iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 14/08/2026

Cambridge University should have known better, Fleet Street should have known better, the people hungrily absorbing every bit of news about it, making newsrooms feel like they had to keep going with it as a story, should have known better, horrible horrible horrible

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I'm really looking forward to this event on Monday, where I'll be discussing William Bedwell with Prof. Alastair Hamilton and the curators of the Bedwell exhibition, Deborah Hedgecock & Bridget MacKernan. There's still time to sign up if you'd like to come along! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/william-be...

eventbrite.co.uk

William Bedwell and his World: In Conversation With the Curators

William Bedwell and his World: In Conversation with Alastair Hamilton and Samantha Brown, and the curators of the exhibition about Bedwell

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Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 16/01/2026

This is an Arabic magical amulet, designed to be rolled up inside a necklace to provide protection to the wearer. The text includes several verses from the Quran. It was *printed* in Egypt around the 11th century, probably by a local (Romani?) magician. #medievalists #BookHistory #manuscripts

Long, rectangular, blockprinted amulet on vertical paper (technically a rotulus). The paper is a light tan/yellow color with short brown fibers still visible from the rags used to produce it. The upper print is a black square around a circle containing Arabic text, in turn around a six-pointed star. the lower print is 35 lines of angular Arabic script with blotchy smeared of ink around the border, caused by contact with the edge of the printblock.

MET museum description: Talismanic Scroll
11th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 454
Centuries before block printing was introduced in Europe, the technique was used in the Islamic world to produce miniature texts consisting of prayers, incantations, and Qur'anic verses that were kept in amulet boxes. The text on this amulet is in the angular kufic script. The six-pointed star, a familiar symbol in Islamic art, is usually called "Solomon's seal."

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Very excited for this evening's online @rcpmuseum.bsky.social event 📚 After a tour of the current bookish exhibition by @girlinthe.bsky.social, @awickenden.bsky.social will talk about libraries, and I will talk about some Arabic books. Get your ticket here ➡️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-body-of-...

eventbrite.co.uk

A body of knowledge: winter lectures

Join us to explore recent research into how we investigate the history of libraries like the collections of the Royal College of Physicians.

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Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

A reminder to book for the (online) @rcpmuseum.bsky.social Winter Lectures next Tuesday! a guided tour of the exhibition by @girlinthe.bsky.social, a lecture on Lancelot Browne and Arabic books by @samuscript.bsky.social, and a lecture from me on libraries 📚 history.rcp.ac.uk/event/body-k...

history.rcp.ac.uk

A body of knowledge: winter lectures | RCP Museum

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Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs) @memorients.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

7 more days 🥳 Join us next week in-person at the University of Cape Town or online! Register here: tinyurl.com/yhayw8zy. Our conference program can be found here: sites.google.com/view/memorie...

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

📣 Librarian and library-loving friends! On Tuesday at 7pm GMT there’s a free online Q&A with Kim Snyder, director of ‘The Librarians’. For more details and to book visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/q-and-a-wi.... It’s being run by a UK documentary group but all are welcome!

eventbrite.co.uk

Q and A with Kim Snyder, Director of "The Librarians"

We Are Doc Women Presents an online Q&A with the director of "The Librarians", Kim Snyder.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

eventbrite.co.uk

Q and A with Kim Snyder, Director of "The Librarians"

We Are Doc Women Presents an online Q&A with the director of "The Librarians", Kim Snyder.

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RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

We are delighted to announce a virtual winter lectures for exhibition 'A body of knowledge' is open to book 👉 history.rcp.ac.uk/event/body-k... 🗓️ 6pm GMT, 9 Dec, £5 😍 Featuring a virtual exhibition tour & fascinating lectures from @awickenden.bsky.social & @samuscript.bsky.social! #LibraryHistory

Image of an open anatomy book showing a skeleton and other books in cases in the exhibition.

