#bookhistory is an active hashtag on Bluesky. In the last 30 days, 56 people shared 131 posts with it — around 4 a day. Activity is down 25% versus the previous week, peaking on Aug 6 with 12 posts.

Posts with #bookhistory

Alex Wingate

@bibliowingate.bsky.social

about 1 month ago

I'm incredibly pleased to announce I will be starting in August as the Rare Books Librarian for the University of Arizona! I'm so excited to be working with some amazing collections and even more amazing colleagues!! If you're in the Southwest & want to talk rare books & #BookHistory, come visit!

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Liesbeth Corens

@onslies.bsky.social

5 months ago

Pop Leo asked if he should put on gloves to turn pages in the gorgeous Renaissance Bible and the librarian explained why it’s better to do so with bare hands. Glorious reaction. Every rare books librarian & archivist feeling very seen, I gather. www.instagram.com/reel/DU…. #BookHistory

Screenshot of an Instagram video capturing pope Leo with his mouth open in astonishment

18 244 987

Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

Just in case if you missed this printing event in #Mainz: they publically printed a giant page of the Gutenberg bible in the format 5 x 7,20 meter. #bookhistory #skystorians

A photo of the printing event in Mainz (from April 26-27th, 2025) showing a moment of the printing process: two men are lifting the paper from the woodblock. Copyrights from Markus Kohz.

A photo of the printing event in Mainz (from April 26-27th, 2025) showing the giant woodblick, and the giant printed paper open air. Copyrights from Markus Kohz.

12 283 982

Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

12 days ago

Just an illuminated cat catching an illuminated mouse in an illuminated manuscript from around 1300. #bookhistory

A cat catching a mouse. This is an illuminated detail of a page in a Missale (SBB PK Ms. theol. lat. fol. 271).

10 100 449

Ronson

@bookfella.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

As early as the mid-1700s, and becoming more common by the early-to-mid-1800s, book spines were backed w recycled newspaper or other waste paper. You can see it here, where the 3/4 leather binding has become so brittle, it literally fell off on my table, revealing old newsprint ads. 💙📚 #bookhistory

The leather binding of a 19th century book has broken away due to age & lack of moisture in the leather, revealing the newsprint ads used to back the spine.

A closer look at the binding of a 19th century book that has broken away due to age & lack of moisture in the leather, revealing the newsprint ads used to back the spine.

14 54 528

Ika Willis

@ikax.bsky.social

6 days ago

#BookHistory friends, this is the finest moment in our discipline’s history

Daniel A. Horwitz @danielahorwitz.bsky.social

Legend substack.com/@slamshopp/n...

Social media post by Sam Shopp captioned about their “most prized possession” — a used copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë defaced so that every mention of “Jane” is crossed out and replaced with “Spiderman” or “Spidey.” The left image shows the book’s cover, a Barnes & Noble Classics edition, with the title altered to read “SPIDER-MAN” and a Spider-Man sticker placed over the original cover artwork. The right image shows an interior page (the deathbed scene with Helen) where “Jane” has been handwritten over with “Spidey” throughout

4 34 113

Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

8 months ago

Today, let's celebrate a drawn and illuminated crane that functions as a pointing gesture to a new paragraph (in a fourteenth century manuscript). It looks like he is walking into the text, right? #bookhistory

A detail from a manuscript page showing a crane-like animal with a long neck in between paragraphs. The crane is walking into the text, and his head is like a manicule: read here! (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ott.lat.1908), Source: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Ott.lat.1908

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Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

about 1 year ago

Here is a little story about the #earlymodern emoticon "<3" and the complex symbolic meaning of this typographical entity that I posted yesterday. Follow me, for catholic symbolism and some #bookhistory, dear #skystorians of the blue skies. Here we go...

A detail from a page of a 1702 German publication with the title "Reimb Dich, Oder Ich Liß Dich, Das ist: Allerley Materien, Discurs, Concept, und Predigen, welche bißhero in underschiedlichen Tractätlein gedruckt worden" (vd18 10307974). The author explains on this page, and on pages before and after the Holy Trinity. Part of the detailed explanation if a human heart, made of a V (in German printing a "U") and a three as a cap. In the text, the "V" stands for the Latin "unum" (meaning: one, as in: together as one) and the number 3 is of course the Holy Trinity. This heart symbol, explained in the text, looks like a contemporary emoticon: <3 . The typographical entity highlighted consists of a the letter "i", the number "3", the word "HOMO" (in which all letters are crossed out except for the "M"), a small "z" as part of the M, and the mentioned emoticon: a "V" with a "3" on top.

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social

A printed ❤️ symbol from a 1702 text about the Holy Trinity.

A page from a 1702 German publication with the title "Reimb Dich, Oder Ich Liß Dich, Das ist: Allerley Materien, Discurs, Concept, und Predigen, welche bißhero in underschiedlichen Tractätlein gedruckt worden" (vd18 10307974). The author explains on this page, and on pages before and after the Holy Trinity. Part of the detailed explanation if a human heart, made of a V (in German printing a "U") and a three as a cap. In the text, the "V" stands for the Latin "unum" (meaning: one, as in: together as one) and the number 3 is of course the Holy Trinity.

7 147 411

Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

10 months ago

Just a 1399 unicorn watermark from a paper manufacturer from Valencia to make your day. Friends of #paperhistory know that these paper sheets of around 1400 are among the first sheets of European paper to appear on the market. European #bookhistory was a different game afterwards. #skystorians

A unicorn watermark in one of the oldest European paper sheets.
Source: https://memoryofpaper.eu/apccv/apccv.php?Signatura=1475.1

5 97 399

Zanna Van Loon

@zannavanloon.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

Quote and tell me, because I’m curious to know: what book that you are currently reading would you recommend? I’ll start: Adam Smyth’s The Book Makers. Such a lively history of mostly fragmentarily known lives of book people. #books #rarebooks #bookhistory #earlymodern

Red, black and white paper cover of a hardback book with as its titel ‘The Book Makers. A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives’ by Adam Smyth. The cover depicts people working in different parts of book production, such as binding, printing, papermaking etc.

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Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

Let's enjoy a look into book shops of the past. This is a 🧵 especially for #skystorians of #earlymodern Europe, and for #bookhistory, #booksky and #paperhistory nerds 🗃️ Expect, among other bookish stuff, lots of #backwardsbooks, and boxes with paper sheets, and a few sleeping dogs. 1/

A detail from an image of a book shop from Johann Amos Comenius: "Orbis sensualium pictus", pinted in 1658 in Nuremberg. You see a room full of boxes and backwardsbooks and a (tiny) bookseller reading behind a desk waiting for customers.

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Daniel Bellingradt

@dbellingradt.bsky.social

1 day ago

Whether your urine bottle was allowed in a library reading room of around 1400 AD depended on the specific location and their zero tolerance policy for any liquids near rare books. #bookhistory