Do join us @crasshlive.bsky.social on 26th & 27th September for an event showcasing research into the Bible Society Collections and discussing its future @theul.bsky.social @biblesoccollfuture.bsky.social Papers can be submitted until August 25th and registration opens shortly

A write up of our wonderful 'Great Bible Exhibition' and the scientific analysis carried out on the two stunning presentation copies for Henry VIII and Cromwell @hips-project.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social and National Library of Wales Such a joy to spend time with these books!

A printed ❤️ symbol from a 1702 text about the Holy Trinity.

On this day in 1509, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon were married #tilldeathdouspart HOW IT STARTED HOW IT ENDED

Happy International Heraldry Day! Why not celebrate by reading all about Archbishop Matthew Parker's uses of heraldry in Elizabethan England in this short piece of mine for @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social #coatsofarms #heraldry @theheraldrysociety.bsky.social

With Whitsunday approaching, here is a lovely depiction of Pentecost from Coverdale's 1538 English New Testament, with some lovely flames/Mohican haircuts on the heads of figures.... @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social CUL, BSS.201.B38.7 (STC 2836), sig. R2r

With Whitsunday approaching, here is a lovely depiction of Pentecost from Coverdale's 1538 English New Testament, with some lovely flames/Mohican haircuts on the heads of figures.... @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social CUL, BSS.201.B38.7 (STC 2836), sig. R2r

On Ascension Day, here is one of my favourite illustrations from the series of English New Testaments printed by Richard Jugge in the 1550s, depicting some lovely dangling feet and Christ's sandals left behind on the ground...🦶🦶 @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social, BSS.201.B52.3, sig. L3v

Listening to @harryspillane.bsky.social giving a fascinating talk on the Victorian Bible collector Francis Fry (1803-86) @theul.bsky.social. Bibles and chocolate!

Absolutely brilliantly informative & entertaining talk @theul.bsky.social by @harryspillane.bsky.social on Francis Fry: maker of chocolate and collector of Bibles.

Happening today! Looking forward to sharing all things Francis Fry @theul.bsky.social 📖🍫📖🍫📖🍫📖🍫📖🍫

Join Darwin Fellow @harryspillane.bsky.social at 5pm today at the UL, as he explores how Francis Fry, Victorian collector and heir to J.S Fry & Sons, combined two of life’s greatest pleasures: chocolate and bibliography. Book here if you plan to attend: www.lib.cam.ac.uk/rese.../even...

In advance of my Munby talk next week, my digitization of Francis Fry's magnum opus, his 'Description of the Great Bible', is available now It has bonkers fold-outs and stunning illustrations! @camdiglib.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-SSS-...

Archbishop Parker died on this day 450 years ago. He was Elizabeth I's first archbishop of Canterbury, a dedicated collector of manuscripts, and wearer of a very fine moustache @corpuscambridge.bsky.social @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social I discuss his portraiture here corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/mat...

Do come along on May 28th to hear all about Francis Fry, his bibles, and a little bit about his chocolate...which you might even get to try🍫 The fruits of my Munby Fellowship research @theul.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @darwincollegecam.bsky.social

Did you know Francis Fry, heir to the chocolate company J.S Frys & Sons, amassed one of the largest Bible collections ever known?🍫 Hear about Fry's meticulous yet controversial collecting habits in @harryspillane.bsky.social upcoming research talk. Free to book: loom.ly/J8GHfCw

📘New issue!🌟 Featuring articles from historians including Juraj Kittler, @harryspillane.bsky.social, Gio Maria Tessarolo, @1812andallthat.bsky.social, @mtoiv.bsky.social, @rowan-thompson.bsky.social, @briancasey123.bsky.social, @historytiia.bsky.social, Eve Pennington & Elizabeth Terry-Roisin! 🗃️

Meet an absolute unit of an #earlymodern bible. On this painting from Wybrand Hendriks, the thick volume of the bible is the main message. The woman may be sewing, and there is a dog present about to play with a ball, but the big book being bigger than the entire dog signals: well-doing deep faith.

This June, we have an exciting conference! It will showcase early career scholars working on the intersections between text, materiality and performance, both in and beyond the commercial theatres in Great Britain and Ireland in the long early modern period (1500-1800). www.sal.org.uk/event/revels/

My exploration of the Bible-tastic debates between William Fulke and Gregory Martin has now been published in @historicaljnl.bsky.social volume 68:2 How did Elizabethan Protestants defend the coexistence of different translations of the Bible in English? www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

POV: you’ve got a Teams call at 11, and a dragon to slay at 2… ⚔️🐉 St George in an early-fourteenth-century Book of Hours of East Anglian provenance (CUL MS Dd.4.17) loom.ly/INIxvgo.

A happy St George’s Day to those celebrating! Here is a detail of St George slaying the dragon from the latest acquisition of @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social / @corpuscambridge.bsky.social, so named the Parker Roundels (right) This was a 40th birthday present from Matthew Parker to Elizabeth I in 1573

Listen Now 📻🎤 'Biblical Typology' on In Our Time with the wonderful @mirierubin.bsky.social and Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe @peterhousecam.bsky.social, and me @darwincollegecam.bsky.social @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social Plus an Easter thread! tinyurl.com/2zchj3vy

📣There's still time to apply for our new collaborative doctoral studentship, in collaboration with @universityofleeds.bsky.social. Closing date is 30 April 2025!

📣Applications are also still open for this one too! Closing date: 16 May 2025. @camglamresearch.bsky.social

Tune in to BBC Radio 4 at 9am next Thursday to catch Darwin Research Fellow and Munby Fellow at Cambridge University Library @harryspillane.bsky.social on In Our Time. Harry will join Melvyn Bragg for a discussion on typology. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Details are now up for next week's BBC Radio 4 'In Our Time' where I have put my face for radio to use with the fabulous Miri Rubin (Queen Mary London) and Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe (@peterhousecam.bsky.social) to discuss Biblical Typology 🎤🎤🎤 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Teaching the Early Modern: A Webinar Series! CEMS will be hosting three online sessions on teaching practices and strategies. We'll have three sessions through the spring: 23rd April, 29th May, and 19th June. Full details below! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/teach... @kingsartshums.bsky.social

Unlike books and podcasts, lectures hold their audience captive – in person, at least. ⌛ Last chance to read the new Making History for free buff.ly/IhL2R1Y

29 Mar 1613: Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library, buried in a lavish ceremony at Merton College #Oxford having left £666 13s 4d for the obsequies (Bodl)

Chocolate 🍫 and Bibles 📖: two of life's great pleasures! Francis Fry amassed an enormous collection of bibles using his chocolate-based wealth. Here I explore how this collection has been catalogued over time... @theulspeccoll.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social #bookhistory #bibles #specialcollections

What links Bibles and chocolate? Victorian book collector Francis Fry, of course! Our Munby Fellow Dr Harry Spillane (@harryspillane.bsky.social) has blogged about his research into Fry's huge collection of Bibles, now @theulspeccoll.bsky.social. specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk?p=29942

Elizabeth I died #onthisday in 1603. Many images were produced of the Queen in her remarkable 45 year reign but this is one of the earliest printed images. Taken from the Rouen Bible (1566), the costs were covered by Richard Carmarden. It is discussed in further detail in my forthcoming book...

For anyone interested in the early Bodleian Library or early modern book owners, the Shaping Scholarship project at CELL, UCL has made the project data available: ebdo.org.uk/data/ It details every officially recorded donation made c. 1600-1620, plus some extras, which is around 10,000 items.

Happy St Patrick's Day!🍀🍀🍀 I'm currently editing a chapter of my Bishops' Bible book which explores the calendars. Although excluded from early Common Prayer calendars, the 1568 Bishops' Bible featured a fulsome calendar that did include Patrick. He had to share his moment with St Gertude...

Beautiful coats of arms and heraldic devices cover many of Archbishop Matthew Parker's books and manuscripts, but why? Read my latest blog for @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social to learn more about Parker's heraldic habits... (with lots of lovely pictures!) www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/mat...

Heraldry became an obsession for many in Elizabethan England Former Master of @corpuscambridge.bsky.social, Archbp Matthew Parker (d. 1575) did not just participate in this trend but served to heighten and develop it @harryspillane.bsky.social shows us how: www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/mat...

The Parker Roundels are such a wonderful creation. They show us Parker's playful and clever use of form, text and image, and so it is great to have them digitised for all to see. And a happy 15th anniversary to the wonderful Parker Library on the Web 🎉🎉🎉 Do make use of this fantastic resource...

We at the IHR Tudor & Stuart seminar aren't officially on Bluesky yet but ahead of our first session of the term tomorrow, do have a look at the programme here. All welcome! www.history.ac.uk/seminars/tud...

How did printing privileges forge connections and shape boundaries, as well as influence authorship and the public domain? Check out the introduction to our interdisciplinary issue edited by Marlise Rijks & Marius Bunning on early modern printing privileges in Low Countries. doi.org/10.51750/eml...

My review of Sarah Bastow's fascinating study of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York (1576-88), is out with The Sixteenth Century Journal. It is a great read that unravels the life of an oft-overlooked figure... www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... #earlymodern #englishreformation #reformazing

Can I ask any #earlymodern historians out there for article-length readings on the connections between books/print culture and mobility in the period? Collecting/libraries certainly but also role of mobile printers, materials, etc. Maybe @onslies.bsky.social has ideas ... ?

Have a glamorous friend in need of something trendy? Get them a handbag Bible! From @quaritch1847.bsky.social's latest catalogue of bindings.

More Archbishop Matthew Parker from me! This time the first portrait to be engraved in England, which is a treasure trove of symbols... I don't mention the cracking moustache but there is much more besides and a number of puzzles that I would welcome advice on

Our greatest benefactor, elizabethan archbishop Matthew Parker (d. 1575) had a portrait made - the first ever portrait engraved in England Dr Spillane explores its the rich symbolism: www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/mat... 📜 The manuscript is fully digitised: parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...

We are now on BlueSky! Here's a cute little angel from our Gutenberg Bible (Inc.1.A.1.1[3761]). Follow us for all the best special collections content!

Juicy Bible debates enclosed:

📣Out now on #firstview! Harry Spillane (@camhistory.bsky.social) on 'Debating Biblical Translation in Late Elizabethan England' #Catholic #Protestant #Religion #Christianity 16thc 📕📜🗃️ 👉Read open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

📣New HJ blog!✨ Harry Spillane (@camhistory.bsky.social) asks: how did Elizabethans deal with the co-existence of multiple translations of the Bible? #Bible #Protestant #Christianity #Language 16thc 📜📘🗃️ 👉Read here: www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...

Delighted this is out with @historicaljnl.bsky.social Research from my doctorate @camhistory.bsky.social, developed with a fellowship at @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social, and finished whilst a Munby Fellow at @theul.bsky.social Read on for juicy Bible debates 📖 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...