Adam Smyth

Our next event!

Sarah Cusk and Sophie Floate, Printed books from the libraries of some Oxford humanists

Thursday 12th March, 5:15pm, Lower Lecture Theatre, Berrow Foundation Building, @lincoln.ox.ac.uk

With a small exhibition!

In-person only: book via email secretary@oxbibsoc.org.uk.

OBS / Lincoln College research associate position!

We invite early career / grad scholars to apply to our new 2-week research associate position @lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Any interesting projects that will benefit from 2 weeks at Lincoln -- £500, accommodation and meals. Deadline 27th March

Call for papers!

INSCRIPTION 7 (out 2027) will be all about BLANKS. It will be (as ever) a BEAUTIFUL and MAXIMAL object.

Send us your ideas!

Historical / theoretical / creative / creative-critical -- or some strange blend.

First step: 400-word proposal + brief CV by 1 April 2026.

CFP attached.

Writing to authors and getting replies In the mid-1990s I wrote some short stories, and, not knowing quite what to do next, I looked up the names of authors I knew and liked in Who’s Who, found some addresses, and sent copies, asking for f...

open.substack.com/pub/adamsmyt...

Writing to authors and getting replies In the mid-1990s I wrote some short stories, and, not knowing quite what to do next, I looked up the names of authors I knew and liked in Who’s Who, found some addresses, and sent copies, asking for f...

open.substack.com/pub/adamsmyt...

JOB!

Come and be my colleague!

Tutorial Fellow and Professor (or Associate Professor) of English Literature, ca. 1780–1914, at Balliol College, Oxford.

Details: www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/balliol-peop...

superb!

On Thursday of this week (12th Feb.)!

Books! Collectors! Elizabethans! Libraries!

In person (Oxford) or online (Zoom).

Books & Hands The village of Great Tew, Oxfordshire, was famous in the 1630s as a gathering point for intellectuals who, reclining in the comfortable surroundings of Lucius Carey’s estate, debated philosophical mat...

open.substack.com/pub/adamsmyt...

Books & Hands The village of Great Tew, Oxfordshire, was famous in the 1630s as a gathering point for intellectuals who, reclining in the comfortable surroundings of Lucius Carey’s estate, debated philosophical mat...

open.substack.com/pub/adamsmyt...

Inscription 6 on TEARS & RIPS will be out in early summer.

Pre-order now at inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy

Artists in issue 6:

Bas Jan Ader, I'm too sad to tell you, 1970, © MoMA / Scala
Dave Beech, When News Hit Shore, 2023
Stephen Emmerson, Holes, 7" vinyl record, 2026...

Our next talk!

Francesca Galligan on 'Sir Christopher Hatton and his books: reconstructing an Elizabethan library.'

How and why do we reconstruct historic libraries?

Thurs 12th February, 5:15 pm T.S. Eliot Theatre, Merton College, Oxford (+ online via Zoom - register secretary@oxbibsoc.org.uk)

The Early Seventeenth Century Verse Miscellany: Directions and Re-Directions A deeply researched study of the social transmission and adaptation of poetry texts originating in pre-Civil War England, traced through the seventeenth century and sometimes beyond.  Both manuscript ...

Pleased to see the latest volume in the Materials Readings book series: The Early Seventeenth Century Verse Miscellany: Directions and Re-Directions, by Cedric C. Brown

www.routledge.com/The-Early-Se...

Wealth of Creations, by Adam Smyth

harpers.org/archive/2026...

Thinking What does thought look like?

open.substack.com/pub/adamsmyt...

Thinking What does thought look like?

open.substack.com/pub/adamsmyt...

how wonderful!

'Beyond the book: recycling print in early modern England' is out in splendid & lovely English Literary Renaissance.

50 free downloads, warm & ready to go, at www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/Q2MMD...

(pcis: Bodleian coffret lined w. Horace & Virgil; damasked pages in Worcester College deed box)

Yes the latter! Thanks

Random one. Does anyone know about electric drum kits? What’s good for a 16 year old newbie? Not me.

Big year on that front.

What I did at 5.35pm on every day from 5 January 2025 to 5 January 2026:

adamsmyth.substack.com/p/what-i-did...

thank you! realise is should say 2025-2026 not 2005-2006!

What I did at 5.35pm every day from 5 January 2005 to 5 January 2006 Sunday 5 January Setting up google spreadsheet for recording what I’m doing at 5.35pm.

adamsmyth.substack.com/p/what-i-did...

Grants Previous grant recipients If you would like to help us support early career scholars in bibliography, please email our Treasurer (treasurer@oxbibsoc.org.uk) to discuss how you can help. Any donatio…

Grants!

We are offering small grants (maximum £500 each) to support projects in book history & bibliography. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections.

Application is brief; deadline is 27th February 2026.

Details at oxbibsoc.org.uk/grants/

Adam Smyth | Like No One in Existence One of the early meanings of ‘original’ was something which serves as a model, or something from which copies can...

‘What happens when a claim to singularity is repeated over and over by different people? Is it undermined? Is it magically refreshed each time? Or does it foster a shared sense of being unique?’

@adamwithbooks.bsky.social’s video response to Rousseau’s ‘Confessions’:

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

Adam Smyth | Like No One in Existence One of the early meanings of ‘original’ was something which serves as a model, or something from which copies can...

‘If there’s a sense of individuality, here, it may be less in Rousseau’s bold words about singularity, and more in the messy surround – the contingent stuff of a particular time and a place.’

@adamwithbooks.bsky.social’s video response to Rousseau’s ‘Confessions’:

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...

On writing, time, and the two sides of paper leaves: As always, excellent and stimulating thoughts on the new TEXT! post by @adamwithbooks.bsky.social ⤵️