Open books in cases in the exhibition, the nearest book is in Arabic.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

If there's anything more exciting than seeing a book you work on in an exhibition, it's surely being invited to talk about it. Very excited for this event next month! 📷 Lancelot Browne's annotated copy of Avicenna in Arabic at the @rcpmuseum.bsky.social exhibition, 'A body of knowledge'.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

I'm thrilled to be teaching a short course on Arabic Studies in Early Modern England with Prof. Alastair Hamilton at @warburginstitute.bsky.social next month. We'll need to meet a minimum number of bookings to run, so if you're interested, sign up asap! warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

warburg.sas.ac.uk

Crossing the world without an interpreter: Arabic studies in England 1550-1640

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

And day 2 of #BuiltWithBooks was also a joy (so much so that I’ve spent most of today recovering from the excitement!). Thank you to all our speakers and attendees for making it a huge success - cake and merch for the win, but nothing beats a room full of interesting, generous book historians.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

And what an EXCELLENT paper it was - so excited to play with the tools and pester you with questions about using all the data (apologies in advance…)

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Such a fantastic first day at our @livesandletters.bsky.social Built with Books symposium. Heading home to finish my paper (😅) full of ideas and excited for day two. #BuiltWithBooks #EarlyModern #BookHistory

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Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

apparently my book comes out in September, wow, preorder it for all your library and intellectual history needs, stay for the section on Paradise Lost and John Ray's herbals, or the story of George Psalmanazar, my favourite early modern scammer www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

cambridge.org

Hans Sloane's Library Collection and the Production of Knowledge | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

📣 Exciting Bedwell news 📣 I’m thrilled to have assisted with a new exhibition at Bruce Castle Museum, ‘Getting the Measure of William Bedwell: Maths, Measurement and the Arabic World’. Top tip: pair your visit with a walk around the corner to see his church for full WB/early modern Tottenham vibes.

Signage at the exhibition, hung on a light green wall. The title 'Getting the Measure of William Bedwell' is in the foreground.

A close up picture of the contents of a display case: an early modern document, churchwardens accounts, with signatures at the bottom. A label next to the manuscript enlarges part of the text, which is William Bedwell's signature

Me looking happy by one of the signs. I'm wearing a white vest top and black trousers.

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Alice Wickenden @awickenden.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

hello. if you work at a university please ask your library to buy my book. it is all about books and libraries and also plants, museums, the Royal Society, and the ways we learn. I think it will be interesting to lots of people, hopefully. thank you www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

cambridge.org

Hans Sloane's Library Collection and the Production of Knowledge | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Sorry, kids. Prepare to be SHOCKED and OFFENDED by the scarcity of Arabic books in sixteenth-century England.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Can anyone with much better Arabic palaeography skills than me transcribe this? It is the end of a note written by a Moroccan in a European album amicorum. I’m trying to work out if the name we have for the person who wrote it comes from the inscription itself or another source, but struggling…

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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Bullying, long hours and no jobs: Inside the TV industry's mental health crisis - with over 50% of the tv industy out of work, how are the government planning on supporting it? inews.co.uk/culture/tele...

inews.co.uk

Bullying, long hours and no jobs: Inside the TV industry's mental health crisis

A recent survey found one in three people working in the British film and TV industry rate their mental health as 'poor' or 'very poor' - and it's getting worse

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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 09/05/2025

(you have to be sixteen or older to use the Library of Congress' reading rooms)

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

My conference tattoo may be fading, but the research, conversations and unadulterated geekery of FEATHERS’ Scribes and Inky Fingerprints will be with me for quite some time. If you weren’t here I’m afraid you really did miss out…

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

In two weeks' time! Join us in the evening of 19 May for an exciting conversation about 'changing the record: how people use(d) paperwork to make their world. Free tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changing-t... #YayArchives #SkyStorians #HistArchives

changing the record: how people used paperwork to make their world
Monday 19 May 6pm
Clore managmenet centre, Birkbeck, London WC1E
HBow do those on the margins recognise the power of paperwork?
how do they deliberately keep paper trails to protect their truths and existence, then change their situation through it?

