Richard Ansell
@richardjansell.bsky.social
Historian of 17th- and 18th-century travel at Birkbeck, working on servants and other non-elite travellers. New book on British journeys to Iberia: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/no-country-for-travellers/
Pinned
My edition of four travel journals by 18th-c servants is out now, including accounts of France, Italy, the Low Countries, Germany and the Ottoman Empire by three valets and a maid – the majority of people who went on the 'Grand Tour' #skystorians #18thc #c18th global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Come along to the @ihr.bsky.social on Thursday to hear @nailyas.bsky.social talk about her 'Global Libraries' project!
Our final event of term is happening this Thursday (27 November) Dr Nailya Shamgunova @nailyas.bsky.social on 'English and Scottish Scholars at the Global Library, c. 1500-1700'. ✨📚 This talk will be in-person only at the IHR. You can sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
English and Scottish Scholars at the Global Library, c. 1500-1700
This talk introduces the UKRI-funded Future Leaders project, The Global Library project.
www.history.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Come along to the @ihr.bsky.social on Thursday to hear @nailyas.bsky.social talk about her 'Global Libraries' project!
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Keen to explore maritime environments and histories without going to sea? The Royal Museums Greenwich Caird Fellowship deadline is 18 January 2026.
Fellowships at Royal Museums Greenwich
Apply for funding to support research at Royal Museums Greenwich through our Caird Research Fellowships
www.rmg.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Keen to explore maritime environments and histories without going to sea? The Royal Museums Greenwich Caird Fellowship deadline is 18 January 2026.
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
London Lives
www.londonlives.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Birth! Death!! Domestic Religion!!!
Come along (or join online) to hear @emilymayvine.bsky.social's talk at the @ihr.bsky.social next Thursday.
Come along (or join online) to hear @emilymayvine.bsky.social's talk at the @ihr.bsky.social next Thursday.
Join us next Thursday (30/10, 5.30 pm) for Dr Emily Vine’s (@emilymayvine.bsky.social) talk on ‘Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London’! You can sign up to join in-person (IHR Wolfson Room, NB02) or online via Zoom here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London
Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800 Seminar- Session 2
www.history.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Birth! Death!! Domestic Religion!!!
Come along (or join online) to hear @emilymayvine.bsky.social's talk at the @ihr.bsky.social next Thursday.
Come along (or join online) to hear @emilymayvine.bsky.social's talk at the @ihr.bsky.social next Thursday.
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Great to see the recording of @richardjansell.bsky.social 's recent paper on travel journals and servants' lives on the Grand Tour is now avaiable on the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social website. @long18thsem.bsky.social See: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour
British History in the Long 18th Century Seminar
www.history.ac.uk
October 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Great to see the recording of @richardjansell.bsky.social 's recent paper on travel journals and servants' lives on the Grand Tour is now avaiable on the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social website. @long18thsem.bsky.social See: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
So excited to finally have hold of the book!
October 20, 2025 at 11:56 AM
So excited to finally have hold of the book!
Reposted by Richard Ansell
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) has recently been updated with 5000+ new references. Discover further details about this update in this On History blog blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/bibl... @brepols.net
Bibliography of British and Irish History October 2025 update - On History
What’s new in BBIH? The October 2025 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds over 5,000 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters and…
blog.history.ac.uk
October 13, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) has recently been updated with 5000+ new references. Discover further details about this update in this On History blog blog.history.ac.uk/2025/10/bibl... @brepols.net
Reposted by Richard Ansell
At Bristol Central Library:
Fugitives in the Archive
"Featuring original newspapers, maps, and memoirs by c18th & c19th Black writers, this exhibition assembles the possible lives of these runaways before their bid for freedom."
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=242...
#History
Fugitives in the Archive
"Featuring original newspapers, maps, and memoirs by c18th & c19th Black writers, this exhibition assembles the possible lives of these runaways before their bid for freedom."
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=242...
#History
Fugitives in the Archive : Exhibition
During the 18th century, British newspapers published advertisements for runaway enslaved people with rewards for their capture; for the hundreds of Black and Asian people brought to Britain through t...
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital
October 13, 2025 at 8:17 AM
At Bristol Central Library:
Fugitives in the Archive
"Featuring original newspapers, maps, and memoirs by c18th & c19th Black writers, this exhibition assembles the possible lives of these runaways before their bid for freedom."
