#rarebooks is an active hashtag on Bluesky. In the last 30 days, 32 people shared 100 posts with it — around 3 a day. Activity is down 25% versus the previous week, peaking on Aug 28 with 10 posts.

Posts with #rarebooks

Stephanie J. Lahey PhD

@sjlahey.bsky.social

almost 2 years ago

Please enjoy this 14th century depiction of the Virgin Mary wrestling a ferocious demon while an angel babysits (because why not? 🤷🏻‍♀️). #MedievalManuscripts #Manuscripts #RareBooks #Women 📜 📚

Detail from a medieval manuscript: folio 155 verso in British Library, Yates Thompson manuscript 13. At the top of the image, a single line of Latin text in black ink. To the left of it and below it runs a bar border in blue, pink, and gold. In the empty space between the border and the line of text sits a painted miniature depicting the Virgin Mary, clad in blue and red robes and crowned, straddling a huge, hairy, ferocious demon. She has grasped the monster by its horns and straddles it, wrestling it to the ground. Her face shows only the mildest irritation. To the left, stands an angel clad in pale robes, its blue and green and yellow wings unfurled. The angel looks on placidly, holding the infant Jesus in its arms, as if the situation were entirely mundane. Frowning, the infant raises its arms, as if spurring his mother to even grander deeds.

19 98 421

Zanna Van Loon

@zannavanloon.bsky.social

almost 2 years 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.

62 35 385

Marsh's Library

@marshslibrary.bsky.social

almost 2 years ago

Hello Bluesky, we've finally made it! Follow Marsh's Library for quality rare books content and terrible jokes #RareBooks #Libraries

Interior of Marsh's Library showing shelves with books and portrait at hte end

11 72 356

Dr Liam Sims

@liamsims.bsky.social

almost 2 years ago

Squished (sixteenth-century?) spider in a vast 11-volume edition of the works of St Augustine (Basel, 1506) @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (Peterborough.A.6.1-6). #spider #marginalia #saints #christianity #rarebooks #augustine #collecting #basel

12 42 259

University of Exeter Special Collections

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the bears, for today is their special day! This illustration of a bear comes from 'Animated Nature' (1828) by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. 📷 Reserve 590 BUF #WorldBearDay #BearDay #RareBooks

Cropped image from a book showing a colour illustration of a bear. It appears to have a cheeky expression on its face, and a little red tongue is sticking out of its mouth!

6 58 227

Old Paper Collector

@oldpapercollector.bsky.social

almost 2 years ago

Collecting bookbindings made from reused medieval manuscript fragments offers a fascinating glimpse into the history of recycling and craftsmanship. Each cover tells a dual story: the book it protects and the manuscript it once was. #BookHistory #RareBooks #MedievalManuscripts

10 45 219

Zanna Van Loon

@zannavanloon.bsky.social

4 days ago

Failed attempt to make my posts less beige… Two decorated examples of binder’s waste: one a late eighteenth-century/early nineteenth-century printed fragment and the other a sixteenth-century manuscript leaf. #bookhistory #earlymodern #rarebooks 💙📚📜

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1 1 23

Zanna Van Loon

@zannavanloon.bsky.social

12 months ago

☞☞ Hands-on reading ☜☜ The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces. They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading. #bookhistory 💙📚📜

Detail of a manicure and a little face gesturing towards the handwritten text of a manuscript in gothic script written on parchment. The man depicted seems angry. The manicure has a sleeve

A manicule with a stretched sleeve drawn in red in the margins pointing towards a text in Gothic script written on parchment

A manicule used to highlight a rubricated section title in a medieval manuscript written in gothic script on parchment

A very large vaguely drawn manicule pointing towards text in gothic script written on parchment

3 52 146

Ashland Book Exchange

@bookexchange.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

Celebrate Black History Month #blackhistorymonth 💙 #booksky #bookstore #books #ashlandbookexchange #usedbooks #rarebooks #ashlandoregon #shoplocal #smallbusiness

1 11 127

University of Exeter Special Collections

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social

about 4 hours ago

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the rhinos, for today is their special day! To celebrate World Rhino Day, here is an illustration of a rhinoceros from the book 'Animated Nature' (1828) by Georges-Louis Leclerc. 📷 Reserve 590 BUF #WorldRhinoDay #RhinoDay #RareBooks

0 7 12

Zanna Van Loon

@zannavanloon.bsky.social

6 months ago

It’s the textures for me. #bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Close up of the gutter and revealing open leather spine, you see a handwritten script, thread used to bind in a knot, but hanging loose

Close up of a manuscript on parchment on the discoloring right below an inscription

Close up of remnants of adhesive used to use this manuscript fragment in a book binding

Close up of the wrinkling of parchment with written text on it

4 16 116

Zanna Van Loon

@zannavanloon.bsky.social

over 1 year ago

Nothing better than a good old incunable bible printed by Koberger to brighten this cloudy day! #earlymodern #rarebooks #bookhistory #printhistory 📜📚💙