42 degrees today

New year resolution : be more like this.

It’s a pesto time of year here

Ladies Diary started by tipper in 1704 and lasted until 1841

State library Victoria first edition of this Djuna Barnes treasure of course without librarians it’ll be a lot harder to find, interpret, encounter such treasures

🚨 Help our State Library! Executives are trying to cut 11 permanent librarian positions, meaning 10 frontline librarians would remain to run Australia's busiest library. They are proposing to outsource the library's critical information technology team. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/ha...

Tipper started The Ladies Diary in 1704 but EEBO, 18th C online, and so far BL, Bod., Folger, Huntington only have 1706 not 1704 or 1705. Help. (ESTC starts with 1706 but in 21706 he clearly says this is No. 3). Does anyone know howe to access 1704, or 1705?

Does anyone out there visit the Clark library and if so would you be prepared to take a single photo for me ( of an almanac title page) ? #earlymodern

Here’s a taster for my anzamems paper: 9.30 Thursday December 4

One for fans of the unfortunate Florinda.

Come to the @anzamems.bsky.social conference in Melbourne (!) in December I will be speaking about zodiac ‘man’ in early modern almanacs and helping celebrate the palgrave encyclopaedia of early modern women’s writing with the esteemed editors Rosalind smith and Patricia Pender. @earymodern

Really what more could you ask for? This is the only extant copy (thanks again Bodleian). In case you are wondering the same formula will grow you a new set of teeth and also 'take out the furrowed wrinkles as smooth as a girl of sixteen'.

#earlymodern out December at last such a privilege to work with three distinguished scholars of early modern women’s writing

Hello spring.

Late winter wax flower in full bloom

#earlymodern writing about the amazing Sarah jinner

Sprung

And here’s a link to my blog piece on tracking down Jinner almanacs on the early modern marginalia research network earlymodernmarginaliaresearchnetwork.com/2024/02/08/d...

Had a great time at the early modern women and marginalia seminar in Canberra now it’s back to Sarah Jinner I’m about half way through writing my little book on early modern women and almanacs

#earlymodern about to head to Canberra tomorrow for the marginalia and the early modern woman writer seminar organised by an amazing scholar and dear friend, Ros Smith.

Japanese quince always fools you into thinking it’s spring

Municipal planting Fitzroy gardens

Our freshly painted house in the winter sunshine

Galahs , my favourite parrot

Dusting…

Let them lie. Especially this one.

Brisbane

Wonderful talk by Clare Hansen at anzsa

Great program for the ANZSA conference in Brisbane next week. I usually make a point of not giving papers on Shakespeare at Shakespeare conferences but I will be talking about MND…but really about almanacs of course .

Just reading in a Day 1657 almanac that it’s a really bad idea to smell basil too much because it will give you a headache and even possibly breed scorpions inside your brain.

So if you spend too long on EEBO looking at almanacs you get asked if you are a robot. All of the feels, as we say in the classics. #earlymodern

Winter

Snowflakes … resilient , tough , it’s snowdrops that are fragile.

If I show a little clip of The Beatles doing Pyramus and Thisbe as part of my conference paper, will everyone yawn and think we’ve seen this a thousand times?

Just seen the program for what will be a fabulous ANZSA conference in Brisbane . Very excited to be taking part. Talking about MND and… you’ve guessed it, almanacs. #earlymodern

Realised my dream of going to kabuki … fabulous.

Kyosumi garden

Autumn mt macedon

Great zodiac ‘man’ in a Wing 1660 almanac in the Emmerson Collection.

I don’t usually post about politics but Australia rejects trump values and re elects a labour government and I am feeling optimistic again though so sorry for the destruction of everything good in the US