This roundtable brings together scholars, activists, and archivists to think about the way people navigate bureaucracies and paperwork to shape their world.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

If someone would like to pay me to move to Leiden that would be delightful, thank you

A view down a cobbled street in Leiden. Wisteria grows up the doorway of a building on the right, opposite an old fashioned black street light

A view down the middle of another cobbled street with buildings either side and a glorious blue sky. The Dutch flag is flying from a doorway.

The sun reflects on the canal, which is dappled with lily pads.

A poem in Arabic and English (‘Loss’ by Adonis) is painted on the side of a building. Underneath a line reads ‘to commemorate 400 years of Arabic studies in Leiden’

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Very excited to be en route to Leiden to talk about Arabic correspondence in England (obviously feat. William Bedwell) at the FEATHERS conference. Less excited at being stationary on the tarmac at Stansted for longer than the journey will take…

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Come and join us at @livesandletters.bsky.social to talk about #EarlyModern libraries! Two weeks to get your abstracts in! Check the website for full details, incl. how PhDs and ECRs can apply for funding to attend…

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Every Richard Field binding now a possible Shakespeare household archive? Yes please!

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Emily Rowe @emilyrowe1.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

It’s me! I’m the expert! Had lots of fun writing this piece on The White Lotus and Shakespeare. Please read and share! #Shakespeare #TheWhiteLotus

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Damian Barr @damianbarr.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

“At this point, many librarians have done every single thing they can to save things.”

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Emily Rowe @emilyrowe1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

What ethical responsibilities do we bear when we write about war? This is one of the questions we’re posing in our June colloquium on early modern war narratives. CFP here and the deadline is 11th April! Please share widely and consider submitting an abstract! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/lamen...

kingsearlymodern.co.uk

Early Modern War Narratives - Annual CEMS Colloquium — CEMS KCL Blog

Join CEMS for our annual colloquium. This year's theme is early modern war narratives. CfP deadline: 11th April.

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

They did it. They terminated my NEH grant. Their letter went to my junk mail. This is an active grant that would have finished on June 30. “Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government” They are so afraid of us.

Full text

April 3, 2025
Dr. Joseph Rezek
Dear NEH Grantee,
This letter provides notice that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is terminating your federal grant (Grant Application No. FEL29509824) effective April 3, 2025, in accordance with the termination clause in your Grant Agreement.
Your grant no longer effectuates the agency's needs and priorities and conditions of the Grant
Agreement and is subject to termination due to several reasonable causes, as outlined in 2CFR§200.340.
For instance, NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President's agenda. The President's February 19, 2025 executive order mandates that the NEH eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions. See Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, E.O. 14217 (Feb. 19, 2025). Your grant's immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities. Any objections or appeals to this termination will be managed in strict accordance with the President's Executive Orders, including but not limited to: E.O. 14217 (Feb. 19, 2025), Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy; E.O. 14151 (Jan. 20, 2025), Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing; E.O. 14168 (Jan. 20, 2025), Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government; and E.O. 14190 (Jan. 29, 2025), Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling. The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for the administration, and due to exceptional circumstances, adherence to the traditional notification process is not possible. Therefore, the NEH hereby terminates your grant in its entirety effective April 3, 2025.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

I was lucky enough to spend much of last year surveying Arabic manuscripts at the @nationaltrust.bsky.social and @britishlibrary.bsky.social, tracing the provenance of individual items and identifying trends across the collections. If you’d like to read more there’s a link to my report below!

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

You know you’ve found your people when a stranger pulls a rare book out of their bag to compare with your homemade tote because both title pages feature the same printer’s device #RenSA25

A tote bag featuring the title page of ‘The Arabian Trudgman’ is next to an original copy of ‘The Historie of Guicciardin’ open at its title page. Both feature the printer’s device of Richard Field.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Home after a truly fantastic #RenSA25. Loved sharing my own work (once the paper was finished 😅), saw so much stimulating research and discussion, and loved Boston. But the company of amazing ECR pals is what really made it a really special trip. Fugit hora when you’re having fun ❤️

Two laptops are open next to each other on the plane, PowerPoint presentations are being edited on both

My laptop on a desk in Boston Public Library’s large main reading room. There is an ornate curved ceiling and green lamps on the tables. Other people work in the background. My PowerPoint presentation is being edited.

