Simon Davies's Avatar

Simon Davies

@simonfd.bsky.social

Publishing Manager, @themhra.bsky.social Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide Posting about scholarly publishing โ€ข History and future of the book โ€ข Book design, typography, typesetting ๐Ÿ“š Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic ๐ŸŒ’ โ€ข Views here my own

1,665 Followers  |  455 Following  |  624 Posts  |  Joined: 05.09.2023  |  2.0555

Latest posts by simonfd.bsky.social on Bluesky

Iโ€™m with you there. In regard to AI though, itโ€™s the big producers who are the only ones making it

05.08.2025 20:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Sorry for the spoiler ๐Ÿ˜„

05.08.2025 19:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Are there though? Fine as in justifying the excessive energy use and the general damage to the internet?

05.08.2025 19:40 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Great isn't it ๐Ÿ˜€

05.08.2025 13:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I'm reading Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety atm and I got to the scene of her guillotining only last night!

05.08.2025 09:39 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The first, no preposition. Definitely not 'as' (a real bugbear of mine! lol)

05.08.2025 09:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
WeTransferโ€™s New Terms of Service: What Section 6.3 Means for Your Content - The Society of Photographers | International Photography Organisation WeTransferโ€™s New Terms of Service: What Section 6.3 Means for Your Content - Blog

In case you haven't seen it already, it's time to stop using WeTransfer to send files: thesocieties.net/blog/2025/07...

31.07.2025 14:29 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

'A Tapestry of Nordic Decadence'

Barbara Burns talks to Eva Buchwald and Viola Parente-ฤŒapkovรก about their work on 'L. Onerva, Mirdja: A Decadent New Woman', which has just appeared in the MHRAโ€™s Jewelled Tortoise series.

๐Ÿ‘‰ www.mhra.org.uk/news/2025/07...

31.07.2025 13:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Love it!

31.07.2025 09:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image Post image Post image

I like the minimalist hand-drawn drop initials in this copy (1522)

30.07.2025 15:42 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
The front board of a handsomely bound book featuring a gold-tooled arabesque border and the device of Aldus Manutius tooled in gold in the centre

The front board of a handsomely bound book featuring a gold-tooled arabesque border and the device of Aldus Manutius tooled in gold in the centre

A beautiful binding for an Aldine edition
#bookdesign
(I think it's a Grolier but not certain)
archive.org/details/guil...

30.07.2025 15:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Why is @adobe.com so keen to get me to 'share' PDFs I'm working on? I don't want to, thank you, and when I do I will use email because it works absolutely fine ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

30.07.2025 11:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

He saw Godโ€™s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad.

29.07.2025 20:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 130    ๐Ÿ” 21    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 5

Yesterday was so good. Watched the Lionesses win again in the same pub I watched them win in three years ago. Lovely atmosphere and brilliant game. What a great team, love them all ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ’–

28.07.2025 14:40 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Our latest book in the Jewelled Tortoise series is out now!

'L. Onerva, Mirdja: A Decadent New Woman'. Translated by Eva Buchwald with an introduction and notes by Viola Parente-ฤŒapkovรก.

๐Ÿ‘‰ www.mhra.org.uk/publications...

Access via @jstor.bsky.social ๐Ÿ‘‰ www.jstor.org/stable/jj.30...

28.07.2025 11:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
a man wearing glasses and a lanyard is looking at the camera . ALT: a man wearing glasses and a lanyard is looking at the camera .
26.07.2025 23:04 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Thanks! It's such a pain, and no end in sight

24.07.2025 10:16 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Anyone who defends 'AI' (& even those trotting out that trite line 'ofc there are legitimate uses of AI') should be asked to explain how it justifies 1) the energy/environmental cost, and 2) the harm to legitimate websites

24.07.2025 10:15 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

AI bots are once again hammering our website, ignoring safeguards & disguising themselves as legit users, such that we may be forced to consider taking content offline, or making it harder to access. This includes the MHRA Style Guide (which won't be taken offline, but may become harder to access)

24.07.2025 10:14 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

You'd think Adobe of all people would know about the variety of types of PDF document that there might be. And then just *give us the option to turn off the AI* ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ

21.07.2025 17:14 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

One of the many weird & annoying things about the useless 'AI' 'summarize' option that Adobe have forced into their PDF reader is the lack of understanding of the many different types of document there might be. What use is a summary of a bibliography? a catalogue? a ticket? a model release?

21.07.2025 17:13 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

A helpful librarian has stamped the library's ownership stamp right over this book's date of publication. Thanks!

18.07.2025 10:16 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

English football, why do we do it to ourselvesโ€ฆ ๐Ÿ˜ณ

17.07.2025 21:39 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ

17.07.2025 10:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Yikes ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

16.07.2025 08:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Apple autocorrect changing โ€˜Donneโ€™sโ€™ to โ€˜Donnieโ€™sโ€™ smh ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ

15.07.2025 22:58 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

This is quite wrong, and destroys the integrity of John Donneโ€™s work

15.07.2025 22:58 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Killer!

15.07.2025 22:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
KitAlbum Blends Print & Digital for New Music Format KitAlbum is merging the nostalgia of physical media with smartphone convenience. With younger generations gravitating toward old formats but still connected to smartphones, it opens the door for simil...

Meanwhile, in Korea, they've finally come up with a way for the kids to listen to music via โ€“ get this โ€“ physical media. So glad someone has solved this problem at last! What a truly groundbreaking idea.
members.asicentral.com/news/strateg...

15.07.2025 13:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Just learned that a major academic press (it may or may not be the same one who wants to use AI copy-editors) makes its authors see to their own review copies. What, at this point, is the publisher even doing?

15.07.2025 10:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@simonfd is following 20 prominent accounts