Steven Van Impe
@svanimpe.bsky.social
Book historian, rare books curator Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, Antwerp. Opinions mine, I may be wrong, follow/like isn't endorsement. He/him. Caregiver for a partner with Long Covid. Used to be @RareBookLibAntw on Twitter. Profile pic by LUCID.
'Ô muse, dis moi l' homme aux mille tours' is the first line of the first translation of the Odyssey by a woman, Anne Dacier in 1716. She had previously translated the Iliad in 1699. And she got involved in a controversy, much like the current Nolan vs Wilson one #QuerelleD'Homer
You know which classical composer would've had a hobby as a lumberjack? Chopin would.
Alessandro Allori’s "Portrait of a Young Man" was painted in the late 16th century but maintains a timeless relevance
Corrado Giaquinto, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus, c. 1765 (Private collection)
newspapers: “BRISTOL HISTORIAN REDISCOVERS LOST LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA” bluesky users: “ugh come on, it was on an online catalogue, way to erase the work of librarians and archivists”
Do I follow anyone who has ever been awarded a Starting Grant from the ERC?
If you'd like something even more dangerous, our archive is so old that we don't use these fancy modern rolling stacks. Ours are attached to a motorised chain that runs the length of the room. This means sometimes they like to move by themselves just a little, enough to keep you on edge.
alix e. harrow@alixeharrow.bsky.social · 19h agoi don't like to police genre, but it's not dark academia unless somebody gets squished in one of these bad boys
Ik was een weekendje in #Nijmegen en probeerde te ontdekken waarom die stad beweert stadsrechten te hebben uit de Romeinse tijd. Een antwoord vond ik niet, maar ik vermaakte me prima en blog over de geschiedenis van die Romeinse stad. Deel één: het ontstaan. mainzerbeobachter.com/2026/08/05/r...
Romeins Nijmegen (1) Ontstaan - Mainzer Beobachter
Ik ging naar Nijmegen om een badhuis te zien. Ik zag geen badhuis. Maar het was een geslaagd weekend. Eerst een blogje over de geschiedenis.
mainzerbeobachter.com
You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.
i don't like to police genre, but it's not dark academia unless somebody gets squished in one of these bad boys
A long shot: is anyone currently doing research at the Biblioteca Nacional del Perú in Lima? I'm trying to track down two seventeenth-century single-sheet printed broadsides. I'd be very grateful to connect. Thanks! #earlymodern
Welcome to the CAMBRIAN FECAL REVOLUTION. We didn't name it the Cambrian fecal explosion for obvious reasons. I'm happy to share this paper on fecal matter and its role in Cambrian ecosystems. So if you want to read a really shitty paper (50 days free access): authors.elsevier.com/a/1nYg8cZ3X7...
Attenborough: just as many creatures never stop growing, codicologists develop longer and more elaborate collations each year of their lives. Eventually this process results in nearly impenetrable formulas that may, some scientists think, begin to inhibit these strange creatures even in daily tasks.
Kathleen E. Kennedy@themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 23h ago😭
#LongCovid is not a ‘subject’ to dispute. It’s a health condition that changes people’s lives. Definitions can evolve & that’s not an excuse to dismiss the illness itself. Diagnostic criteria for diabetes have repeatedly changed over time but no one takes u seriously if you say diabetes in disputed!
Lewis Goodall@lewisgoodall.com · 4d agoLong covid is a disputed subject, at best.
Alrighty book people. I'm stirring the pot a bit here this am. English book history ?s: We know that the 16thc crowd are beginning to look at manuscripts beyond coterie poetry. Would it be fair to say that codicological study of 17th and 18thc manuscripts remains relatively rare (and/or copy-spec)?
Steven Van Impe@svanimpe.bsky.social · 2d agoAn episode from the Dutch Revolt in this #NewAcq: the printed confession by Jacob Spensis of Antwerp (Delft 1601). Very rare, this is the 3rd recorded copy. Spensis, also called Meulder, a spy for the governor of Antwerp, had infiltrated the stronghold of #Geertruidenberg with 18 associates.
The Archive but it's a videogame from 1998.
Has your research ever been called “too descriptive?” My co-authors & I got so fed up we wrote 10k words on why descriptive research matters, how it differs from critical research, & why it’s no accident that “critique” is being levied in mass comm at this moment. academic.oup.com/ct/advance-a...
In defense of qualitative description: reclaiming “little t” theory as a site of knowledge advancement
Abstract. This article problematizes post-positivism’s stronghold on the mass communication canon and defends the use of qualitative description as a legit
academic.oup.com
If you’re teaching #Greek, #palaeography, #manuscripts, #textcriticsm etc. this coming year, consider adding my website to your course assignments or resources. It’s free, I don’t collect/sell your info, and it’d be nearly impossible to cheat with AI. See 🧵 for details
Jacob W. Peterson@jacobwpeterson.com · 7mo agoMy (free) website for learning to read from Greek manuscripts is available. Still some tweaks to be made but it’s ready with 12 lessons, tips and hints, downloadable reports if you use it for a class, and links to lots of resources. Please share and give feedback! xeirographa.com
So, the internet is suddenly full of people questioning #LongCOVID, and all I can say is: How lucky you are not to have had understanding forced upon you! I wish you well dealing with disability when it strikes you unawares in future & hope you meet with more compassion than you are showing now. ♥️
"I don't understand why you, a fantasy writer, don't appreciate the value of making bargains with the fae."
John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 2d agoEvery now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude
That said, let us take a moment to thank our Bluesky Trans and Furry Elders for freaking out Jack Dorsey so much he bolted and left us this nice social media playground, taking most of his crypto chuds with him. We thank you for your service.
“You’re a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, how come you don’t like Palantir?” “You’re a huge fan of 1984, how come you don’t like the surveillance state?” “You’re a huge fan of Fahrenheit 451, how come you don’t like ritual book burnings?”
John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 2d agoEvery now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude
If you want to earn a PhD with a study of the medieval readers of the earliest MSS of Aristotle's De anima in Latin, only two days left to apply!
Pieter Beullens@pieterbeullens.bsky.social · 4w agoWe are hiring a PhD-student! #Philosophysky #Medievalsky #philjob www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Bad news for historians: dead people now off limits for criticism
Ben Goldacre@bengoldacre.bsky.social · 2d agoSad to see people posting on social media negatively about Rod Liddle, who died yesterday. If I have disagreed with you very strongly in life - and you die - I hope I'll be either silent, or kind.
Has anyone written about the implications for the history of sexuality of our increasingly forced use of AI as a research tool? Historians of sexuality can't really access a lot of AI tools because of content prohibitions. What does that mean for the field, if anything?
Got a good job down at the Data Center. I work on the line, and it's hard work but it's honest and the wage is fair; my family and I are grateful for it. I rivet the word "absolutely" onto the little apologies that chatbots do when they misunderstand a prompt.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d agoHassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."