James Fox

A rare treasure in the Ferguson collection: The true and perfect order to distill oyles (1575)

In our latest blog post @jamesafox.bsky.social examines the only surviving copy of the first Paracelsian medical text printed in English, 1575 - an important milestone in the history of Anglophone how-to books.

howtobook.hypotheses.org/4371

#bookhistory #rarebooks #medicalhistory

#bookhistory people get your proposals in 📖

Elmswell Hall in Yorkshire, where 17th-century landowner Henry Best handwrote a farming #how-to book for his son.
In our latest blog, @jamesafox.bsky.social compares Best's advice on beekeeping with a printed equivalent. 📚🐝

👉 howtobook.hypotheses.org/4150

#bookhistory #bees #nationalwritingday

Those Who Patch Know. On How-Toes that Flourish A flat bicycle tire is never welcome. It usually happens at the worst possible moment: on the way to my seminar or at the start to an excursion to the idyllic lakes in Brandenburg. Strangely, it almos...

New on our blog: Stefan Laube on the #howto of thrift, sustainability and making do...

📚 read more here: howtobook.hypotheses.org/3935

#blog #skystorians #thrift #sustainability

A drawing from the Aberdeen bestiary of a dog and two bees

Fantastic bees and where to find them 🐝 What can a #medieval book of strange animals teach us about kingship and ideal society? @guyfassler.bsky.social explains how the Aberdeen Bestiary can answer these questions in our latest post: scilicet.org.uk/fantastic-be... #Skystorians #MedievalHistory

Last month the Scottish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and German 🇩🇪 sides of our project met in Glasgow. In our latest blog post, Alina Lange reports on a successful trip 👇
howtobook.hypotheses.org/3851

No laughing matter? The curious case of Cocker’s Arithmetick | Scilicet Why was Cocker’s Arithmetick, the most successful arithmetic textbook of its day, the butt of a joke?

Happy #NumeracyDay! ✖️➕➗🔢 We're celebrating by revisiting some excellent numeracy-related blog posts by @jamesafox.bsky.social First, we have the curious case of Cocker's Arithmetick being the butt of a joke scilicet.org.uk/no-laughing-... #SkyStorians #BookHistory #Numeracy

Really enjoyed working on this collaborative piece with @jamesafox.bsky.social and @guyfassler.bsky.social Hopefully the first of many more! #skystorians

Food for thought: Recipe books through history | Scilicet We all need to eat, but the way we do says much about our place in society. Looking at a range of recipe books through history shows this has long been the case.

We all need to eat, but the way we cook and share food says a lot about class, culture and identity. In our latest post, @guyfassler.bsky.social, @jamesafox.bsky.social and @nataliesmith.bsky.social dig in to some historical recipes from across Europe 🍽️
scilicet.org.uk/food-for-tho... #Skystorians

Whether on conduct or conversion, early modern etiquette manuals said much on the concept of 'galanterie'. 📖
Read more in our latest blog post by Stefan Laube 👇
howtobook.hypotheses.org/3633

#bookhistory #skystorians

I have finished posting the 420,000 words in Thomas Turner's diary of 18thC rural life ( as transcribed by Dean K Worcester). This is significantly more than the published edition (Vaisey, 1984). www.thomasturner.org.uk It's a work in progress. #18c

Detail of two of the [Four voting slips for the election of a Pope]. [Rome?: Reverenda Camera Apostolica?, 16--?], National Library of Scotland, Crawford.B.41(15). Reproduced with permission from materials on loan to the National Library of Scotland from the Balcarres Heritage Trust.

CONCLAVE! 🗝️

As we await white smoke, read about some rare printed objects from early modern conclaves preserved in @natlibscot.bsky.social! In this post, USTC postdoc, @ciaokatet.bsky.social, explores blank conclave vote tallying sheets and sample ballots. #conclave2025 www.ustc.ac.uk/news/conclave

Thank you, Claire!! And a big well done to George and Peter!

Many congratulations to @g-g-clay.bsky.social 🥇winner of the 2025 Hakluyt Society Essay Prize, and to runners up Peter Wells & James Fox
www.hakluyt.com
🏆👏🏆👏🏆👏

You may have heard of the 17th-century English diarist John Evelyn, but did you know he wrote a book on salad??
🥗 In our latest blog post, Alina Lange offers a taste of what Evelyn's 1699 Acetaria had to say on the subject of leafy meals...
howtobook.hypotheses.org/3708
#bookhistory #foodhistory

The woman who documented the weather every day for thirty-seven years | Scilicet Why did Janet Burnet of Kemnay House in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland, meticulously record the weather almost every day from 1758 to 1795?

Today is National Weather Observers Day! We're celebrating by revisiting our weather-related post. First, we have one by @jamesafox.bsky.social on Janet Burnet, who meticulously documented the weather in Aberdeenshire for 37 years scilicet.org.uk/the-woman-wh... #Skystorians #ScottishHistory #18thC

Excellent new post by @guyfassler.bsky.social! Let's hope this coming conclave isn't quite as dramatic as this

With a key: The extraordinary beginnings of the conclave | Scilicet The election of a Catholic pope is steeped in mystery, history, and political intrigue. But what are the origins of the conclave – the locked-room tradition that has was used in pontifical elections s...

As the next papal #conclave approaches, @guyfassler.bsky.social explores its dramatic and mysterious origins. How exactly did a deadlocked election and locked-in cardinals lead Gregory X to reform the process forever? ⛪ 🔐

scilicet.org.uk/with-a-key-t... #Vatican #skystorians #publichistory

Abracadabra: the magical history behind Lady Gaga’s latest hit | Scilicet Lady Gaga’s new pop anthem, 'Abracadabra', is the latest chapter in a 2,000-year magical history.

Lady Gaga’s pop anthem #Abracadabra is the latest chapter in a 2,000-year magical history 🪄 In this post, @jamesafox.bsky.social explores the history behind the themes of Gaga’s work. Of interest for #LittleMonsters and history enthusiasts alike! 🎶 #skystorians scilicet.org.uk/abracadabra-...

This magnificent Tudor gatehouse stands at what was once a centre of the London booktrade. Recently #how-to researcher @jamesafox.bsky.social visited this and other sites following in the footsteps of #earlymodern how-to book buyers 📚
Read more on our blog: howtobook.hypotheses.org/3581
#bookhistory

Find out more about John Evelyn’s passion for salads on the HABlog:
diglib.hab.de?link=204

I am very happy to have discovered these people and look forward to digging into their work... #earlymodern #bookhistory... Follow them!

Some Impressions from the Workshop Talk in Wolfenbüttel ‘Read me and Wishes Come true’ – that was the title of the workshop talk that Hartmut Beyer and I organised. This is a format that has been informing the staff of the Herzog August Library about resea...

New on our blog: Stefan Laube reports on a recent workshop at the Herzog August Bibliothek, introducing the #how-to books project 👇
howtobook.hypotheses.org/3426

Our events this week, featuring @siavush.bsky.social, @jamesafox.bsky.social and @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social!

Precious Drops: Seventeenth-Century Ready Reckoners from Wolfenbüttel and Glasgow By Hartmut Beyer and James Fox In autumn 2024, the auction house Reiss & Sohn auctioned off valuable books on the subject of wine from the library of Friedrich Bassermann-Jordan (1872–1957). The law g...

In our latest #blog Hartmut Beyer and James Fox examine some 17th C #rarebooks used for calculating the price of wine and other commodities 🍷📖🧮
howtobook.hypotheses.org/3364

Excited to be giving a paper as part of the #Edinburgh900 festivities! Next week (25th March) I'll be speaking on the merchant-craft rivalry in early modern Edinburgh: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-incorp...

Inflation and nostalgia in early modern Britain | Scilicet In the past, as today, cost of living crises made people nostalgic for the good old days.

Is the cost of living crisis making you nostalgic for the good old days? Then it's time to revisit this post by @jamesafox.bsky.social #Skystorians #UKhist #tbt scilicet.org.uk/inflation-an...

Learning How to Drive I have always been a late bloomer. And it seems only fitting that one important rite of passage has happened for me only recently. Since last Wednesday, I am the proud owner of a driver’s licence. A m...

The latest from our blog: Alina Lange on the #howto of learning to drive 🚗
howtobook.hypotheses.org/3206

The title page of a sixteenth century book entitled: 'LEXICON LATINOPOLONI-CUM EX OPTIMIS LATINAE LINGVAE SCRIPTORI-BUS CONCINNATUM, which is dated to 1564. There are some faded manuscript annotations under the main title of the text.

Learn more about the relationship between Polish print and the Latin language in the early modern period in our latest blog ‘We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin’ by COMLAWEU PhD student in @standrewshist.bsky.social, Paweł Pietrowcew!

www.ustc.ac.uk/news/we-are-...

Dear Friends,

International Military History Seminar

Dr Jack Abernethy ( @standrewshist.bsky.social ) will present on “The Dutch Republic’s Baltic Connections during the Eighty Years’ War 1568-1648”.

Date: 5 March 2025
Time: 15:00 CET
IRL & Zoom
🗃️ #EarlyModern
@forsvarshogskolan.bsky.social