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=242...
#History
Fugitives in the Archive
"Featuring original newspapers, maps, and memoirs by c18th & c19th Black writers, this exhibition assembles the possible lives of these runaways before their bid for freedom."
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=242...
#History
Reposted by Richard Ansell
ICYMI 👎
Join us tonight, either at the IHR or online to hear @richardjansell.bsky.social present his paper about servants on the ‘Grand Tour’ in the eighteenth century!
Join us tonight, either at the IHR or online to hear @richardjansell.bsky.social present his paper about servants on the ‘Grand Tour’ in the eighteenth century!
Join us next Wednesday (8-10) in person at the IHR or online from 5:30pm to Dr Richard Ansell’s paper ‘Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour’. Register with the following link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...
Join Dr Richard Ansell (Birkbeck) for a free online seminar. 5:30-7:30pm London time on Wed. Oct 8 via zoom. “Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour”. From valets to maids, dis...
TikTok video by Long 18th Century Seminar IHR
www.tiktok.com
October 8, 2025 at 9:14 AM
ICYMI 👎
Join us tonight, either at the IHR or online to hear @richardjansell.bsky.social present his paper about servants on the ‘Grand Tour’ in the eighteenth century!
Join us tonight, either at the IHR or online to hear @richardjansell.bsky.social present his paper about servants on the ‘Grand Tour’ in the eighteenth century!
Reposted by Richard Ansell
We offer #bursaries up to £900 for PhD students, post-graduate researchers and independent scholars engaged in postgraduate-level research in the field of labour history to fund essential archive or library research. Find out more sslh.org.uk/bursaries-gr...
Bursaries
The Society for the Study of Labour History offers financial support to PhD students, post-graduate researchers and independent scholars engaged in postgraduate-level research, as well as to BA and…
sslh.org.uk
October 5, 2025 at 9:53 AM
We offer #bursaries up to £900 for PhD students, post-graduate researchers and independent scholars engaged in postgraduate-level research in the field of labour history to fund essential archive or library research. Find out more sslh.org.uk/bursaries-gr...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Join us next Wednesday (8-10) in person at the IHR or online from 5:30pm to Dr Richard Ansell’s paper ‘Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour’. Register with the following link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...
Join Dr Richard Ansell (Birkbeck) for a free online seminar. 5:30-7:30pm London time on Wed. Oct 8 via zoom. “Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour”. From valets to maids, dis...
TikTok video by Long 18th Century Seminar IHR
www.tiktok.com
October 1, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Join us next Wednesday (8-10) in person at the IHR or online from 5:30pm to Dr Richard Ansell’s paper ‘Travel Journals and Other Traces of Servants on the Grand Tour’. Register with the following link: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...
Richard outlines the paper here:
www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...
Rosemary Sweet and I have written a book about #18thc British travellers to Spain and Portugal, and I'm really happy it's now free to download here: uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun... (hard copies also available!) #skystorians #c18th
No Country for Travellers?
No Country for Travellers? explores the rise and nature of British travel to Spain and Portugal between 1760 and 1820, across a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to...
uclpress.co.uk
August 15, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Rosemary Sweet and I have written a book about #18thc British travellers to Spain and Portugal, and I'm really happy it's now free to download here: uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun... (hard copies also available!) #skystorians #c18th
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Funded by a Leverhulme Research Project Grant, Rosemary Sweet and @richardjansell.bsky.social's new book explores a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to Europe. Read now: uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun...
Congratulations to Rosemary Sweet and @RichardJAnsell! Their #OpenAccess book No Country for Travellers? published today. Read & download free at: bit.ly/4kJYgIl #TravelWriting #EighteenthCentury #Spain #Portugal
No Country for Travellers?
No Country for Travellers? explores the rise and nature of British travel to Spain and Portugal between 1760 and 1820, across a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to Europe. Drawing on extensive archival and printed sources left by travellers in the period, Rosemary Sweet and Richard Ansell reveal the unheralded […]
bit.ly
August 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Funded by a Leverhulme Research Project Grant, Rosemary Sweet and @richardjansell.bsky.social's new book explores a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to Europe. Read now: uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Congratulations to Rosemary Sweet and @RichardJAnsell! Their #OpenAccess book No Country for Travellers? published today. Read & download free at: bit.ly/4kJYgIl #TravelWriting #EighteenthCentury #Spain #Portugal
No Country for Travellers?
