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Arendse

@arend.se

Author · Stories in Analog, Ellery Queen, The Fabulist & more · Marie Curie Postdoc @ Arnamagnaean Institute · Winner of the 2021 Staunch Prize · PhD medieval law · Contact me through my website www.arend.se

346 Posts901 Follower153 Folgt
Arendse@arend.se · 3d ago

I'm ready for WorldCon but holy moly is SoCal hot. Maybe I'll adjust by the time the panels start? Anyway, come hear me talk as I slowly melt!

Five places to meet me across four days at WorldCon, listed along with the times, dates, and a qr code for scanning to bring you to the schedule with all the information
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

In conclusion, do whatever you want! Leave notes! Make silly drawings! And if you find yourself in Copenhagen in October onward, come drop by the Old University Library for my exhibition "Marginalia: Words and Images on the Edge." The library is beautiful & I promise the marginalia will be profuse.

Fiolstræde 1, the Old University Library, with its burnished wood and two-level system
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

Since the bf can't bear to read his gf's annotated books, may I introduce him to the concept of library loans? Then they don't have to buy two copies of every book, which for some reason he thinks they should. He'd probably need a moment if he saw Bishop Knud's notes all the way around this text.

AM 16 8vo, f. 70v-71r (1475-1499). Denmark. Bishop Knud's marginalia extends like a pair of brackets all the way around the main text.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

The margins being a sacred place where no one should write, or draw, is a relatively new idea. Historically, we haven't thought about margins like that at all. How would we know this magic spell for healing wounds if someone hadn't written it in the margins?

AM 187 8vo, f. 16v (1300-1399). Denmark. Someone has written a six-lined spell in the bottom margin.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

Long after the gf is dead, people will have insights into her thoughts & reactions because of the notes she left! This is what gives historians social and cultural clues. In the bf's honor, I'm including this photo of a manuscript where someone tried to erase the marginal notes. It sort of worked?

AM 442 12mo, f.85r (1485-1499)
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

It's because of marginalia that people who are long dead, and otherwise unable to talk to us, can tell us what they thought of what they read. Did they like it? Agree with it? Disagree? Straight up think it was stupid? Here someone thought this section was unnecessary and crossed it out.

AM 733 4to, f. 6v (1300-1350). Iceland. In the second column, an individual has crossed out a set of instructions.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

People drew in them too! And the drawings are so great! Here a lion stalks the bottom margin for the opening of Flóvent’s saga, one of the chivalric sagas that was originally derived from a French original.

AM 570 a 4to, f. 15r (1450-1499). Iceland. A lion stalks the bottom margin for the opening of Flóvent’s saga, one of the chivalric sagas that was originally derived from a French original.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

The boyfriend argues that it's embarrassing & they can't loan out their books to friends because of his gf's marginalia. So what? Here's a 16th-century book where two readers have both written in the margins. In fact, sometimes you see a second reader commenting on the first reader's notes!

AM 79 4to, f. 19r (1575-1599). Norway. One reader has done marginalia in green ink, and drawn a little flower, while a second reader has done marginalia in a light brown ink and has underlined relevant passages. They're both reacting to the law code printed in this book.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

Even the people who wrote the books, wrote in them! Here's a 14th-century manuscript where the scribe wrote at the bottom: "May the writer be healthy."

AM 286 fol., f. 7v (1310-1330). A manuscript from Denmark. On this page, one scribe stops writing and another takes up writing. The second scribe has written a Latin phrase in the bottom margin.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

Her boyfriend argues that books are sacred and annotations are distracting. No, my friend, your arguments are distracting. People have written in books for as long as they've been around. Here's a 15th-century book with a note at the top that says "God, give me the Holy Spirit in my heart."

AM 22 4to, f. 92r (1450-1499). A manuscript from Denmark with marginalia across the top margin.
Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

Today's You Be The Judge in @theguardian.com is whether or not a woman is allowed to annotate her own books. As someone who is literally curating an exhibition on the history of annotations in books, let me tell you her boyfriend's argument is total BS: theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop annotating her books?

Julie makes notes in the margin as she’s reading, but Charlie says she’s ruining books he may want to read. Should they get on the same page? You decide

theguardian.com

Arendse@arend.se · 2w ago

Today's You Be The Judge in @theguardian.com is whether or not a woman is allowed to annotate her own books. As someone who is literally curating an exhibition on the history of annotations in books, let me tell you her boyfriend's argument is total BS: theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop annotating her books?

Julie makes notes in the margin as she’s reading, but Charlie says she’s ruining books he may want to read. Should they get on the same page? You decide

theguardian.com

Arendse@arend.se · 3w ago

My Hugo votes are in! Cheering on my favorites but also everyone else because they were such a delight to read this year. I think I voted in more categories than I ever have before.

Arendse@arend.se · 3w ago

These were a problem in Copenhagen this summer! I walk through a giant park on my way to work every day and, one morning, people in hazard suits were in there vacuuming the trees. I changed my route for a couple days.

@michaellasley.bsky.social · 4w ago

"Toxic caterpillars, like deadly heat waves, are becoming a regular part of European summers. Eichenprozessionsspinner love warm, dry, and sunny springs, and the spring of 2026 was the sunniest in Berlin’s history." www.newyorker.com/science/elem...

A.R. Moxon@juliusgoat.bsky.social · last mo.

I pushed a button and a semi-readable novel comprised of reshuffled other novels pooted out, and if you don't think that makes me a novelist, well let me inform you my good sir and/or madam that it was a fancy and complicated button.

Arendse@arend.se · 2mo ago

I'm selecting manuscripts to showcase in my upcoming exhibition on medieval marginalia and it feels like picking between favorite children