Dr Liam Sims
@liamsims.bsky.social
Rare Books Specialist @theul.bsky.social |
Hon. Secretary @bibsoc.bsky.social | Fellow @antiquaries.bsky.social | Venetophile | Bellringer | PhD on antiquarian networks in 18thC Lincolnshire (thesis linked in pinned post) 🌈
Hon. Secretary @bibsoc.bsky.social | Fellow @antiquaries.bsky.social | Venetophile | Bellringer | PhD on antiquarian networks in 18thC Lincolnshire (thesis linked in pinned post) 🌈
Pinned
Dr Liam Sims
@liamsims.bsky.social
· Dec 14
My PhD thesis is now available online through the University of Leicester repository! 'Sociability, Provincial Antiquarianism and Networks of Knowledge in the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1710-1755'. figshare.le.ac.uk/articles/the...
Saturday (re-)reading. Signed too!
January 24, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Saturday (re-)reading. Signed too!
In a little under 5 years I have travelled more than 30,000km on UK trains (this doesn’t include frequent trips to London which aren’t usually bought through Trainline.com). This is about 3/4 of the circumference of the earth 😮
January 24, 2026 at 10:47 AM
In a little under 5 years I have travelled more than 30,000km on UK trains (this doesn’t include frequent trips to London which aren’t usually bought through Trainline.com). This is about 3/4 of the circumference of the earth 😮
A woodcut of a priest celebrating mass in a liturgical work printed at Erfurt in 1494: the wine spilling from the communion cup & a rat nibbling at the host. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social by Stephen Gaselee in 1934 & now Inc.5.A.29.3[3902].
January 24, 2026 at 9:16 AM
A woodcut of a priest celebrating mass in a liturgical work printed at Erfurt in 1494: the wine spilling from the communion cup & a rat nibbling at the host. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social by Stephen Gaselee in 1934 & now Inc.5.A.29.3[3902].
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
I love Stephen. The face of a doomed WW1 officer and the wardrobe of John Travolta. #thetraitors
January 23, 2026 at 9:33 PM
I love Stephen. The face of a doomed WW1 officer and the wardrobe of John Travolta. #thetraitors
A stunning architectural binding, executed in Italy in the seventeenth century. On Gaspare Visconti’s ‘De Paulo e Daria amanti’ (printed at Milan in 1495), a poem centred on the false death of a lover, not unlike Romeo & Juliet. Bought by @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1966 & now Inc.5.B.7.23[4467].
January 23, 2026 at 4:02 PM
A stunning architectural binding, executed in Italy in the seventeenth century. On Gaspare Visconti’s ‘De Paulo e Daria amanti’ (printed at Milan in 1495), a poem centred on the false death of a lover, not unlike Romeo & Juliet. Bought by @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1966 & now Inc.5.B.7.23[4467].
One benefit of having the afternoon off.
January 23, 2026 at 2:32 PM
One benefit of having the afternoon off.
Great cover for Charles Minder’s ‘This Man’s War’ (New York, 1931), consisting of letters written home by the author between April and October 1918. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 1931.7.1605.
January 23, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Great cover for Charles Minder’s ‘This Man’s War’ (New York, 1931), consisting of letters written home by the author between April and October 1918. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 1931.7.1605.
Thank you Bill Zachs!
Here’s the beginning of our film about Raeburn’s rediscovered portrait of Robert Burns. Watch the whole film at blackiehouse.org
January 22, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Thank you Bill Zachs!
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Any good critical writing on the relationship between bibliography and genealogy?
January 22, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Any good critical writing on the relationship between bibliography and genealogy?
Chunky books in this bookish bookplate for Charles Meek (1885-1965). Etching & engraving by Jean Émile Laboureur, c. 1923. In a copy of Savonarola’s ‘Compendio di revelatione’ (Florence, 1495), given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1930. Inc.5.B.8.8[3670].
January 22, 2026 at 8:39 AM
Chunky books in this bookish bookplate for Charles Meek (1885-1965). Etching & engraving by Jean Émile Laboureur, c. 1923. In a copy of Savonarola’s ‘Compendio di revelatione’ (Florence, 1495), given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1930. Inc.5.B.8.8[3670].
Bubbly shepherds pie with leftover lamb shank. Mostly crafted by @aglmasters.bsky.social 🤤
January 21, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Bubbly shepherds pie with leftover lamb shank. Mostly crafted by @aglmasters.bsky.social 🤤
This Jesus is disconcertingly ripped. Woodcut from Savonarola’s ‘Trattato dell’umiltà’, on humility, printed at Florence before September 1495. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1920 & now Inc.5.B.8.8[1986].
