Mark Empey
@memps2.bsky.social
Early Modernist to the bitter end #Bookhistory Female Book Owners; Women Writers; British & Irish historical writing; early Stuart peripheral governments
Forthcoming book: Sir James Ware: Royalism, History & Antiquarianism (Boydell)
Coined #HerBook
Forthcoming book: Sir James Ware: Royalism, History & Antiquarianism (Boydell)
Coined #HerBook
Pinned
Mark Empey
@memps2.bsky.social
· Mar 1
Delighted and excited to hear that my #bookhistory chapter, which discusses the important role the Irish Protestant community played in preserving crucial #medieval #manuscripts in #17thc, is now published. And look at that cover 🤩
The standing remains of the largely #16thc castle of Dunluce #Antrim. Home to the MacDonnells from the 1550s it boasts some of the most spectacular scenes in Ireland. Despite the Baltic temperatures 🥶 this was one day well spent #earlymodern
November 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The standing remains of the largely #16thc castle of Dunluce #Antrim. Home to the MacDonnells from the 1550s it boasts some of the most spectacular scenes in Ireland. Despite the Baltic temperatures 🥶 this was one day well spent #earlymodern
It appears everybody is 'ill satisfied' in January 1637, at least in the eyes of the second viscount Conway anyway. Something tells me he's not entirely the life of the party #earlymodern
November 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
It appears everybody is 'ill satisfied' in January 1637, at least in the eyes of the second viscount Conway anyway. Something tells me he's not entirely the life of the party #earlymodern
Reposted by Mark Empey
Great look into the comprehensiveness of EEBO and EEBO-TCP and what that means for using those tools. Highly recommend for all computational bibliographers and early modernists doing large-scale work with EEBO
November 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Great look into the comprehensiveness of EEBO and EEBO-TCP and what that means for using those tools. Highly recommend for all computational bibliographers and early modernists doing large-scale work with EEBO
Reposted by Mark Empey
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Conference on "Early Modern Asexualities," in person at Victoria College at the University of Toronto (and streamed online), January 5-7, 2026.
Get previews of chapters in the collection edited by myself, @catherineclifford.bsky.social, and @omaraphd.bsky.social. 💜🤍🌪️🖤
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Get previews of chapters in the collection edited by myself, @catherineclifford.bsky.social, and @omaraphd.bsky.social. 💜🤍🌪️🖤
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November 5, 2025 at 11:14 PM
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Conference on "Early Modern Asexualities," in person at Victoria College at the University of Toronto (and streamed online), January 5-7, 2026.
Get previews of chapters in the collection edited by myself, @catherineclifford.bsky.social, and @omaraphd.bsky.social. 💜🤍🌪️🖤
1/
Get previews of chapters in the collection edited by myself, @catherineclifford.bsky.social, and @omaraphd.bsky.social. 💜🤍🌪️🖤
1/
In good news (well, for a small minority) I’ve been given permission to return to Bluesky.
In better news for #earlymodern folk, it’s a timely return as I’ve got proofs for my latest #bookhistory work on female book ownership 1500-1700 #HerBook
In better news for #earlymodern folk, it’s a timely return as I’ve got proofs for my latest #bookhistory work on female book ownership 1500-1700 #HerBook
October 27, 2025 at 12:54 PM
In good news (well, for a small minority) I’ve been given permission to return to Bluesky.
In better news for #earlymodern folk, it’s a timely return as I’ve got proofs for my latest #bookhistory work on female book ownership 1500-1700 #HerBook
In better news for #earlymodern folk, it’s a timely return as I’ve got proofs for my latest #bookhistory work on female book ownership 1500-1700 #HerBook
Reposted by Mark Empey
Are you curious about the potential for archival practices to shape the study of emotion; why there are letters in the English State Papers labelled 'mad'; or how the culture & politics of Elizabethan England shaped people's experience of distress? Find out here! doi.org/10.1017/S008... #earlymodern
‘your poore distressed suppliant’: ‘Madness’, Emotion and the Archive in Early Modern England | Transactions of the Royal Historical Society | Cambridge Core
‘your poore distressed suppliant’: ‘Madness’, Emotion and the Archive in Early Modern England
doi.org
September 2, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Are you curious about the potential for archival practices to shape the study of emotion; why there are letters in the English State Papers labelled 'mad'; or how the culture & politics of Elizabethan England shaped people's experience of distress? Find out here! doi.org/10.1017/S008... #earlymodern
Can’t help but be engrossed by this. Not just the quality or attention to detail but how the desk is presented, the meticulous research, the anguish of research (??), and the hints de Heem left for the viewer to interpret and reflect on. Fabulous
Jan Davidsz de Heem, Still Life with Books and a Violin, 1628. (Mauritshuis, The Hague)
Literate viewers knew the titles of the books on this table were concerned with the idea of fate.
