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I had a similar experience: staff tell you that you can't publish, but their website says that you can! I suggest you follow the website's guidance, and keep a printout of it in case you are challenged later.

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But my advice is: don't work on BL MSS; there are plenty of MSS to work on at the Bodleian, and it's a much better place to do research!

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And: "The British Library does not typically require readers to seek its permission to reproduce copies of collection items where the purpose is non-commercial."

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"Where use of copied material is non-commercial, then readers are permitted to make use of such content in a manner permitted by UK law. This could be enabled by the fact that: -- the underlying content is now within the public domain; [...]"

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Guides: Copyright: Copyright and copying at the British Library

Who is telling you that you can't publish? At bl.libguides.com/copyright/co... it states: "What you can do with copies you have made, or have had made for you by the Library, depends on whether you intend to use them for a commercial purpose. [...] ...

bl.libguides.com

This is a guide for Readers and other British Library users on what copyright is and how they need to consider it when using the Library's collections.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It does look like a price-code, but I don't recognise it. Can you provide more context? e.g. where is this book known to have been, what other dealers' marks are in it, is this a front/back flyleaf ...?

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

For Latin Classics it might be worth looking at Bodleian exhibition catalogues, e.g. _Humanistic script of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries_ (1960), _The survival of ancient literature_ (1975), and _Manuscripts at Oxford_ (1980). They are not what you want, but they may provide some pointers.

Dr Alison Ray @liber-ray.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Reposted by Peter Kidd

I’m thrilled to be taking part in this year’s amazing @sims-mss.bsky.social mss online lecture series to share my work on the pecia system and university book production! 🤗📜🎉 www.library.upenn.edu/sims/event-s...

library.upenn.edu

The Pecia System and the Medieval University Book Trade, ca. 1200-1340

Alison Ray (Royal Irish Academy Library) explores how medieval manuscripts were mass-produced at universities in the thirteenth century at low cost for members of the academic milieu.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I think the short answer is 'No'. There are MSS attributed to the city based on style of illumination; others based on textual contents; etc., but no single author/publication has a list. (That I'm aware of, anyway).

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

My top tip for 13th-cent. illuminated MSS: don't trust the list at the back of C. Donovan, _The de Brailes Hours: Shaping the Book of Hours in Thirteenth-Century Oxford_ (1991). She seems to have believed that every book with St Frideswide in its calendar/litany was made here!

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 19/07/2023

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

In May we said Nigel Farage probably didn't owe tax on his £5m gift. The Guardian now reports the gift followed talks where Farage said he'd need £5m to return to frontline politics. *If* that's right, we think there's a high risk of a £3m tax bill - payable by Reform.

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Larry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Ahead of England v Norway in the World Cup, enjoy this classic from my old pal Patrick Kidd in The Times

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

Andrew Prescott @ajprescott.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Pleased that British Library has reinstated its Ethos thesis service, but disappointed that it does not include the 1000s of older PhD theses available in the earlier version. The effective destruction of this huge research archive is a tragedy: ethos.bl.uk

ethos.bl.uk

Hyku

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I was watching a TV documentary about WWII last night and caught this shot of Wilhelm Canaris [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm... ] His lampshade has part of a feast of St Paul: [Ne] magnitudo [revelatio-] num extollat [me datus ...]

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Reposted by Peter Kidd

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Extraordinary detail in the new book on Trump's second term administration

After they wrapped up their research, the authors sat down with Trump to check their facts. He drifted on to why his "love affair" with Venezuela went back to his years of owning the Miss Universe pageant, which featured many beautiful Venezuelans. What he really wanted to relate was a conversation he had had with a historian whose verdict was that Trump was "without question, the most powerful man the planet [had] ever known - by a long way." The historian had sent Trump a two-page memo from which he read. "If President Trump is the American Eagle, then William the Conqueror was merely a sparrow." Curious about the identity of the historian, Swan tracked down a golf caddie in Florida, who confessed a passion for history.

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Actually, I now realise that it is catalogued by Ker in _MMBL_, II, pp. 193-94. Needless to say, he was able to read the names and identify the individuals!

Emden has John Vyfyan as the depositor of a Bible (Bristol Baptist College, MS Z.d.39) in the Selton chest in 1400. I assume that is your MS? Emden's info. came from Neil Ker, so there may be notes among his papers at the Bod. ...

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So, no Johannes, but it does at least confirm that 'Ulixbon.' is a plausible reading.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I'd be very surprised if that were correct! If the first letter is indeed a U/V (as I also first thought) then it looks to be 'Ulixbon''. For 'Ulixbona', Emden says 'See Lisbon', where he lists -- Lourenzo de Ulixbona, an Augustinian, and -- Vicente de Olisspone, a Dominican (both 14th-cent.)

