Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 10/09/2026My book has a website! And a cover! And some very humbling blurbs! THE DIGITAL HAND: ELECTRONICS AND LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS, coming April 2027 Several more posts about it coming before then . . . www.sup.org/books/litera... 0225
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 07/06/2026These systems are changing our style even when we make a point of *not* using them. (From Ethan Mollick's substack.) 010
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 22/05/2026Closing out a fun week at ULisboa with a class on Poe’s graphology 100
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 26/04/2026Zach Galifianakis seems to have experienced some kind of personal crisis, possibly bought a farm upstate, and now has a gardening show called Gardening Show that is an absolute soothing delight. Grateful for Zach’s crisis, hope he’s ok. 010
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 08/04/2026This is a very normal temperature for a professor’s office to be, right? 000
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 21/03/2026V short notice, but I'll be reading some poems by Marie Howe and talking about them at the Georgetown public library today at 2pm. Come by if you're in the area! 000
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 11/08/2025Is Michael Camille's book, Image on the Edge, still the definitive study of funny/crude marginalia in medieval manuscripts? e. g. for lulz . . . 101
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Close second: that thing where AI transcribes part of the ruler as "5/8" 000
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Funniest thing about transcribing Dickinson manuscripts is where an early editor (likely Todd) wrote "No" on a bunch of manuscripts, presumably flagging those too week for publication. But it turns out, actually: yes! 150
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 08/05/2025Very happy to share that my next book, tentatively called *The Digital Hand: Electronics and Literary Manuscripts*, is under contract with Stanford University Press! Now just need to finish writing it . . . @stanfordpress.bsky.social 2272
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025In 2005, prez W asked the DOJ to assess whether a presidential autopen signature was legally valid. Using it for publicity is one thing, for official business quite another. The DOJ said yes, properly authorized use of autopen is legally valid. H/t @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social for image. 15/ 171
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Apparently the majority of autopens in use are in DC, used by most members of Congress and other officials. None other than Lynne Cheney wrote a gossipy little piece about them in Washingtonian magazine in the 80s. 13/ 152
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Autopens have remained in use in the White House since then. Somebody even wrote a book about JFK’s use of it. (Charles Hamilton, The Robot that Helped to Make a President.) 12/ 181
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Originally, the autopen template for storing a signature was this crazy looking crescent made of wood or plastic, which would rotate on a kind of turntable to guide a pantograph mechanism. 10/ 151
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025The autopen was developed in the 1930s. Signatures from it may seem more legit because they’re made by moving an ordinary pen. Here’s coverage in Popular Mechanics 1937. 9/ 141
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025An easier way to store a signature for use by proxies is to have a stamp made. Henry VIII of England did this because he disliked paperwork. Even his will was signed with a stamp, which led to debates about its validity. See L. Flannigan, “Signed, Stamped, and Sealed.” 8/ 191
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025The apotheosis of signature transmission is the LongPen, invented in 2006 by none other than Margaret Atwood, who wanted to do book signings without traveling. A pen-wielding robot arm reproduces handwriting done on a touchscreen, while author and fan talk via video conference. 5/ 1121
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025A series of inventions in the second half of the 1800s made it possible to transmit handwriting over greater distances. The most popular, Elisha Gray’s telautograph, remained in use well into the second half of the 1900s, including by train dispatchers in Grand Central Station. 4/ 181
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Thomas Jefferson often used a tool confusingly called the polygraph, which basically combines two pantographs, one for vertical and the other for horizontal movements. Enabled him to retain a copy of letters and other things he wrote. (See Silvio Bedini, Thomas Jefferson and His Copying Machines) 1121
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025Machines to duplicate handwriting go way back. Hero of Alexander describes a device called the pantograph in his Mechanics (1st century CE). Basically four sticks hinged together in a parallelogram. Used most commonly to reduce or enlarge graphics. 2/ 1112
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 17/03/2025This is an autopen. The orange fascist claims that Biden’s pardons are invalid because an autopen was used to sign them. This is, of course, a load of shit, but because I’m currently writing a chapter about signature machines, I can’t resist…will add to this 🧵through the day… 27022
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 10/01/2025Presenting, I guess…the MLA jazz band. In my grad program we learned to call this kind of thing “problematic.” 020
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 07/01/2025OK, whose dad is currently trying his best on Reddit? 040
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 29/12/2024RIP to President Jimmy Carter. Here’s a feel-better pic of Jimmy Carter the pup. 041
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 04/12/2024Had a great time last night hosting a webinar on my research for 900+ high school teachers thru the National Humanities Center’s “Humanities in Class” series. Look them up if you’re a prof/researcher who wants to share ideas with enthusiastic secondary education folks! 030
Seth Perlow @sethperlow.bsky.social · 07/09/2023This ad was on the Reddit app. I’m calling it, American higher ed is done. 000
