iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sam Brown

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 · 09/08/2026

Totally agree with all of this! I really enjoyed the prose but was disappointed by the clear lack of research, and those reoccurring white gloves 😱

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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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Reposted by Sam Brown

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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Reposted by Sam Brown

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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Reposted by Sam Brown

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

Andrea Alpago (and it’s Browne, not Harvey annotating!)

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Reposted by Sam Brown

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

Thank you so much!! I'm very excited to see what you've found...

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

Oh this is very tantalising to hear!!

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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 · 12/09/2025

Here’s @drallotment.bsky.social & @mattsymonds.bsky.social talking about EBDO, @fredschurink.bsky.social talking about CEBEME, and @annalujz.bsky.social who has been instrumental to both projects, on our final DH panel. Very excited to play with both data sets over the coming weeks! #BuiltWithBooks

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

Here is Ted Simonds from @lampallib.bsky.social talking about Sion College Library’s donors. His research is piecing together stories of people & books, both on & off the pages of the Book of Benefactors, and emphasised (for me!) how much bookish networks overlapped in the period. #BuiltWithBooks

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

Here is Joe Nankivell from @tcdlibrary.bsky.social talking about his very exciting project to digitally reconstruct the library of François Fagel. I think everyone in the audience left eager to play with his website, & wondering whether they could make their own digital bookshelves… #BuiltWithBooks

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

Here is @biblioraphic.bsky.social talking about evidence of how the Cotton Library was bound (red, green, blue, black, ancient and archival bindings!). There are Cotton MSS in my own research, so I’m very excited to learn more from Raphaëlle/ask her millions of questions #BuiltWithBooks

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

So pleased you enjoyed it Matilda, hope our paths cross again soon!

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

Here is @ellenwerner.bsky.social giving a fantastic paper about two Manchester apothecaries whose reading she is tracing through their books at @chethamslibrary.bsky.social. I obviously love early modern books and reading, but as a northerner myself, I find Ellen’s research particularly satisfying!

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

I had put *far* too much time into designing the programmes and conference bookmarks (zero regrets). As we prepared for people to arrive on day one we were tracking the printing order via FedEx. Cannot describe the relief and excitement I felt opening this box during the first panel… #BuiltWithBooks

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

I didn’t take many photos but here are a few... If you were there, do share any you have in the thread too! ⬇️ #BuiltWithBooks

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

I have thesis books in Chetham’s and parents not far from Manchester so I will definitely let you know if I’m around! Also, I know your whole supervisory team and they are amazing, you’re going to have such a good time.

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

Such exciting news, welcome to the UK - if you’re ever in London and fancy a coffee let me know!

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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

Ah this would be amazing thank you, would love to hear whatever you know about Arabic books! And thank you for very kind words, I’m so pleased it went well and we all had such a good time!

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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 · 10/09/2025

I have such a big duplicate/used books/daybook rabbit hole to go down now, thank you!

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

I *loved* the mummy and the pirates, and the whole paper!

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Reposted by Sam Brown

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

It's scheduled to stay open until the spring! Hoorah!

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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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Reposted by Sam Brown

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

My original thought was that it began Ahmad b. Ahmad so this is very helpful (and somewhat validating), thank you!

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

Yes of course, I’m not suggesting otherwise

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

I like this thought, thank you!

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

Yes this is indeed what has been written to date, but in my PhD research I’ve identified direct evidence of Bedwell translating documents related to the embassy, hence my train of thought…

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

Sorry yes I’m not suggesting it’s written by Bedwell, but it is for him

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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

The only thing I can think is that the inscription could be written on behalf of a group of the Moroccan visitors, and if Bedwell had been assigned to them as a translator (of sorts) it might be addressing it to him as عبدهم? But possibly that’s a stretch?

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

Yes that’s what I wanted to verify… I will perhaps mention it next time I see him!

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

Ah maybe this is more likely, and makes the الله more similar to those written above. Amazing, thank you!

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

Oh this looks very plausible, thank you! I think I’ve been paying far too much attention to some of the (possible) i’jām…

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