Literate viewers knew the titles of the books on this table were concerned with the idea of fate.
September 2, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Can’t help but be engrossed by this. Not just the quality or attention to detail but how the desk is presented, the meticulous research, the anguish of research (??), and the hints de Heem left for the viewer to interpret and reflect on. Fabulous
You may not be interested in Maelsechlainn Mór.
You may even not be interested in the magnificence that is the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled by ridiculously talented Irish Franciscans under challenging conditions.
But please don’t tell me you aren’t impressed by work of this scribe 😍
You may even not be interested in the magnificence that is the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled by ridiculously talented Irish Franciscans under challenging conditions.
But please don’t tell me you aren’t impressed by work of this scribe 😍
Maelsechlainn Mór, High King of Ireland, died #OTD 1022.
Maelseachlainn Mor, son of Domhnall, son of Donnchadh, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the west of the world, died on Cro-inis Locha-Aininn, after having been forty-three years in sovereignty over Ireland...
Maelseachlainn Mor, son of Domhnall, son of Donnchadh, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the west of the world, died on Cro-inis Locha-Aininn, after having been forty-three years in sovereignty over Ireland...
September 2, 2025 at 5:13 PM
You may not be interested in Maelsechlainn Mór.
You may even not be interested in the magnificence that is the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled by ridiculously talented Irish Franciscans under challenging conditions.
But please don’t tell me you aren’t impressed by work of this scribe 😍
You may even not be interested in the magnificence that is the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled by ridiculously talented Irish Franciscans under challenging conditions.
But please don’t tell me you aren’t impressed by work of this scribe 😍
Reposted by Mark Empey
✉️ We're back from our summer break with a new blogpost by Rosenn Nicolas (Galway),exploring a letter to Christopher Plantin that shows how 16th-century European book production depended on networks of publishers,printers, & intermediaries,shaped by commerce and censorship.
#REBPAF #MSCA #BookHistory
#REBPAF #MSCA #BookHistory
Secrets of a 1569 letter: how books defied borders? The power of partnerships in the 16th century
Rosenn Nicolas, University of Galway1 Figure 1: Introduction of the letter The Plantin Moretus Museum keeps an original letter exposing unusual facts about the people involved in the printing spher…
rebpaf.wordpress.com
August 30, 2025 at 11:47 AM
✉️ We're back from our summer break with a new blogpost by Rosenn Nicolas (Galway),exploring a letter to Christopher Plantin that shows how 16th-century European book production depended on networks of publishers,printers, & intermediaries,shaped by commerce and censorship.
#REBPAF #MSCA #BookHistory
#REBPAF #MSCA #BookHistory
Reposted by Mark Empey
Fascinating article by Nuala Zahedieh about the centrality of canoes in early colonial exploitation 🗃️https://academic.oup.com/past/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pastj/gtaf021/8231030
Canoes in the Early English Caribbean: The Role of an Indigenous Technology in Making Mercantilism Work*
Abstract. The Caribbean, with its focus on cash crop production, played a major role in the rise of England’s Atlantic trading system and the making of mod
academic.oup.com
August 13, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Fascinating article by Nuala Zahedieh about the centrality of canoes in early colonial exploitation 🗃️https://academic.oup.com/past/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pastj/gtaf021/8231030
Reposted by Mark Empey
Just discovering this database of books as symbols in Renaissance art--a wonderful resource #EarlyModern #HerBook basiraproject.org
BASIRA • Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art
basiraproject.org
August 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Just discovering this database of books as symbols in Renaissance art--a wonderful resource #EarlyModern #HerBook basiraproject.org
So much to unpack from Joe’s wonderful #HerBook post on Lady Bindloss’s purchase records. As he astutely notes, such records “help situate book ownership within a broader story of the networks and market mechanisms through which books moved from printer to seller to buyer”.
WELL worth the read 👇👇
WELL worth the read 👇👇
Fantastic post on the blog today by Joe Black, who discusses Lady Bindloss's booklist--evidence of what books she bought, how she ordered them from London, and even how she shelved them by color earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/l... #EarlyModern #HerBook
Lady Bindloss Buys Some Books (1676)
Of the various kinds of documents that provide evidence of book ownership in the early modern period, purchase records are among the scarcest survivals: most booklists take the form of wills, inven…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
August 23, 2025 at 11:26 AM
So much to unpack from Joe’s wonderful #HerBook post on Lady Bindloss’s purchase records. As he astutely notes, such records “help situate book ownership within a broader story of the networks and market mechanisms through which books moved from printer to seller to buyer”.
