Dr Mark Purcell

Students looking at a display of scrapbooks in the Churchill Archives Centre reading room

Part of a display of scrapbooks set up on book rests in Churchill Archives Centre reading room

Conservation tools

It was a delight to share this fabulous display of scrapbooks, curated by our former colleague @cherishwatton.bsky.social, with students from @camhistory.bsky.social studying women in Cambridge. Students spent time turning the pages of the scrapbooks and discussing their contents

#archives #history

To celebrate #InternationalBagPipeDay here is a pleased looking pooch playing the puppy pipes. M.S. B.11.27 mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B...

Ludlow

One of my favourite views in the whole of #Shropshire - Ludlow Castle seen from Whitcliffe Common. The medieval ruins are bathed in a golden glow at sunset, making them stand out against the distant dark slopes of Brown Clee. The light didn't last for long, so I was glad I was there to capture it.

🎉 The latest publication from the IMEMS Press with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social is this annotated diary, ed. & translated by Sara Ayres! 📚

Order here: boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-gra...

Two Working LEGO Printing Presses | LEGO® Ideas The development of mechanical printing changed how ideas move through the world. Once text and images could be printed rather than copied by hand, knowledge was…

Hi #EarlyModern Bluesky - did you know that someone brilliant has built working printing presses using Lego and they are trying to get enough supporters so that Lego will release it as a kit?

They look so cool!

beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

Excellent!

those in Cambridge: I'm giving a talk on Wednesday to the Cambridge Bibliophiles on 'Obliterated Provenances in Early Modern Books' (Peterhouse, 8:45) ... and a talk on Thursday to the Material Texts Seminar on 'Halliwell-Phillipps, theft, and the problem of identifying manuscripts' (5pm)

9 Mar 1649: James Butler Marquess of Ormond writes #otd to Michael Jones parliamentary commander in #Dublin (who was against the regicide) to try to persuade him to declare for Charles II in an attempt to take Dublin without a battle

9 Mar 1593: William Herbert, future 3rd Earl of Pembroke, courtier & patron of the arts matriculates at New College #Oxford #otd Here he is with Charles I, Henrietta Maria, Jeffery Hudson & Philip Herbert (GAC)

Have you been to the Armenian Tavern?

This afternoon to Ely.

For anyone who knew Michael Kuczynski, this was a wonderful, very moving service. It is still available to view via the link below.

These are lovely: anything with a manicule gets my attention, then the precise distances and the two routes to Rutherglen just add to the pleasing details. Onto the bucket list...

The Helyar Jewel is an exceptionally fine memorial jewel for Charles I, whose portrait is concealed by a hinged cover in the floral enamel back. Made in England, c. 1650 - 1670 (Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

It was great to be part of this historic event

What to see at TEFAF Maastricht 2026 This year’s highlights include a striking portrait of Saint Jerome by Orazio Gentilschi and a painting by Caroline Walker made especially for the fair

What to see at TEFAF Maastricht this year? Anna Brady’s highlights include a striking portrait of Saint Jerome by Orazio Gentilschi and a painting by Caroline Walker made especially for the fair

Greeted on return to house last night …

Always nice to dine in another college on a Friday night

Assistant Professor in Early Modern British History, University of Warwick | MEMOs University of Warwick, United Kingdom

Explore our job opportunities focused on the Medieval and Early Modern periods (thread 🧵):

1. Assistant Professor in Early Modern British History, University of Warwick
memorients.com/news/assista...

Block-printed endpapers on a copy of Seibt, Katholisches Lehr- und Gebethbuch (Augsburg, 1792).

Fascinating new article by Nick Karn, focusing on the material aspects of charters to identify forgeries— including upside-down seals! Open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Second Projects – A roundtable and discussion sponsored by History UK - ROUNDTABLE - RHS Second projects should be, and can be, an exciting stage in an academic career. However, they can also be daunting, challenging and confusing, particularly in the context of a higher education climate...

Very pleased to promote this forthcoming event - on 'Second Projects for Historians' - organised and hosted by History UK.

Now booking for Tuesday 16 March at 2pm bit.ly/47saS26 #Skystorians

At Bury St Edmunds for evensong to mark the donation of the 15c Bury Psalter to the cathedral. A large number of the other surviving books from the medieval abbey library have been in the library of @pembroke1347.bsky.social for 400 years, and are now in the care of @theul.bsky.social in Cambridge.

The Clarendon Building at twilight featuring its coloumns and a muse figure on the roof. The statute appears to be holding up the full moon, creating an optical illusion.

The perfect spot at the perfect time!

Thank you for this fantastic picture of the Clarendon Building, Kshitij Mohan 👏

📸 | kshitijmohan.oxford (Instagram)

NAI IHP/1/685. https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/VRTI-CEN-1766-2-685 Image of the original cover sheet, showing fold-marks to form an envelope. The red wax seal was broken to open the letter. The letter was sent from T.PERARY (Tipperary) shown at the top, the date AP|28 (April 28th) appears in a circle at the bottom. A century later this item was deposited in the new Public Record Office of Ireland at the Four Courts. While most of the 1766 census records perished in 1922, this survivor gives a good sense of how the originals looked.

Close-up image of the seal and stamps on: NAI IHP/1/685. https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/VRTI-CEN-1766-2-685 Image of the original cover sheet, showing fold-marks to form an envelope. The letter was sent from T.PERARY (Tipperary) on AP|28 (April 28th).

https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/gold-seams/1766-religious-census

Remarkably, some original census covers survive! A red wax seal is still visible on this return for Clonbeg, sent from Tipperary Town to Henry Baker Sterne, Parliament House, Dublin on 28 April 1766.
Ironically, Baker Sterne had died a fortnight previously.
virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-IHP...
👀 ALT

Meticulously rendered macaw on a plain ground. Its talon seems to be wrapped around a branch, but none can be seen. The bird just floats on the paper. Script identifies it as Pssitacus Arauna at the bottom

Jacopo Ligozzi, Psittacus Ararauna (Blue and Gold Macaw), c. 1580-1600, 67 x 45.6 cm. Florence, Uffizi

Today in Brum, and delighted to see the new blue plaque in honour of John Baskerville, whose 3000+ typographical punches are in @theul.bsky.social in Cambridge (as well as being a key figure in the Midlands Enlightenment Baskerville was also Printer to the University of Cambridge).

Read how our team has been 'relighting' the surface of the Baskerville punches from different angles, revealing details like scratches, rust, and engraving marks that are invisible under normal lighting baskervillepunches.org/how-rti-reve...

I almost did my thesis in Baskerville (switched to the slightly more modern Cambria)

A close-up of a person wearing teal gloves holding a small metal type punch engraved with an ampersand symbol. In the background, part of the person’s face is softly out of focus.

A bearded man wearing teal gloves uses a green rubber air blower to clean a small metal type punch. He sits at a desk with an open wooden case filled with neatly arranged metal punches, while a computer monitor displaying a magnified image is visible in the background.

🔎 Rare 18th-century punches used to create the original Baskerville typeface have been digitised and released online.
Designers, historians and the wider public now have the opportunity to study the physical tools that shaped modern typography.
🔗https://loom.ly/1ulLaFI