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Natasha Constantinidou

@nconstantinidou.bsky.social

1.4K followers 410 following 200 posts

Historian of early modern European ideas and culture, researching (Greek) early printed books; co-ordinator of #HorizonEurope #GrECI project http://greci-twinning.org #bookhistory #classicalreception #skystorians

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · Aug 26

#Proofs !!

Happy that this piece is finally coming out soon, on #earlymodern 'Books for Greeks and Books for non-Greeks in Sixteenth-Century Venice'

#skystorians #bookhistory #classicalreception

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

MedievalWomenSpeak @medievalwomenspeak.bsky.social · 2h

I have discovered that women are more than capable of undertaking any task which requires physical strength or of learning any discipline which requires discernment and intelligence. Books which say otherwise were definitely not written by women.

- Christine de Pizan, b. 1365

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 2h

A very pretty acorn panelled binding covers our first librarian's copy of Horace's Odes, printed in Paris by Simon de Colines, 497 years ago. The 16th century binding was the work of another Parisian, binder & bookseller Jehan Norvis #autumn #bindings

Upper cover of 16th century leather binding

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 1h

📢 Excited to share the full programme of our concluding conference!

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 2h

🎉 We are delighted to announce the programme for the GrECI Concluding Conference, taking place 22–24 October 2025 at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation in Nicosia! 🇨🇾

🗓️ Discover the full programme 👉 greci-twinning.org/wp-content/u...

@ucy1.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu @uio.no

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 2d

Typographic apparitions 👻

Spotted in a 1498 Cologne missal: a case of off-set printing, where ink from the forme (or from another printed page?) accidentally transferred onto these printed page.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Detail of a page with musical staf printed, added music by hand, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

Detail of a page with liturgical text printed, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 4d

#bookhistory #materialculture #skystorians

Suzanne Karr Schmidt @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 4d

To Your Health!

This Madonna of Loreto broadside and its contact-relic veil bore medical benefits... The hand-dated certificate from today, Oct. 6, (1780) notes that this precious cloth touched Mary's miraculous house, sculpture, and scapular, and could help heal all ills! #NewAcq #NewberryLibrary

Madonna of Loreto broadside with seal, black contact relic veil, and the Christ child in her arms, dated Oct 6 1780.

Madonna shrouded in the veil that touched her miraculous house, among other things.

Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 4d

Ooh, I spent a semester there as an undergraduate!

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

CrowdsourceHerBook @crowdsourceherbook.bsky.social · 4d

To illustrate, some lines from the poem About Husbands. (Appreciated or not at the time, ladies certainly did learn Greek and Latin) #bookhistory #womenshistory #classics

Screenshot of page 94 of John Godfrey Saxe's poem About Husbands from the collection The Masquerade and other poems (1866)

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 7d

📖 Read the full interview here:
parathyro.politis.com.cy/features/int...

The GrECI Project explores how ancient Greek heritage was received, translated, and integrated across Western Europe.

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 7d

It me 😯🙂

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 7d

[Interview to PolitisNewspaper]

@nconstantinidou.bsky.social (Coordinator of the Project) spoke to Marisa Labiri about the research conducted by GrECI, unravelling how the ancient Greek language, culture and ideas became foundational to European culture and identity between the 15th–17th centuries.

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 8d

Well-played, @merriam-webster.com

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 9d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 9d

Is your conference taking place in a palace? Because ours

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 9d

Today in my @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social LIS class, 2,000 years of Latin Paleography in three hours! LFG!

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

☞☞ 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

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 11d

Together with Ana Carmona Aliaga, postdoctoral researcher at UMLP and member of GrECI, they met with the public, sparking curiosity and making science more accessible to all. An inspiring and enriching evening for for people of all ages! 👩🔬👨🔬

@ucy1.bsky.social @uio.no @nconstantinidou.bsky.social

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 11d

I miss these views ...

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 11d

29 Sept 1511: b. Michael Servetus future anti-Trinitarian thinker in Navarre #otd He was burnt on 27 Oct 1553 on a pyre of his own books (McGovern)

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Vanessa Desclaux @vanessadesclaux.bsky.social · 11d

Feuilleter et commenter un des manuscrits grecs les plus précieux transmettant le savoir des plantes et des remèdes de Dioscoride? C’est possible mardi 30 sept à la BnF Richelieu en compagnie des conservateurs et chercheurs: antiquitebnf.hypotheses.org/33710

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 13d

#bookbinding #bookhistory

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 13d

This embroidered binding contains a Bible, printed in London in 1651, together with The Whole Book of Psalms, collected unto English Meeter, also London, 1652.

(Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 13d

Can somebody help me deciphering this blind stamp on a book binding around 1500? The second part looks IHS to me, but I cannot read the first part.

???|IHS

Thanks in advance! 🙏

#bookbinding
#bookhistory
#gothic

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Alex Drace-Francis @alexdrace.bsky.social · 14d

Had never occurred to me that all these French town names are in fact plurals (as are many Romanian town names..)
- Rickard, History of the French Language, p. 5

"Remis, the home of the tribe known to the Romans as the Remi,
gives rise to Reims (Rheims). This explains in many cases the -s
ending of modern French towns, for example Angers, Limoges,
Nantes, Poitiers, Sens, Tours and Troyes. Paris takes its name from
the Parisii" (Rickard, History of French, p. 5)

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Tomás Antonio Valle @tomasantoniovalle.bsky.social · 14d

CFP: Ecosystems of the Mind: Resources for Reconstructing Early Modern Intellectual Life || 21–23 May 2026 || Hamburg, DE

Please spread broadly! Feel free to reach out with questions.