While having a bit of a declutter (NOT normal for me), I found a couple of used James Thin notebooks. The best notebooks EVER: gorgeous cream thin-lined paper. If memory serves, they were called 'Muriel Sparks' cos originally made for her. Wish they were still made...

Are you a community specialist and interested in the world of open source investigations? Come work with us! We're searching for a Community Operations & Project Manager. Apply by January 11th. www.bellingcat.com/bellingcat-j...

Can there ever be enough roasties?

I'm very excited to announce the launch of the #18thC Ecologies Network! Co-convened by myself & @calsutherland.bsky.social at @cecs-york.bsky.social , ECEN is a hub for researchers interested in the many diverse ecologies of the period 🌱 Find out more: hzj520.wixsite.com/eighteenth-c...

The ad for the second postdoctoral position on our @leverhulme.ac.uk Britain’s Early Medieval Letters project is now live. We’re looking for an Old English specialist (who also works with Latin). 32-month FT post. Deadline for apps is 16 Jan 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

A quick post to say I’ m taking a December break from posting about bit.ly/HayleyEssays,. Places to go, people to see, work to do, etc. … (etc = mostly sorting out messy piles of things that refuse to tidy themselves up because they’re inanimate objects and lack sentience).

1784. Painter in Enamels to King George III and in Miniatures to Queen Charlotte, Jeremiah Meyer had a plan. He brought a popular Opera back from Stuttgart, hoping his writer-friend William Hayley could earn some £ by translating it for the London stage… bit.ly/KnausMeyer in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

How did developer Michael Kowalski & I make an interactive biography – “HayleyWorld” – for my PhD? And why did I decide to call it a “zoeography"? bit.ly/MakingHW in bit.ly/HayleyEssays. Video intro here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4N.... #elit #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th

Interested in #WilliamBlake &/or biography? Read @jasonpaulwhittaker.bsky.social & @urthonaunbound.bsky.social’s: “‘Be My Enemy for Friendship’s Sake’: Hayley and Blake’s Biographers” bit.ly/BME4FS in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #Blake #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th

Poet, biographer, man of letters, and cultivator of influential literary and artistic networks during the late 18th century, William Hayley was considered one of the brightest stars in the poetical firmament. So why isn’t he more famous? See bit.ly/HonestChroni... our intro to bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Know I’m repeatedly repeating myself, but Mark Crosby & I have a book out, crammed with erudite, fascinating & readable contributions from an impressive range of scholars. If your research touches on long #18thC art, literature or socio-cultural history, please check out bit.ly/HayleyEssays TY!

Art historian and author/compiler of 𝙂𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙍𝙤𝙢𝙣𝙚𝙮: 𝘼 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 tells us what Romney got up to during his summer visits to William Hayley at his house in Eartham, Sussex. Discover more: bit.ly/HayleyRomneyBlake in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Leading Blake Scholar and editor of @blakequarterly.bsky.social Morton D. Paley discusses William Hayley’s poetry. Discover more: bit.ly/HayleyRomneyBlake in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Art historian and author/compiler of 𝙂𝙚𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙍𝙤𝙢𝙣𝙚𝙮: 𝘼 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 explains what makes Romney such an important artist. Discover more: bit.ly/HayleyRomneyBlake in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Best of frenemies? “The relationship is perhaps best understood as a drama in four acts …” Nicholas Shrimpton reassesses William Blake & William Hayley’s #friendship: bit.ly/RevisitHayleyBlake in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #Blake #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th Pic info in ALT text

@fbls.bsky.social observes how “Scholarly references to Hayley are … always in relation to her husband, hardly ever recognising her own intellectual merit.” A pity, as Hayley had plenty to say… bit.ly/ElizaHayleyAuthor #lifewriting #18thC #c18th #womenshistory #womenswriting #reputation