In the foreground is my left hand holding a delicious cannoli. Blurred in the background are my excellent pals, sat on a bench, tucking into their own sweet treats.

A close up shot of an early modern grave stone in a Boston cemetery. Above a skull is an hour glass, with ‘fugit hora’ written around.

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 14/03/2025

‘Although opium was difficult to cultivate and process, it was the perfect merchandise for maritime trade: it was compact and light, and stable enough to travel long distances in ships’ holds.’ Nandini Das (@rentravailer.bsky.social) on the history of opium: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Nandini Das · Dark Propensities: Opium Inc.

Despite European and British efforts to emphasise the ‘traditional’ use of opium in both India and China, neither...

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Last call for this piece about the entangled histories of English and French and the people who speak them.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Happy World Book Day from my current favourite, a manuscript Qur’an acquired in Surat, in the hefty English binding of Sir Simonds d’Ewes (1602-1650)

A chunky brown leather book with two metal clasps is pictured on a green desk. The cover is embossed with a gold armorial crest featuring a wolf’s head above a shield.

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 26/02/2025

‘The story of Anglo-French is the story of a time when the understandings of language and nation were wholly different to our own.’ @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on the French influence on English: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

John Gallagher · What a spalage! Mis languages est bons

With contemporary English including more than eighty thousand terms of French origin, Georges Clemenceau might have had...

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

I don’t mean to say that historical fiction can’t be criticized in terms of its presentation of history. But I think it’s a serious problem that far more public ink goes to critiquing novelists’ source work or directors’ casting decisions than the gutting of libraries, archives and history programs.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

So pleased I finally made it to the fantastic Endless Stories exhibition at Cambridge UL today. Slightly off topic but - aside from a couple of Bedwell MSS - this doodle study of a cat was a real highlight…

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Is @theulspeccoll.bsky.social blog down for anyone else this afternoon or is it just me?

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Today I put a bird feeder *with camera* in our garden and I think it might be the best money I’ve ever spent. I’ve christened it ‘Peck a Manger’ and I apologise in advance if you don’t like birds because this will now be 90% of my social media content… 🐦‍⬛

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Kate So @drsoandsoresearch.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

My favourite time of the year to do research visits is November. It’s cold and crisp and festive. Today for work I visited Ely Cathedral and the Stained Glass Museum. Truly a doorway to another world!

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Just caught up on this and it’s an absolute must-listen. So exciting to see #EarlyModern historical research being used to tell such an urgent, current story 👏

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

My absolute favourite thing in the V&A. Close second is the façade of Paul Pindar’s house, built in 1600 and demolished in the 1890s

An ornately carved two-storey façade of a seventeenth-century house. It is windowless and made of dark brown wood. It towers above the viewer, and the glass ceiling of the V&A is seen above it.

The same façade seen in situ in a nineteenth century photograph, before the building was demolished. It is a three storey building, with building adjoined on either side. Signs on its highest points read ‘Paul Pindar’ and ‘wine & spirit’.

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Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

I think it’s time to introduce Bluesky to my favourite #EarlyModern person, William Bedwell. If you wanted to learn Arabic in England 400 years ago you would head to his vicarage in Tottenham. It was demolished in the 1800s but you can still see where it stood today, near White Hart Lane Station 🔎

A 19th century photograph shows the old vicarage in Tottenham. It has big bay windows on the left hand side and is covered in ivy. In front of it are trees and a small garden, and another, later building is to its right at ninety degrees.

The same site today, seen from a different angle - the view is from the elevated platform at white heart lane station. The old vicarage is gone (a tree stands in its place, and the railway line runs directly alongside it). The later building still stands, and faces the camera in this shot.

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