WELL worth the read 👇👇
WELL worth the read 👇👇
Sir Edward Osborne reported that the assassin, Felton, demanded his pay ‘so peremptorily (with his hatt on) of the Duke, as he kickt him, whereuppon he stabd him in the back, leaving him butt soe much time as to say “villaine thou hast slaine me” and soe died’. The DRAMA
Assassinated #OTD 1628, George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham and favourite of James I. Buckingham enjoyed great influence at court, but public popularity didn’t follow. He was fatally stabbed in a Portsmouth pub. More on his relationship with James I 👇 ow.ly/Jbm850ATmbH
James I and the duke of Buckingham: love, power and betrayal - The History of Parliament
Paul M. Hunneyball, Associate Editor of the House of Lords 1604-1629 project, kicks off with a sequel to his blog from last LGBTHM, 'James I and his favourites: sex and power at the Jacobean Court'.
ow.ly
August 23, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Sir Edward Osborne reported that the assassin, Felton, demanded his pay ‘so peremptorily (with his hatt on) of the Duke, as he kickt him, whereuppon he stabd him in the back, leaving him butt soe much time as to say “villaine thou hast slaine me” and soe died’. The DRAMA
Reposted by Mark Empey
REGISTRATION OPEN!
Now more than ever, research is reshaping our view of women’s roles in the early modern book trade. Join us in Antwerp (5–7 Nov 2025) for our conference Women & the Household in the #earlymodern Book Trade.
Register here: tinyurl.com/womenbooktrade
#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜
Now more than ever, research is reshaping our view of women’s roles in the early modern book trade. Join us in Antwerp (5–7 Nov 2025) for our conference Women & the Household in the #earlymodern Book Trade.
Register here: tinyurl.com/womenbooktrade
#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜
Conference: Women and the Household in the Early Modern Book Trade | Museum Plantin-Moretus
The aim of this two-day conference is to share knowledge of women’s rich and varied lives and works in the period before the rapid industrialisation of book production which changed the face of home l...
museumplantinmoretus.be
August 20, 2025 at 12:27 PM
REGISTRATION OPEN!
Now more than ever, research is reshaping our view of women’s roles in the early modern book trade. Join us in Antwerp (5–7 Nov 2025) for our conference Women & the Household in the #earlymodern Book Trade.
Register here: tinyurl.com/womenbooktrade
#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜
Now more than ever, research is reshaping our view of women’s roles in the early modern book trade. Join us in Antwerp (5–7 Nov 2025) for our conference Women & the Household in the #earlymodern Book Trade.
Register here: tinyurl.com/womenbooktrade
#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜
Always fascinated by #17thc historians and how they structured and took notes of their research.
Here's an example of the Irish historian, Sir James Ware, trawling through the Register of St Werburgh's in #Chester and listing archdeacons who served in Irish dioceses in the #medieval period
Here's an example of the Irish historian, Sir James Ware, trawling through the Register of St Werburgh's in #Chester and listing archdeacons who served in Irish dioceses in the #medieval period
August 19, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Mark Empey
Publication day!!
Find out how C18th Welsh cultural revivalism positioned itself within an expanding British Empire and a newly-minted British state. Includes Welsh sources on slavery/abolition, settler colonialism, Indigenous America, and more
🚨🚨🚨 35% off all formats with the code BB135 🚨🚨🚨
Find out how C18th Welsh cultural revivalism positioned itself within an expanding British Empire and a newly-minted British state. Includes Welsh sources on slavery/abolition, settler colonialism, Indigenous America, and more
🚨🚨🚨 35% off all formats with the code BB135 🚨🚨🚨
Welsh Revivalism in Imperial Britain, 1707-1819
Reframes the study of Welsh cultural revivalism, highlighting transnational and imperial contexts.
boydellandbrewer.com
August 19, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Publication day!!
Find out how C18th Welsh cultural revivalism positioned itself within an expanding British Empire and a newly-minted British state. Includes Welsh sources on slavery/abolition, settler colonialism, Indigenous America, and more
🚨🚨🚨 35% off all formats with the code BB135 🚨🚨🚨
Find out how C18th Welsh cultural revivalism positioned itself within an expanding British Empire and a newly-minted British state. Includes Welsh sources on slavery/abolition, settler colonialism, Indigenous America, and more
🚨🚨🚨 35% off all formats with the code BB135 🚨🚨🚨
This volume is a much needed contribution to the wider #bookhistory community, specifically as it places an emphasis on indigenous language and its responses to the rapidly changing colonial and printed world. It also complements the #earlymodern volume 3 brilliantly
Congratulations to Pól Ó Dochartaigh and Niall Ó Ciosáin (and many of our colleagues in Roinn na Gaeilge) for their contributions in the recently published The Oxford History of the Irish Book, vol II: The Printed Book in Irish, 1567-2010s (OUP, 2025)!