I love this ⬇️

Claudia Thomas Kairoff, author of THE Anna Seward book-length critical study –bit.ly/CTKAS – discovered Romney’s 2nd portrait of the poet in her local library bit.ly/HayleySeward in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #18thC #c18th #romanticism #portraits #arthistory #poetry #womenshistory

Read Morton D. Paley’s take on William Hayley & George Romney’s paintings bit.ly/HayleyRomneyPaintings in bit.ly/HayleyEssays The most likely candidate for the actual bust? This:

‘“if Hayley is deemed a furious Democrat what must be the state of patriotism in this country?”'. Mark Crosby explores William Hayley’s Milton biography and politics bit.ly/MiltonHayley in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th #Milton #republicanism #politics

William Hayley wrote one of the 18th century’s bestsellers advising young women on how to attract and keep a husband. But none of 𝙝𝙞𝙨 intimate relationships ended well: and his sister-in-law called him ‘A Systematically Immoral Man'. I spill the ☕️: bit.ly/systematical... in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Just had to edit my bio after saying bye to my 19.5YO cat Kooky. Am now only herded by one cat 😟. But it was a peaceful, dignified end at home for her, after a last meal of her fave tinned tuna in spring water.

“Hayley’s literary relationship with Dante had a central role in the rediscovery of the Italian poet at the turn of the nineteenth century in England”. Read Silvia Riccardi's bit.ly/DanteHayley in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th #Dante #Inferno #divinecomedy

“In his phraseology, he was paying tribute to Jane Austen, whose novels … he had been reading as he wrote [his memoir]”. Hayley ❤️Austen? bit.ly/AustenHayley in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th #romance #JaneAusten #romanticism #19thc #womenswriting #womenshistory

“… the death of his only son at the age of 19 challenged … [Hayley’s] … assumptions about the workings of sympathy. The writing that Hayley produced in the aftermath … have also challenged later readers …" Fathers, sons & memoirs. Susan Matthews on bit.ly/BeingTemperate in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Looking forward to Saturday's event & ear-reading the book later this week.

Happy 280th birthday William Hayley! Want to know more about the dude • credited with reforming "the entire female mind of England” • who lobbied the PM for a pension for his mentally ill best friend & • tried to cure him by creating "a large & Complicated intellectual Machine"? bit.ly/HayleyEssays

Jan 1792. Two poets are cast as ‘rival biographers’ of Milton. But one letter switches competition to collaboration & kicks off a surprising tale of love, poetry, mental illness & money. bit.ly/HayleyCowper in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #18thC #c18th #bromance #friendship Pic deets in ALT

Reminder that the next Stephen Copley Award deadline is 15th November! The Stephen Copley Research Award funds bursaries of up to £500 for postgraduate and early-career researchers. See the website for more information on eligibility and how to apply: www.bars.ac.uk/main/index.p...

1784. Jeremiah Meyer, miniature painter in enamels to King George III, brought a popular opera back from Germany, thinking his friend William Hayley could make £ translating it for the London stage. What could possibly go wrong? Read bit.ly/KnausMeyer in bit.ly/HayleyEssays for the full story.

How did developer Michael Kowalski & I make an interactive biography – “HayleyWorld” – for my PhD? And why did I decide to call it a “zoeography"? bit.ly/MakingHW in bit.ly/HayleyEssays. Video intro here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4N.... #elit #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th

Interested in #WilliamBlake &/or biography? Read @jasonpaulwhittaker.bsky.social & @urthonaunbound.bsky.social’s: “‘Be My Enemy for Friendship’s Sake’: Hayley & Blake’s Biographers” bit.ly/BME4FS in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #Blake #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th Pic detailss in ALT

It’s my birthday! So if you want to make me happy, go look at bit.ly/HayleyEssays! It’s priced as an academic book (cos that’s what it is), so please only buy a copy if you are a) an academic or academic-adjacent institution or b) super-rich! But do go and have a look. TY! #HappyBirthdayToMe

In our intro to bit.ly/HayleyEssays, Mark Crosby & I explain William Hayley’s significance, discuss the book’s chapters & point to research still to be done (there’s LOADS!). So, if you’re an #18thC-ist, or a #Romanticist looking for a new research project/focus, check out bit.ly/HonestChronicler.

