Another great exhibition at the @ransomcenter.bsky.social From early biblical fragments, to a huge Book of the Dead, this is something you need to see. Excellent, as always, @aarontpratt.bsky.social
Aaron T. Pratt
@aarontpratt.bsky.social
Pforzheimer Curator of Early Books & Manuscripts at the Harry Ransom Center. Bibliographer, book historian, and VHS guy.
Gearing up to teach Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830, @ransomcenter.bsky.social for @rarebookschool.bsky.social next week. It’s gonna be hardcore, as all good bibliography is.
I don't post much these days, but if you have any chance of being in Austin through Aug. 2, you should come see Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt at the Ransom Center. Most of the materials in the show have never been exhibited outside of Manchester—if ever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XMd...
Lives and Literacy in Ancient Egypt - Curatorial Panel Discussion
YouTube video by Harry Ransom Center
youtube.com
Priority applications came in, and it looks like Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830, will be nice and full. BUT, I was willing to raise the cap to fifteen, meaning that I now have a couple of open spots, even without any attrition. Join me in Austin this June!
Aaron T. Pratt@aarontpratt.bsky.social · 7mo agoFor the first time ever, @ransomcenter.bsky.social host @rarebookschool.bsky.social courses this summer, June 7–12: L-165: Literary Manuscripts w/ Stephen Enniss & Megan Barnard (this will be excellent) G-60: Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830 w/ yours truly rarebookschool.org/schedule/
If you missed Ann Blair’s @ransomcenter.bsky.social Pforzheimer Lecture last night, you can check it out on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/u16QHaI... I think you’ll agree that it’s both sharp and a lot of fun.
Dr. Ann Blair - How Renaissance Scholars and Printers Decided on the Size of Books
YouTube video by Harry Ransom Center
youtube.com
In one hour!
Ben Gross@bhgross144.bsky.social · 7mo agoThe most exciting #BookHistory talk of the season is coming up next week! Join us @ransomcenter.bsky.social or online as Ann Blair delivers the 2026 Pforzheimer lecture. This talk has Erasmus, Gessner, and volumes both large &small! Learn more: www.eventbrite.com/e/pforzheime... #booksky 🗃️📜📚
Ben's not wrong.
Ben Gross@bhgross144.bsky.social · 7mo agoThe most exciting #BookHistory talk of the season is coming up next week! Join us @ransomcenter.bsky.social or online as Ann Blair delivers the 2026 Pforzheimer lecture. This talk has Erasmus, Gessner, and volumes both large &small! Learn more: www.eventbrite.com/e/pforzheime... #booksky 🗃️📜📚
Tomorrow’s the first day of my grad seminar for @utaustin.bsky.social English, How to Read an Old Book, 1450–1830. Just finished stitching up my syllabuses, which we’ll spend quite a bit of time with—as bibliographical objects—for the first half or so of the term.
For the first time ever, @ransomcenter.bsky.social host @rarebookschool.bsky.social courses this summer, June 7–12: L-165: Literary Manuscripts w/ Stephen Enniss & Megan Barnard (this will be excellent) G-60: Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830 w/ yours truly rarebookschool.org/schedule/
Schedules | Rare Book School
rarebookschool.org
In this article rebooting the @ransomcenter.bsky.social's series on Not Even Past, @utaustin.bsky.social English Ph.D. student Kōan Brink writes about a surprising find in the gutters of a new acquisition: "The Chopped-Up Second Life of a Coverdale Bible." notevenpast.org/primary-sour...
Primary Source: The Chopped-Up Second Life of a Coverdale Bible - Not Even Past
This and other articles in Primary Source: History from the Ransom Center Stacks represent an ongoing partnership between Not Even Past and the Harry Ransom Center, a world-renowned humanities researc...
notevenpast.org
a tiny bit of good news is that we have secured funding to digitize john milton's copy of holinshed's CHRONICLES (1587). the images will form part of MILTON'S LIBRARY, an open-access site featuring the 10 books positively identified as milton's w/ transcriptions/translations of his marginal notes.
![A close-up image of a handwritten note in a sixteenth-century book. The note reads: 'Spenser repor / teth otherwise / [o]f this Knight / [D]ialogue of Ire- / [la]nd / [p]. 76.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:glqdunvigi5zxowf6heik65g/bafkreigi4rz7omz3cell5pa7hlyceoxd4fxsjy2ynmcd37fozanjejhsry)
Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.
A lock of hair may have just changed what we know about life in the Incan Empire
Inca society kept records by encoding information into knotted cords called khipu. A new analysis of hair woven into these cords suggests this record-keeping was practiced by commoners as well as elites.
n.pr
As far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong!) the only pulp paperback to have been printed with fuzzy textured elements on the cover. #DailyPaperback
Essential viewing.
Carin Ruff@carinr.bsky.social · 12mo agoRare Book School has posted a lecture by Paul Needham on his most recent work on the Catholicon Press: youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?... Paul is in good form and his presentation of the evidence is clear, whether you're on board with the theory or not. #bookhistory
On my way back to Austin and @ransomcenter.bsky.social after running a seminar on descriptive bibliography @calrbs.bsky.social. Books were collated. Formats were determined—and in some cases deemed undeterminable. Join me next year!
The print-run of my 2025 @calrbs.bsky.social Descriptive Bibliography syllabus is done, with all copies stab-stitched and ready to go. The variants are even crazier than they were last year. How many issues of the edition are there? Variants? What’s an ideal copy? What the hell is the format?
As the submission deadline approaches, if anyone who hopes to go to RSA this coming year in San Francisco has a bookish panel they've put together that's in search of a sponsor guaranteeing acceptance, please let me know. Same if you'd like to whip together a panel in the next couple of weeks.
Sorta awake (since 3:00), which is both a win and a loss. Beginning my plane, train, and automobile trip to New Haven for RBMS (and, most importantly, some quality Beinecke time). Hope to see some of you there.
Just changed the opening in the Gutenberg Bible @ransomcenter.bsky.social. Here’s a detail from one of the pages on display. It shows a scrape-and-replace correction to 1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon) 1:21. An error, the printed text read, “et de ela ebal.” A scribe got it to “et decla ebal.”
Now is the time to get to know still life artist Clara Peeters, as her only known self-portrait comes to auction! To do so, check out our #IlluminatingWomenArtists series monograph on #ClaraPeeters by Alejandro Vergara-Sharp: www.lundhumphries.com/collections/... news.artnet.com/market/clara...
Only Known Self-Portrait by Clara Peeters Comes to Auction
The only self-portrait by Clara Peeters may smash the 17th-century Flemish still life painter's auction record next month at Sotheby's London
news.artnet.com
We’ve acquired a remarkable group of rare medieval manuscripts that reveal new insights into life in Britain & Ireland during the Middle Ages – from religious dialogue to daily urban life. Items include…
At long last, “A24’s Academic Style; or, Coming of Age in an Era of Student Debt” is now out with @jcmsjournal.bsky.social quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...
I only wish the worst for LLM advocates and apologists.
ICYMI: the #Shax2025 plenary papers are available online! Watch this year's three brilliant papers on the SAA Youtube channel, linked here and in our bio: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mux...
