment of Vita sancte marthe, I had to turn my screen sideways to make sense of it.

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Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Do you have a leaf of this manuscript in your collection that we might not know about? DM me!

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Nice! I wish this 15thC fragment of Book III (on a sammelband of Aldine Ciceros) had been as legible! It took me a while (and MSI) to figure it out. archive.org/details/vir....

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

Like so many, I’m making the switch to this site and looking forward to reconnecting with the book community I have missed. Will be posting early printed/manuscript fragments as they come my way, linking to @fragmentarium.bsky.social and IA (when it’s back). Pic is just a teaser. More to come…

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 16/05/2024

Wait, what? This is fantastic and a fantastic goal!

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BOO! k HistoriAAAH 🎃 @book-historia.bsky.social · 26/02/2024

Please share far and wide!! It's the course's first year, and it won't run without sufficient enrollment 🥹

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 15/02/2024

An absolutely WONDERFUL presentation — informative, engaging, enlightening! Wish it had lasted many more hours. Case closed!

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msabinus.bsky.social @msabinus.bsky.social · 10/01/2024

Devin, although I recognize that this has been a challenging process, I am very happy to hear that you will be back at UCLA. Congratulations. LA welcomes you.

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