Quick run (well, a brisk walk) before sunset; pleased to report none of that cloudless summer nonsense remains.

Enjoy reading in September! Here is an updated list of new #nonfiction #books about the #18thcentury scheduled for this month: regency-explorer.net/new-releases/ #Regency #Napoleon #history #JaneAusten #read #18thc

Finally starting to read this in its entirety, having previously enjoyed extracts here and there. Someone really ought to repeat his route next year to mark its 230th anniversary! #HistBookChat #IrishHistory

It bothers me slightly that we still don't know Croker's reaction to having mountains, then not having mountains.

Cupid’s Arrow/Crow Conversation

Yet to read this, but such a great cover, too - enjoyed reading the interview with its designer yalebooks.co.uk/an-interview... #NapoleonicHistory

Foggy river this morning instead of the sea - could it possibly mean the start of the season known elsewhere as "autumn" and practically invisible here?

Picked up "Second Identity" for commute reading; yet to break through its multiple waves of history to the main topic, but enjoying some of Cobb's observations a little too much. I could almost forgive him his dislike of hills and Scotland (not in a million years, Sir😀) #HistoryBookChat

Layers and stairs (another sunny day ignored ☑️)

Learning from @hartleyspecialc.bsky.social that the Duke of Wellington was once sent a dog, ship's biscuit and preserved meat from an Arctic voyage, I suspected John Ross - wrongly, bc it seems the goods came from Parry's 2nd expedition. The sender is Capt. Hill en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hi... 1/3

#C18 #NavalHistory #HistoryBookChat

‪Enjoy reading about the #18thc in August! Here is the updated list of new #nonfiction #books about the 18th century scheduled for this month: regency-explorer.net/new-releases/ #Regency #Napoleon #history #JaneAusten #read #18thc

Spot the odd one out on the horizon! (She is B.A.P. Unión, the Peruvian training ship, fifth from the left - and is, I hope, rightfully scornful of the lowly supply boats around her).

So tempted to follow this advice at work, but the tragedy is that no one would even notice...

Been left with the spare human and am indignant. Send treats pls.

I was both taken aback by, and loved one particular archive’s general permission to share photographs of their material “with one other person.” I think more archives sd do it in just such a fashion, mixing memory and… whatever it is one has with that one person.

Continuing my pictorial protest against bright sun, blue sky and shouty neighbours all at once; I'm sure there's an idea for a project here somewhere.

Was startled by a strange, rasping, cackling noise but it was only my print TBR pile laughing at my e-TBR pile.

If you're a member of the Maritime Museum, please come to my talk tomorrow night, at 6.30pm, on the life of Eleanor Anne Porden! She's done much more than *just* being married to John Franklin - she was an acclaimed poet and fascinating person. Hope to see you there! www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...

A delightfully irregular house in Norwich. If I owned this, it would be called Apertures (don't judge:)).

Whales have gained a somewhat unexpected champion in Princess Lieven. Sir W. Congreve and his rockets, on the other hand…

For anyone who may need to see/hear the sea today (sound up):

The British Newspaper Archive are currently offering 25% off all subs (code at top of their page): www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

One of the reasons I hate summer on the east coast of Scotland is that scenes like this last for about 5 seconds and the rest of nearly every day is a hell of non-colour, stuffy air and no atmosphere whatsoever.

Enjoy reading in June! Here is a list of new #nonfiction #books about the #18thcentury scheduled for this month: regency-explorer.net/new-releases/ - UPDATED - #Regency #Napoleon #history #JaneAusten #read

On a recent #researchtrip, was tickled by the "I will not supply this copy to more than one other person" line on photography form. Haven't come across this extra special concession before; imagine the potential for a Valentine Day marketing campaign!

Light and shadow early this morning.

If the point of a biography is to make its subject live, this recent one unfortunately leaves Parry as reliably dead as its two rather ‘meh’ predecessors did, with a difference that it reads like a near-endless scroll of badly joined up Wikipedia entries of variable quality. 1/2 #histbookchat

Sadly, they don't write footnotes like this any more. Luckily, they don't practise Mr. Edgeworth's methods of child rearing any more.

Very upset that the Tunnock Prize is a cash prize rather than a massive tea cake…

Really looking forward to doing a tiny bit of this tomorrow; it's not like I don't have enough of my 'own' letters waiting to be transcribed, but still so nosy to see a few examples from other letter writers from the same time and observe similarities/differences...

Is there a collective, suitably dismissive term for “this period of history is far too modern for me,” sort of “this is all ancient history” but in reverse? Asking for a friend who is keen to use it more often.

Having only known Mary Delany from her journals, felt v. lucky to catch some 'paper-mosaicks' at a selection of her works at the MAC Belfast. The detail and colour are stunning; the fact she created nearly a 1,000 in her 70s and early 80s is something else. #c18 www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/bri...

This is on today, in a few hours, in case anyone’s interested:

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate - here is a makeshift cross I found by the side of the road especially for the occasion…

A blustery day in Donaghadee, which used to be the main crossing point from Ulster to Scotland for centuries. The locals commenting on the delay in correspondence caused by the packet boat not being able to make it due to “the Scotch winds” weren’t exaggerating…

The lovely lady at the archive counter sneaking a peek into my reading material as I return it, laughing, then noting reference numbers to get back to these volumes for own delectation. My job here is done…

It’s been far too long, Belfast, but very happy to be here at last!

Wish I was in Orkney again, and staying near those velvety hills once more (in a hostel all to myself, except a very polite ghost who kept shutting one of the inner doors after I thought I had shut it).

Visited Thomas Abernethy yesterday after a long time. His gravestone had survived another winter - no mean feat in Peterhead AND facing the sea - but this is Abernethy, whose widow would have needed a massive wall of granite to reflect his service record in the Arctic and the Antarctic alone.

The new(ish) 'umbrella' site for archive collections across Scotland is worth checking out/bookmarking despite the sad fact that not all archives have added their catalogues: it can only get better! Pleased to see it includes university collections. yourscottisharchives.com

Three's a crowd

Has anyone written on private letters’ survival (reasons, conventions re. keeping, type of letters kept etc.) in general, as a subject in its own right, or as part of other projects? Britain/Ireland late C18-early C19 in particular? Very grateful for any recommendations. #C18th #C19th

Delighted to see Thomas Grubb's name in photographic context in this article - I looked briefly into his career and indirect involvement in the Ross-Crozier Antarctic Expedition of 1839-1843, for which he supplied a number of optical instruments. A man of many talents (and many hats)!

Looking forward to presenting on 'Irish soldiers in the Age of Revolutions' for the Napoleonic and Revolutionary Wars Graves Charity in two weeks' time! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/royalists-...

The most snow I've seen this close to the sea at my local beach, from earlier this year. And still no sign of the Terror or the Erebus in the distance, though I'm still occasionally obsessed with the question of whether or not they would have been seen from the shore here in 1845 (probably not).

The pub I’m killing time in before my train sd donate its door notice - “Please leave quietly” - to the archives where I was prior to, bc there was much more chance of me kicking and screaming at being ejected at closing time there…

Excellent news! Also #IrishHistory

Ended up in a place not entirely famous for its archives today, trying to work out who did what with whose family papers. Not even asking why, just quietly rejoicing I’m not researching that family in earnest 😇.

Only 2 days at the archives and already found a drawing of a naked man (where one sdn’t be, namely the Antarctic papers) and had a scintillating blind date with someone’s handwriting (not related to the above).