CfP for a special issue on scientific bubbles in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science! 🫧🧐 Deadline for submissions is July 15. #HPBio #HistSci #PhilSci

Small, groundbreaking exhibition on 16th-century painter Catharina van Hemessen coming to Antwerp and London next year

The core problem with large language model AI programs like Chat-gpt or Grok or Gemini is that their “hallucinations” are a normal part of how they work. Such hallucinations reveal that they have no concept of truth and by definition cannot place value on it.

Let's greet the new year like they did in 1601 Königsberg: with a parade and a giant bratwurst! 1/2

So I'll close by saying that we're still here, and we're still doing interesting and relevant things. When you hear Renaissance, think of Surekha Davies, and Paula Findlen, and Sarah Ross, and Nic Baker, and Brian Maxson, and Lydia Barnett, and Kate Lowe, and Hannah Marcus, and Ada Palmer, and more.

Ending the year with a striking #woodcut… This 16th-century broadside records the apparition of a comet on 11 November 1577 above the Scheldt with Antwerp’s skyline below. /1 #bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Here's something for people interested in #18c history. The personal archive of a member of a global merchant family, with connections in different points of the Spanish and British empires. War between Spain and Britain affected their operations (Nicolás was captured by a British ship).

"Paper Regimes of the Publishing World: A Bird’s Eye View on the Materiality of Global Book History" is published in open access in the journal Globalgeschichte / Global History, vol. 3.2 (2025), pp. 1-28, DOI doi.org/10.13173/GG.... Here is a link: www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/ddo/artikel/... 3/3

Creepy thread

Amsterdam in the seventeenth century is a city where women are the true backbone. They keep the city running while men are at sea or abroad – as labourers, businesswomen, caregivers, regentesses, artists and also as sex workers. #Amsterdam #newcanon #amsterdam750 www.amsterdam.nl/stadsarchief...

WINTER Term Card: We are excited to share our seminar schedule for next term! Our slate of speakers cover a range of #18thc British history topics. Registrations are now open (with paper abstracts) at the link below 👎 @ihr.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

🚨 Applications are now open for the 2026–27 Koch History Centre Fellowships at Oxford! We are seeking 12 historians (9 junior, 3 senior) for a one-year fellowship at Wadham College & the Faculty of History. This year’s theme: “Scarcity and Abundance” Deadline: 17 Dec 2025 Please share widely!

The newly redeveloped Getty Provenance Index is now available (@gettymuseum.bsky.social; #arthistory, #skystorians): www.getty.edu/tracingart/

Friday 28 Nov 5:30 London time : Eliot Benbow will speak to the IHR Low Countries Seminar on “Low Countries Merchants in and around London c. 1350-1550: Specialising in the Trade of Everyday Goods”, in person IHR Wolfson Rm 2, and online. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Friday 28 Nov 5:30 London time : Eliot Benbow will speak to the IHR Low Countries Seminar on “Low Countries Merchants in and around London c. 1350-1550: Specialising in the Trade of Everyday Goods”, in person IHR Wolfson Rm 2, and online. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Come and apply to be the Professor of Bibliography & Modern Book History @engfacoutreach.bsky.social & @jesusoxford.bsky.social (and work closely with us @bodleian.ox.ac.uk). Following a long line of great scholars: Don McKenzie, Kathryn Sutherland, & Dirk van Hulle ... my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

JOB POSTING! Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...

Huntington-USC Early Modern Studies Institute, early modern Europe seminar, Fri 21 Nov, 12-2 pm: Kathy Stuart, “The Devil’s Bath: Suicide by Proxy and the History of Emotions in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Germany, Seaver Classroom 1-2, Huntington. All welcome.

Reminder that from the beginning of next year I’m available for work! Writing, narrative design, historical & narrative consultancy, research, teaching. I’m particularly fond of applying historical approaches to worldbuilding & storytelling in interactive mediums

The David Richards Junior Research Fellowship in Economic History University of Oxford - Wadham College #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH050/t...