January 21, 2026 at 2:34 PM
This Jesus is disconcertingly ripped. Woodcut from Savonarola’s ‘Trattato dell’umiltà’, on humility, printed at Florence before September 1495. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1920 & now Inc.5.B.8.8[1986].
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Please join us for a joint event with the Institute of English Studies on 3 February: ‘Shelf Improvement: How to Collect and Present a Prize-Worthy Book Collection’. What makes a good collection, how to craft a winning entry, and how to avoid potential pitfalls.
Shelf Improvement: How to Collect and Present a Prize-Worthy Book Collection
ies.sas.ac.uk
January 21, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Please join us for a joint event with the Institute of English Studies on 3 February: ‘Shelf Improvement: How to Collect and Present a Prize-Worthy Book Collection’. What makes a good collection, how to craft a winning entry, and how to avoid potential pitfalls.
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
We are having technological troubles with internet at the Society of Antiquaries and tonight’s lecture will likely not be broadcast online. Our speaker will be recording his talk at a later date.
January 20, 2026 at 5:56 PM
We are having technological troubles with internet at the Society of Antiquaries and tonight’s lecture will likely not be broadcast online. Our speaker will be recording his talk at a later date.
Death. From a Dutch edition of the ‘Cordiale quattuor novissimorum’ (Haarlem, 1484) on death and the final journey of the soul, ascribed to Dionysius Carthusiensis and Gerardus de Vliederhoven. Bought by @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1869 & now Inc.5.E.11.1[3124].
January 20, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Death. From a Dutch edition of the ‘Cordiale quattuor novissimorum’ (Haarlem, 1484) on death and the final journey of the soul, ascribed to Dionysius Carthusiensis and Gerardus de Vliederhoven. Bought by @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1869 & now Inc.5.E.11.1[3124].
Amusing book title: Anne Hepple’s ‘Gay Go Up’ (London, 1931). Hepple wrote nearly 30 romantic novels & was the first editor of The Woman’s Magazine (1931-34). Part of the vast collection of 20thC fiction received under legal deposit @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (1931.7.2225).
January 19, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Amusing book title: Anne Hepple’s ‘Gay Go Up’ (London, 1931). Hepple wrote nearly 30 romantic novels & was the first editor of The Woman’s Magazine (1931-34). Part of the vast collection of 20thC fiction received under legal deposit @theulspeccoll.bsky.social (1931.7.2225).
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
Seventeenth-century squirrel, looks like it’s eating a little nut. On an embroidered binding from a 1641 psalter, SSS.34.27 @theul.bsky.social.
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBooks 📷 #photography
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBooks 📷 #photography
January 18, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Seventeenth-century squirrel, looks like it’s eating a little nut. On an embroidered binding from a 1641 psalter, SSS.34.27 @theul.bsky.social.
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBooks 📷 #photography
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBooks 📷 #photography
Found in a volume of Latin poetry (Florence, 1497) @theulspeccoll.bsky.social today: the judge Sir Thomas Rokeby (d. 1699) pondering his end with 'the order to be observed in the disposall of the incomes of my estate'. The portrait, c. 1687, is by Godfried Schalcken. The book is Inc.5.B.8.20[2031].
January 19, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Found in a volume of Latin poetry (Florence, 1497) @theulspeccoll.bsky.social today: the judge Sir Thomas Rokeby (d. 1699) pondering his end with 'the order to be observed in the disposall of the incomes of my estate'. The portrait, c. 1687, is by Godfried Schalcken. The book is Inc.5.B.8.20[2031].
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
‘Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.’ (Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 1929)
I wrote about the Cambridge women scholars who (politely) fought for more equal access to the University Library in 1891.
I wrote about the Cambridge women scholars who (politely) fought for more equal access to the University Library in 1891.
Locked out of the library
The 1891 petition, and the 24 extraordinary women who signed it
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 12:12 PM
‘Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.’ (Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, 1929)
I wrote about the Cambridge women scholars who (politely) fought for more equal access to the University Library in 1891.
I wrote about the Cambridge women scholars who (politely) fought for more equal access to the University Library in 1891.
Reposted by Dr Liam Sims
January 19, 2026 at 6:41 AM
I had *no* idea that the #Traitors' castle (Ardross Castle) was for nearly forty years owned by the great collector of manuscripts Charles Dyson Perrins! Thank you to my excellent Bib Soc colleague Laura Cleaver for this (2025) blog:
Adding to the prize pot: manuscript missions in the Traitors Castle
ies.sas.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 4:09 PM
I had *no* idea that the #Traitors' castle (Ardross Castle) was for nearly forty years owned by the great collector of manuscripts Charles Dyson Perrins! Thank you to my excellent Bib Soc colleague Laura Cleaver for this (2025) blog: