Roland Allen, author of 'The Notebook: a History'

And blame Channel 4 circa 2000 for everyone suddenly using the word 'property' when previously they'd said 'house' or 'home'. A different mindset...

Why Bookshop.org is not the saviour the book world needs The “ethical” alternative to Amazon was lauded when it arrived in the UK in November. But a number of high street booksellers and independent publishers are sceptical.

@ellencph.bsky.social worth going back for a follow-up on this one to see how it worked out?
www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

No but there should be... Digiperception? Digicognition?

Completely! If a writer is blocked, it's because they aren't interested in what they have to say. Fine - don't write it, no great loss. There's too much great writing out there already from people who don't need token-occurrence-probability-calculators.

AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief Publisher last week reported jump in revenue in academic and professional arm thanks to AI licensing deal

No, no, no...

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Love that last sentence. Words to live by.

Argh, AI slop art... 😥

We The People!!
✊🏽 ✊🏻 ✊🏿 ✊🏾

Ahhh!

NEW: Police knew a Kremlin spy ring recruited former leader of Reform Wales at least 3 years ago.

So why was Nathan Gill not charged till Feb this year?

Pls read part 2 of @thenerve.news special investigation into Nathan Gill. And please share!
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A drawing by Dürer (of himself) included in a letter to Pirckheimer. Source: https://www.merkur.de/bayern/albrecht-duerer-kritzelei-brief-erstes-emoji-zr-5849745.html#google_vignette

I will use any excuse to bring up Dürer's self-portrait again when talking about his drawings.

To be fair, I've been swearing at computers for some years.

It is.

Yes, that's clear but what I struggled with was how much effort they put into making a quite superficial display. Some of the exhibits are SO amazing but not properly contextualized.

It occurs to me that he might have been the party's own tour rep, not a museum person. Which would be slightly better...

I've long wanted to go to Lyon, maybe that's the excuse I need...

I would have tagged them (and the Plantin-Moretus museum) but they're not on Bluesky.

It all depends how many museums of printing you need to see in your life. If it's a low number, go to Antwerp.

One odd thing is that the Mainz History Museum is excellent, but doesn't mention Gutenberg at all, presumably out of respect to 'his' museum. So you have this terrific survey of the city's (long and interesting) history, with a massive gap.

Glad to hear it!

That's what they would say, no doubt, but no-one else seems to have that fear. That room was crepuscular! Much gloomier than the photo makes it look.

In short: if you're interested in the history of print, or the history of books, go to Antwerp and the wonderful Plantin-Moretus Museum. Don't bother with Mainz. A real pity. #bookhistory

Not shown: kids having a great time. The print studio at the Gutenberg Museum.

BUT there is one brilliant spot, the sunlit studio upstairs where kids can get their hands dirty and actually print stuff. That looks great.

A self-aggrandizing mural

The only part of the whole museum with a coherent chronology is the self-aggrandizing 'story if the museum' on the stairs.

Two Gutenberg Bibles on display at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz

They put their Bibles on display in a darkened chamber to encourage hushed reverence. Everyone starts whispering when they go in there. I prefer the NYPL display where you see them in daylight and they look like living things.

Don't get me started on the guy giving the tour to the American coach party. 'Before Gutenberg all books were religious and made by monks' erm. #bookhistory

There's no sense of CASH - how much did Gutenberg sell his bibles for? What else could you have bought with the money? How did Fust & Schoeffer acquire the business? #bookhistory

The labels are very poorly written, talking in abstractions and using technical terms (like 'sized') without explanation.

A lovely (and presumably expensive) model of medieval Mainz shows the locations all the churches, but not of the Gutenberg family properties.

No mention of Asian printing, no mention of the Mainz expulsions, no sense of the IMPACT of print. Instead, trite juxtapositions of old and new books, magazines, etc.