"It is intriguing, too, to think not just about the immutable heavens, but how varied are the ways we give them shape." Excited to read this @wsj.com review of "Mapping the Heavens," an exhibit curated by my colleagues @jasonwdean.com & @finchinthestacks.bsky.social. #histSTM #astronomy #KCMO 🗃️📜

Pleased to read a review of @finchinthestacks.bsky.social, Kim Masteller (N-A) & mine’s show, “Mapping the Heavens”- we’re proud of it, glad to see our work discussed on the national stage in @wsj.com ! www.wsj.com/arts-culture... q 📜 #bookhistory #booksky #libsky #histstm 🔬 #histastro #rarebooks

A minor miracle: just connected to eduroam at the University of Copenhagen

Well, @sibyllacumae.bsky.social and I are back at it and on schedule again (!) this month, talking about incunables. Link in the post below, share and enjoy! 📜 #bookhistory #booksky #libsky #rarebooks

There are a lot of things to say about incunabula and we couldn’t fit them all in here. But please enjoy @jasonwdean.com and I doing a little riff on the appeals of the earliest European printed books and going wild with the footnotes. twohalfsheets.substack.com/p/on-incunab...

Greetings from Copenhagen! Danish book photos to come!

Just posting my absolute favorite copypasta (yes even more favorite than the navyseal one) because every 6 months or so I’m reminded again of its existence and I laugh just as hard as the first time

This is a very solid overview, worth the read. (Not mentioned are the more localized economic hits as a result of DOGE and other austerity campaigns.) www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Just picked up my freshly altered tuxedo in time for the AIB congress: see you soon, Copenhagen!

"If the rule you followed brought you to this... of what use was the rule?" (From soon to be Spencer rare book, A1632) (Also, I wish I could slap this compositor) 📜 #bookhistory #booksky #libsky #rarebooks

A really great position with an outstanding supervisor working with a BONKERS collection! 📜 #bookhistory #booksky #libsky #histstm 🔬 #histastro #rarebooks

‪Our colleagues at the Nelson-Atkins made this great video of @finchinthestacks.bsky.social and I talking about books for the "Mapping the Heavens" show we co-curated - and it's up now! Watch, share, enjoy, etc! 📜 #bookhistory #booksky #libsky #histstm 🔬 #histastro 🔭 www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8PB...

Wikipedia editors trying to fend off the onslaught of AI crap have crowdsourced some telltale signs of LLM-generated writing; it might be handy for editors and proofreaders generally. Thanks to @ellenrykers.com for pointing me to it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...

Mans is all fun and games until the 20th c rebinder decided to put the title page and one of the prelims from vol. 1 randomly in the final signature of volume 2????? 📜

Saw this mans while cataloging a gift book, soon to be Spencer SC Annex 1212. 📜 #bookhistory #booksky #libsky

Recently one of our manuscripts was rebound in modern conservation binding. Follow the progress, and an amazing discovery, as our Head of Conservation reveals the steps taken for this careful work A deep dive in medieval manuscript binding 🕵️ www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/chr...

Here's the finished record, for those curious to see the end result: catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pweb...

This, from the Quakers, is a pretty good example of how to resist pressure from bigot lobbying groups. Effectively “we legally can allow trans people to use the loo, we morally should, and we tried it and nothing bad happened”

A new acquisition arrived here, in which the bookseller notes "a couple skips in pagination". Friends, there were at least EIGHT. The book collates correctly, no breaks in text, but maybe let's try and identify these?

Clearly one of my predecessors here at Spencer had a lovely hand, as seen in the shelf mark cards box: 📜

I'm collating a French book with some obvious missing leaves, and kept having different leaf counts from the formula and the pagination. It helps, Jason, when you write the correct number of leaves in a signature (it's 12 instead of 2, dingus). That's why you check leaf count, I suppose?

The NACO record, for those following along: lccn.loc.gov/no2025094061

My kind colleagues at Spencer do new staff profiles, mine went live yesterday - enjoy! (Reposting for the weekday crowd) #rarebooks 📜 blogs.lib.ku.edu/spencer/meet...

My kind colleagues at Spencer do new staff profiles, mine went live yesterday - enjoy! (Will repost for the weekday crowd) #rarebooks 📜 blogs.lib.ku.edu/spencer/meet...

Coming soon: "Pages of Stars: Case Studies in the History of the Astral Sciences from the Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection," a lecture from SIMS Fellow Michael Zellman-Rohrer, Freie Universität Berlin. Friday, September 19, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT, on ZOOM Register here: https://bit.ly/3UjpXfE 1/4

I didn't think I needed a new recording of the Glass Etudes on an accordion, but Spotify put it in my new releases, and well I guess I did need it? Love to hear the etudes in a new way! open.spotify.com/album/5v22Rv...

I was this many days old when I learned @davidbowles.us has a free basic classical Nahuatl course ... don't mind if I do nahuatl.thinkific.com/courses/free...

Wired: sourcing a bookplate with a removed name. Tired: having to create a NACO record for the person whose bookplate I just found. 📜 #rarebooks #bookhistory

Resharing my A.I. statement for the fall semester—I’ll be amending “hallucinatory” because hallucinations are actually interesting and original.

Well, friends, I will be in Copenhagen from the 7-14 of September. Would love to see and meet folks if they are there and interested!

"It's not MSNBC anymore, Lemon. It's MS NOW. We bought the name off of a defunct multiple sclerosis awareness organization. It wasn't cheap, but we were able to save some money by selling Brian Williams to a Saudi prince who wanted to expand his harem."

I, for one, take comfort in this fact.

Sam Elliott.

(Inspired by @sarahbc.bsky.social): it's the feast day of St. Mary, the patroness of my local parish. Sharing one of my favorite "alabados" from New Mexico: "Madre de Dolores," which helped carry me through some bad times: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOOy...

Photo 2 - the 1000 yard stare of yours truly

WAIT WHAT THIS IS ACTUALLY RICHARD AYOADE!? I saw it in the NYR and thought, wow that author looks a lot like Ayoade...

Counting myself very fortunate to have not one, but several, extremely smart and generous colleagues with whom I genuinely enjoy co-writing

The Hunt for Red October (5th grade)

Proud UAKU union member! uaku.org

I am facing north for new faculty orientation.

Happy 350th birthday to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich! the foundation stone was laid at 3:14 pm on 10 August 1675 (OS). We know because the astronomer there, John Flamsteed, drew up a horoscope. See more here teleskopos.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/a... #histSTM #histsci

Well, @sibyllacumae.bsky.social and I are back (on schedule), with a longer-ish issue - we're talking about bindings! Read it here: 📜 #bookhistory open.substack.com/pub/twohalfs...

So here's how this ended up... #rarebooks 📜

French books… are gonna be French books I suppose?

I think y'all know that a religious practice is a big part of my life. I was raised in a conservative, evangelical church which I grew away from as I got older. Anyhow, a little context for why I am trying not to cry as I read this at my desk: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...

It is an honor to count @finchinthestacks.bsky.social as a colleague, collaborator, and friend. I am immensely proud of him and grateful for his scholarship and thoughfulness and expertise. He's off to Really Great Things, and his departure is another MAJOR loss for our former workplace.

It's official! My last day at the Linda Hall Library will be this Friday, August 8th. Watch this space for where I’m off to! In the meantime, I’ve got to pack up for an international move…