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What's the Dominican's name? I can read the rest of his inscription, but I'm stumped by the short abbreviated word, and the name, either side of 'Ihoa(nn)is'

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

There's a Bodleian visiting fellowship available to those in the book trade! I heard today that the person who was to be this year's Peter Selley Fellow has had to drop out for health reasons, so the application deadline is going to be extended. Details here: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...

bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The Christie's summer sale (7 July) of medieval manuscripts is now online, and includes some very nice things. This large (c. 300 × 300mm) Don Silvestro cutting, for example. (It belonged to William Young Ottley, and was lot 184 in his 1838 sale). www.christies.com/en/auction/v...

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

It's not clear to me who these 'others' are, who (i) will want to go into a museum, while also (ii) are not in the in 'the museum-going classes'!

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

To use the app you have to sign-away a lot of privacy. If you use the website and a privacy-respecting browser, you don't. I'll stick with the (excellent) website thanks; I have a direct link to it among my apps.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

We already accept the principle that for people to get a discount at many venues they have to prove that they are a student/pensioner/disabled/on benefits, etc. I'm sure the rest of us could get used to the idea of carrying passport, driving licence, or whatever, to get free entry at museums.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I like the idea of drinking to excess, but in moderation.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Standard tickets for a 40-minute visit to the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition will be £33. Some reductions are available, but even 16-year old students pay £25. This seems expensive to me; I'll wait until the Tapestry is back in Bayeux, and go see it there. www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

museumsassociation.org

First look at the British Museum's Bayeux Tapestry exhibition - Museums Association

Institution ‘confident’ about transporting artefact to London after two successful dry runs

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Announced for publication in November: Fragmented Illuminations: The many lives of manuscript cuttings, ed. by Catherine Yvard uclpress.co.uk/book/fragmen...

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

In this Pathé film www.britishpathe.com/asset/75508/ you can see the whole process; and in this selection of out-takes, at 6:50-7:07, you can clearly see them using re-used parchment documents: www.britishpathe.com/asset/75521/ /2

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I have read of unwanted medieval parchment MSS being used by gold beaters in the making of gold leaf, but a conservator friend recently poured cold water on the notion. So I was glad to find evidence that the practice was stilled used as recently as the 1950's (but using post-medieval MSS) 1/

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

I was just out in the garden and a man asked me if I'd seen his pet rabbit. "It's black, grey, and brown. I didn't lose it today", he explained, "it went missing two and a half years ago." Also, he lives in Littlemore, a couple of miles away, on the other side of the Thames. I wished him good luck.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

"Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, took to X to deliver a derisive one-line epitaph. “Operation Trust Me Bro failed,” he wrote." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

“Given the very high number of instances of plagiarism, the complainant’s issue is not merely poor citation practice, but a fundamentally flawed understanding of what constitutes plagiarism,” judges wrote in the decision retractionwatch.com/2026/05/05/c...

retractionwatch.com

Court orders historian to repay grant funding for “pattern of plagiarism” in books

A federal court has ordered a “romance philologist” to repay the Swiss National Science Foundation roughly $51,000 after the group found the author responsible for “massive” scientific misconduct i…

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Yes, the 80s spike is curious, isn't it? Also, the peaks are in different time-periods for British (c. 1985) and American (c. 2007) English:

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

It does not correlate with the name "Otto Ege" as closely as I expected it to:

Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Just now I idly wondered when the word 'fragmentology', and the discipline of 'Fragmentology', became popular, so I did a Google n-gram with interesting results. #fragmentology

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Nowadays it means that the lot did not reach its reserve price, and was thus unsold, or "BI" (bought in). In older sales it can mean that the auctioneer accidentally slipped the lot; sales used to go at a much faster pace than today, especially of low value items.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

This doesn't help identify the owner, but here's another example: www.google.co.uk/books/editio...

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Reposted by Peter Kidd

I used to fly to a sunny beach and read books for 2 weeks each summer. Then I realised I could read the books at home and not have to tramp through 2 airports. Sorry Heathrow, you've lost my trade because you make the experience horrible. And home is really nice.

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Actually I've also found them in various physical auction sales as well, such as this one, which was at Bassenge, 6 Oct. 2020, lot 1012

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

All the examples I've saved are from eBay, from 2017 onwards, with the exception of the attached, which is at Portland University (it is perhaps "MSS 5409").

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Peter Kidd @mssprovenance.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

The script is essentially 'Spanish', but I suspect that the book was made in/for a Spanish mission somewhere like the southern US or Mexico. (Though this is just a suggestion -- it's well outside my area of competence!)