New #CFP on 'Embodied Knowledge Practices in the Early Modern World', to be held in June 2026 at the University of Amsterdam Abstracts of >200 words due by the 1 February 2026 #18thc #skystorians 🗃️

Junior Research Fellowships 2026/27 (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences) University of Oxford - Christ Church www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPG873/j... #skystorians 🗃️

Friday 31 Oct Dirk van Miert will speak to the IHR Low Countries Seminar on “The Synod of Dordrecht: Binding the Anglo-Dutch Orthodox Republic of Letters.” In person IHR Wolfson Rm 2 & online, 5:30 pm London time (clocks have changed in UK). Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Friday 31 Oct Dirk van Miert will speak to the IHR Low Countries Seminar on “The Synod of Dordrecht: Binding the Anglo-Dutch Orthodox Republic of Letters.” In person IHR Wolfson Rm 2 & online, 5:30 pm London time (clocks have changed in UK). Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Friday 31 Oct Dirk van Miert will speak to the IHR Low Countries Seminar on “The Synod of Dordrecht: Binding the Anglo-Dutch Orthodox Republic of Letters.” In person IHR Wolfson Rm 2 & online, 5:30 pm London time (clocks have changed in UK). Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Join us in Rome or online for a seminar on plant illustrations on 6 November! 🪴🌻🌿 Through images of mandrakes and ferns, @fabribald.bsky.social and I will be discussing issues in the role of images in early modern botany. www.biblhertz.it/events/43483...

Today, Sid and I are attempting a recipe for “roy marmelaede” with quinces from the Antwerp Annunciates’ recipe book (first half 17th century, with some later additions - @kbrbe.bsky.social). Quite curious as to how this will go (1/?) #earlyModern #bookhistory #womenshistory #foodhistory

Such empathy with these huddled beasts on a 10th/11thC whalebone chesspiece, perhaps a rook or a bishop, snuggling up against cold and damp autumn days… www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

Portrait of a goldsmith, 1580. By Hans Hoffmann. It's his day today.

This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️ We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges

I will use any excuse to bring up Dürer's self-portrait again when talking about his drawings.

See the fantastic work of our colleague Alana Harris @dralanagharris.bsky.social on the history of Horton cemetery #Epsom #London www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #WorldMentalHealthDay

Happy to learn that USC has declined to join the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.

GET READY FOR FRIDAY! Make plans to get to lovely Bloomsbury if you're in the neighbourhood, or sign up for the zoom link by Thursday evening. (or, if you like to live on the edge, get a picture of a Good Tree ready to bribe me for the clandestine zoom link on Friday) #LowCountries #ArtHistory

Excited to read this new book by Martha Howell!

#Job opportunity Lecturer in early modern history Full time - permanent

Seems like we're getting another influx of new users, so for all those interested in art and art history I'd highly recommend the Bluesky for Art History starter pack created by @joshuajfriedman.com go.bsky.app/NKHmh87

FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, Alexander Marr (Cambridge) will speak on “Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys,” IHR Low Countries Seminar, in person IHR Wolfson Rm NB02 and online, 5:30 London time. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Book launch October 23rd! Join CEMS for the launch of Prof. @evelynwelch.bsky.social's Renaissance Skin. We'll be gathering in King's History department. Comments from Dr. @historyelaine.bsky.social and Dr. Paolo Savoia. Chaired by Dr. @hsmurphy.bsky.social. kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/renai...

Congratulations to @judithpollmann.bsky.social on the Spinoza Prize!

FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, Alexander Marr (Cambridge) will speak on “Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys,” IHR Low Countries Seminar, in person IHR Wolfson Rm NB02 and online, 5:30 London time. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, Alexander Marr (Cambridge) will speak on “Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys,” IHR Low Countries Seminar, in person IHR Wolfson Rm NB02 and online, 5:30 London time. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

What should I read first by László Krasznahorkai?

As you dig out your chunky knitwear from the back of the draw, I know you are wondering: 'How did people prepare for winter 400 years ago?' Read today's post to find out (and whet your appetite for our new book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England) manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...

'A nationwide survey commissioned by Henry VIII on the property and wealth of 16th century England and Wales is to be made publicly accessible for the first time. The survey, known as the Valor Ecclesiasticus, set out to discover the financial state of the Church'.

Want to work on the history of hair? I am looking for a doc and postdoc to join my project team researching #earlymodern hair, race, trade and multispecies history at the University of Lucerne. Do apply and spread the word! www.unilu.ch/en/universit... www.unilu.ch/en/universit...

Friends, with the world on fire, it feels useless to be here selling my services. But I do need to keep the lights on, and the #maps pay the bills. So...if you need a map(s) for a book project, let me know! I have space for new commissions. Here are a few of my favorite maps I've done lately: 1/2

Exceptionnaly a #asiteoftheweek in Dutch. The Folktale Database of the Low Countries at the Meertens Institute contains over 100,000 stories from the past and present. All genres are represented: fairy tales, sagas, legends, riddles, jokes, urban myths and the like.

First post of the new academic year and it's a good one: JOBS! There are THREE fixed-term research jobs in @kingshistory.bsky.social attached to my colleague Francisco Bethencourt's new ERC project on the Visual and Material Culture of New Christians. Please circulate! #EarlyModern 🗃️