If you’ve been following me for a few weeks, you’ll know that I’ m super-proud of the book Mark Crosby & co-edited about William Hayley (1745-1820). If you don’t already know this & are interested in long #18thC art, lit, women's or socio-cultural history, please check out bit.ly/HayleyEssays TY!

Me. Yesterday. Feel v lucky that my body can do this. (Video shows short woman wearing pink toe shoes jumping slightly more than half her height)

Alex Kidson – the World’s leading Romney expert – whose conversation with leading Blakean Morton D. Paley forms bit.ly/HayleyRomneyBlake in bit.ly/HayleyEssays, is editor of the stunning www.amazon.co.uk/George-Romne.... Both he & the book feature in this video… youtu.be/nCBFJGcpB2Q

Nicholas Shrimpton whose bit.ly/RevisitHayleyBlake in bit.ly/HayleyEssays reassesses the Blake-Hayley relationship, is the editor of the Oxford World’s Classics edition of 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙢 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚: 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙋𝙤𝙚𝙢𝙨 and writes for 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘾𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙣. See more of his writing here:

Part 2 of the video shared in yesterday’s post re @fbls.bsky.social’s essay on on erased 18thC author Eliza Hayley bit.ly/ElizaHayleyAuthor in bit.ly/HayleyEssays

@fbls.bsky.social observes how “Scholarly references to Hayley are … always in relation to her husband, hardly ever recognising her own intellectual merit.” A pity, as Hayley had plenty to say… bit.ly/ElizaHayleyAuthor in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #18thC #c18th #womenshistory #womenswriting

The Warwick PhD Scholarships Competition for 2025 entry is open! Deadline: 8 Dec. 2025 (course applications); 11 Dec. 2025 (funding). Get in touch. warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/mod...

In this On History blog, Gaverne Bennett and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the histories of race and ethnicity

A few years back I applied, unsuccessfully, for a (smallish) research grant. As the funder revealed how many applications they'd had, I did a quick back-of-an-envelope calculation. My estimate is that for every £1 they were putting into the sector, they were extracting c. 99p in labour.

'Before William Wordsworth’s imagination had wandered, lonely as a cloud, and before John Keats’s nib had quivered with notions about nightingales, a Black woman named Phillis Wheatley was circulating a treasury of nature-inspired verse in London.'

The only person to write a book length critical study of the poet, Claudia Thomas Kairoff was amazed to discover a major portrait of Seward in a local library bit.ly/HayleySeward in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #18thC #c18th #romanticism #portraits #arthistory #friendship #poetry #womenshistory

Great 12-month opportunity for an historian. Salary: £36,799 (Grade 5: Development Worker grade). Edinburgh/hybrid. Closing date 21 October.

“The bust [is] nevertheless of a size never likely to have been realized. (Doesn’t the pictured Hayley realize this incongruity?)” Morton D. Paley on William Hayley & George Romney’s paintings buff.ly/BuYPfpF in bit.ly/HayleyEssays Actual bust? Probably this: buff.ly/kfNHnhK #ArtHistory #18thC

‘“if Hayley is deemed a furious Democrat what must be the state of patriotism in this country?”'. Mark Crosby explores William Hayley’s Milton biography and politics bit.ly/MiltonHayley in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th #Milton #republicanism #politics

Just catching up with #TheArchers. Because that's what Sundays are for. That and 08.15am boot camp (yes. That was a distinctly (unhumble) brag)

“A Systematically Immoral Man” who “committed the vilest sins from a pure motive”. Safe to say that William Hayley’s sister-in-law was not a fan. Find out more: bit.ly/systematicallyimmoral in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #lifewriting #18thC #c18th #marriage #divorce #romanticism #19thc #womenshistory