August 19, 2025 at 2:33 PM
This volume is a much needed contribution to the wider #bookhistory community, specifically as it places an emphasis on indigenous language and its responses to the rapidly changing colonial and printed world. It also complements the #earlymodern volume 3 brilliantly
Reposted by Mark Empey
Very exciting: the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography published a cluster of new entries on women stationers. See the intro by Valerie Wayne: www.oxforddnb.com/newsitem/906...
ODNB entries are so helpful in identifying women from traces on printed material. So happy to see this work ❤️
ODNB entries are so helpful in identifying women from traces on printed material. So happy to see this work ❤️
www.oxforddnb.com
August 16, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Very exciting: the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography published a cluster of new entries on women stationers. See the intro by Valerie Wayne: www.oxforddnb.com/newsitem/906...
ODNB entries are so helpful in identifying women from traces on printed material. So happy to see this work ❤️
ODNB entries are so helpful in identifying women from traces on printed material. So happy to see this work ❤️
Reposted by Mark Empey
📣John Locke’s Forgotten Manuscript
We are thrilled to announce that @davidrarmitage.bsky.social's
article on his discovery of a new John Locke manuscript is out now👇
It sheds new light on Locke's practical involvement in political economy & his engagement with Ireland 📜🗃️
We are thrilled to announce that @davidrarmitage.bsky.social's
article on his discovery of a new John Locke manuscript is out now👇
It sheds new light on Locke's practical involvement in political economy & his engagement with Ireland 📜🗃️
John Locke and Irish Linen Manufacture: A New Manuscript | The Historical Journal | Cambridge Core
John Locke and Irish Linen Manufacture: A New Manuscript
www.cambridge.org
August 15, 2025 at 7:56 AM
📣John Locke’s Forgotten Manuscript
We are thrilled to announce that @davidrarmitage.bsky.social's
article on his discovery of a new John Locke manuscript is out now👇
It sheds new light on Locke's practical involvement in political economy & his engagement with Ireland 📜🗃️
We are thrilled to announce that @davidrarmitage.bsky.social's
article on his discovery of a new John Locke manuscript is out now👇
It sheds new light on Locke's practical involvement in political economy & his engagement with Ireland 📜🗃️
Reposted by Mark Empey
It's very sad to have the news of Bríd McGrath's death. She was an indefatigable editor for @irishmanuscripts.bsky.social
See our tribute to her here:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/brid-mcgrath/
See our tribute to her here:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/brid-mcgrath/
Bríd McGrath - Irish Manuscripts
Bríd at the launch of her edition in Clonmel in June 2006. It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of Dr Bríd McGrath, editor of four IMC editions. On behalf of the Chair and member...
www.irishmanuscripts.ie
August 14, 2025 at 3:22 PM
It's very sad to have the news of Bríd McGrath's death. She was an indefatigable editor for @irishmanuscripts.bsky.social
See our tribute to her here:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/brid-mcgrath/
See our tribute to her here:
www.irishmanuscripts.ie/brid-mcgrath/
Reposted by Mark Empey
We are delighted to announce that a full programme and registration for the 35th Irish Conference of Historian is now available. Maynooth University, 12-13 September.
Please share widely.
www.eventbrite.com/e/35th-irish...
Please share widely.
www.eventbrite.com/e/35th-irish...
35th Irish Conference of Historians - Inner Lives and Outer Realities
The 35th annual Irish conference of historians hosted by the Irish Committee of Historical Sciences & Maynooth University Dept. of History
www.eventbrite.com
August 13, 2025 at 9:31 PM
We are delighted to announce that a full programme and registration for the 35th Irish Conference of Historian is now available. Maynooth University, 12-13 September.
Please share widely.
www.eventbrite.com/e/35th-irish...
Please share widely.
www.eventbrite.com/e/35th-irish...
Reposted by Mark Empey
A number of Four Courts Press books can now be borrowed on archive.org. Four Courts is a key publisher of works on Irish history, and this means some out of print edited collections on early modern history are now more readily available. And you can read some of my articles there too! For example:
August 12, 2025 at 11:29 AM
A number of Four Courts Press books can now be borrowed on archive.org. Four Courts is a key publisher of works on Irish history, and this means some out of print edited collections on early modern history are now more readily available. And you can read some of my articles there too! For example:
A manuscript copy of Edmund Campion’s #16thc ‘Two bokes of the Histories of Ireland’. The many names on the title page provide a fascinating insight into its popularity and how widely circulated Campion’s work was before Sir James Ware published it in 1633 #bookhistory
August 10, 2025 at 11:48 AM
A manuscript copy of Edmund Campion’s #16thc ‘Two bokes of the Histories of Ireland’. The many names on the title page provide a fascinating insight into its popularity and how widely circulated Campion’s work was before Sir James Ware published it in 1633 #bookhistory