Laura DeLuca

A putto is sitting on an early modern type case, a box made for the different types during the hand-press era. One needed to pick up each type for a letter or symbol etc. and compose each word, text, and page. The putto blows also soap bubbles: in each bubble is a letter, and the word formed is VANITAS, meaning "vanity". This detail was published in a German speaking newspaper, "Monatliche Nachrichten einicher Merkwürdigkeiten" in 1751. VD18 90722892.

A putto blowing soap bubbles, sitting on a type case full of type, and the letters in the bubbles read as: VANITAS (vanity).

A beautiful reflection of human writing and publishing, #skystorians

1/2

That cult of Elizabeth I was really something else. The frontispiece to the 1593 edition of John Case's Sphaera Civitatis. (Royal Collection Trust, HM CIII)

Special thanks to Daniela D'Eugenio for organizing, and @richardkirwan.bsky.social for moderating!

Me presenting my research on Lucretia and Cleopatra in early modern printing emblems!

Presented at @rsaorg.bsky.social on Lucretia and Cleopatra in early modern printing emblems. #RSA26, you were so good to me! #rensa26

This is amazing!!

A human skull in the ornament of a book printd in 1717 Stuttgart. Under the ornament the text passage starts with a "TEXT." headline. Source: VD18 13976346

They said, why not start the new book with a spectacular detail like a screaming skull or something, then enter a placeholder text, and wait for the inspiration to finally kick in...

I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies; I will make inseparable cities, with their arms about each other's necks; By the love of comrades, By the manly love of comrades.

teaching Whitman tomorrow, thinking about

'VARIOUS ANCIENT PAPERS' written on an old envelope. The envelope is being held above a wooden table with a box on it.

Nice and specific, cheers.

Dummy board of a woman peeling apples, c. 1690, of English make (Victoria & Albert Museum) Dummy boards were life-size images placed in stairwells or in front of fireplaces in summer time. They were designed to amuse and also to startle visitors.

A fox on the helmet of a human knight. The knight sits on a fabulous beast. The handdrawn image is part of a 1447 German manuscript (Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg, 2* Cod. 160).

Just a regular fox taking an #earlymodern Uber. Nothing to see here. #skystorians

Living Precariously - Pittsburgh Review of Books Sport that wrinkled Care derides,And Laughter holding both his sides.L’Allegro, 31-2.

Part Milton criticism, part John Carey obit, & part reflection on his own cancer treatment, Willy Maley's moving essay is an astonishing testament to lives in criticism and reason 1A I'm so proud that @cmuenglish.bsky.social launched the @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social pghrev.com/living-preca...

This is a stunning resource, beautifully presented - congratulations to Ros Smith Kathy Acheson and their team emwmlibrary.com

A black and white illustration of a pregnant woman sitting on a chair. Another woman is supporting her from behind, while a second woman is sitting in front of her, ready to help deliver the baby.

For centuries, a “gossip” was a woman who attended another woman's delivery. The word was a corruption of “god-sib” or “god-sibling,” meaning “sister in the Lord.” The gossips offered support to mother & midwife. Only later did it become derogatory.

More info: www.historyextra.com/period/gener...

Thank you, John!!!!

Barnabe Rich wasn't the first to say that books and cheese are alike in that no specific example suits everyone's tastes: John Heywood included this among a hundred epigrams in 1562:

www.jstor.org/stable/41723...

Image of title page of my new article, The Dangers

If you're interested in reading about the series of Sophonisba plays written in early modern England, my article with
earlytheatre.bsky.social is live!
muse.jhu.edu/pub/286/arti...

Detail from a hand-coloured map showing a reindeer about the size of a pencil tip and a pencil for scale next to it

Tiny reindeer from a map of Norway in vol.1 of Joan Blaeu's 11 volume Atlas Major, 1662 #Christmas #Maps

Reminder that there exists an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet filmed with untrained stray cats in Rome, dubbed over by British Shakespearean actors.

It's called 'Romeo.Juliet' and has never been given a VHS/ DVD or Bluray release. BUT THERE IS A COPY ON THE INTERNET ARCHIVE.

Full-color image of the Cathedral of Barcelona, composed on a typewriter by Montserrat Alberich Escardívol. Image from WikiMedia.

Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.

📣 New preprint! We know humans are biased against AI-creativity. But what about LLMs, now often judging creativity in various contexts? Do they replicate, transform, or amplify this bias? We tested it. Turns out: AI is 2.5X more biased against its own work than humans. arxiv.org/pdf/2510.08831 🧵

Louise Moillon, 1610-1696,

Still Life with Fruit, 1637

(Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum)

Detail of the "Glasses Apostle" painting in the altarpiece of the church of Bad Wildungen, Germany. Painted by Conrad von Soest in 1403, the painting is considered to be among the oldest depictions of eyeglasses north of the Alps

Nothing to see here? Well, this is a slow moving 🧵 for #skystorians and others about #eyeglasses of the past, about how to read in the past, where to buy eyeglasses, and how to do with them in general. The hashtag is #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast

Let's roll.

Abandoned and failed projects, ca. 1998-2025: an incomplete, chronological list [This is an updated version of the original from 2021.]

adamsmyth.substack.com/p/abandoned-...

Mary Anning (1799–1847) was a pioneering English fossil collector and paleontologist whose discoveries in the Jurassic cliffs of Lyme Regis laid the groundwork for modern paleontology. Despite limited formal education and the challenges faced by women in science during her era, Anning’s keen eye and relentless curiosity uncovered some of the most important prehistoric fossils ever found. Born into a poor family, Anning began searching for fossils with her father along the Dorset coast from a young age. Her notable discoveries included the first complete Ichthyosaurus skeleton, the first Plesiosaurus, and important early specimens of Pterosaur. These finds challenged existing ideas about Earth’s history and contributed significantly to the emerging field of geology. Though her contributions were often overshadowed by male scientists who published about her findings, Anning earned respect among naturalists and geologists during her lifetime. Today, she is celebrated as a trailblazer who expanded our understanding of prehistoric life and demonstrated the vital role of women in science—even without formal recognition or academic credentials.

Mary Anning (1799–1847) was a pioneering English fossil collector and paleontologist whose discoveries in the Jurassic cliffs of Lyme Regis laid the groundwork for modern paleontology.

Can you imagine getting down in the dirt in that get-up?

#GirlPower
#RadicalWomen

The bottom of a page of printed text, showing three hands (or printers' fists) pointing at each other.

The spiderman meme: three spidermen pointing at each other.

#EarlyModern meme! #BookHistory

Happy October! This woodcut of a cat with a mouse is the printer's device of the Venetian printer Melchior Sessa, and was used by his heirs in this 1598 book of sermons.

(Sion A66.0/OS5)

#RareBooks #SionCollege #Cats #Manuscripts

Trans Studies as Book Historical Method J. D. Sargan considers generative modes of reading through the premodern archive to seek out trans lives beyond the ephemeral glimpses that have gone unnoticed in the historical record.

Online Lecture Fri. Oct. 17, 12:00pm EDT @sims-mss.bsky.social J. D. Sargan on Trans Studies as Book Historical Method @jdsargan.bsky.social