No Country for Travellers? explores the rise and nature of British travel to Spain and Portugal between 1760 and 1820, across a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to Europe. Drawing on extensive archival and printed sources left by travellers in the period, Rosemary Sweet and Richard Ansell reveal the unheralded […]
bit.ly
August 14, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Congratulations to Rosemary Sweet and @RichardJAnsell! Their #OpenAccess book No Country for Travellers? published today. Read & download free at: bit.ly/4kJYgIl #TravelWriting #EighteenthCentury #Spain #Portugal
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Amidst the doom, I'm so excited to be welcoming people to the first annual Medieval and Early Modern Research Day at @bbkhistorical.bsky.social! More than 20 of Birkbeck's staff, students and research fellows will be giving micro-talks about a primary source. www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...
July 2, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Amidst the doom, I'm so excited to be welcoming people to the first annual Medieval and Early Modern Research Day at @bbkhistorical.bsky.social! More than 20 of Birkbeck's staff, students and research fellows will be giving micro-talks about a primary source. www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Attention all #earlymodern #skystorians! The Hakluyt Society is now on BSky. Follow for all things relating to the History of Travel and Exploration
@hakluytsociety.bsky.social
@hakluytsociety.bsky.social
June 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Attention all #earlymodern #skystorians! The Hakluyt Society is now on BSky. Follow for all things relating to the History of Travel and Exploration
@hakluytsociety.bsky.social
@hakluytsociety.bsky.social
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Thrilled to say that this is now fully Open Access!
Hopefully now available to any and all interested #earlymodern #skystorians
Hopefully now available to any and all interested #earlymodern #skystorians
New article!
'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.
It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!
Some context below:
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.
It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!
Some context below:
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Validate User
academic.oup.com
June 5, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Thrilled to say that this is now fully Open Access!
Hopefully now available to any and all interested #earlymodern #skystorians
Hopefully now available to any and all interested #earlymodern #skystorians
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Thrilled to see this published (free!) in Past&Present - though it unfortunately feels more relevant than ever... @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social
And feeling fortunate to have been able to do this with two of the most talented historians Malika Zehni & Lamin Manneh ❤️
academic.oup.com/past/advance...
And feeling fortunate to have been able to do this with two of the most talented historians Malika Zehni & Lamin Manneh ❤️
academic.oup.com/past/advance...
Immobility
Abstract. Increasingly, since the early years of the twenty-first century, some have questioned the relevance of historians’ ‘fetishization of mobility’ in
academic.oup.com
June 3, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Thrilled to see this published (free!) in Past&Present - though it unfortunately feels more relevant than ever... @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social
And feeling fortunate to have been able to do this with two of the most talented historians Malika Zehni & Lamin Manneh ❤️
academic.oup.com/past/advance...
And feeling fortunate to have been able to do this with two of the most talented historians Malika Zehni & Lamin Manneh ❤️
academic.oup.com/past/advance...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
Have at last finished the next chapter for my little book on Listening to #EarlyModern Travel Writing. In it I argue that travel writers both constructed and manipulated what I’ve dubbed ‘collective auditory knowledge’ in their representations of foreign lands. 🧵🗃️ (1/4)
Hoping to make some headway on the next chapter tomorrow. That's on 'Embodied Travellers' and hopes to explain the significance of the kinds of sounds that can be found in Samuel Purchas’s Pilgrimes, and the auditory consequences of interactions between Europeans and the wider world. (3/4)
May 28, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Have at last finished the next chapter for my little book on Listening to #EarlyModern Travel Writing. In it I argue that travel writers both constructed and manipulated what I’ve dubbed ‘collective auditory knowledge’ in their representations of foreign lands. 🧵🗃️ (1/4)
Reposted by Richard Ansell
3D-print your own medieval toy! Thanks to my amazing collaborators Beth Kimber and @noreenmasud.bsky.social
www.instructables.com/Buzz-Bones-t...
www.instructables.com/Buzz-Bones-t...
Buzz Bones - the Original Fidget Spinner
Buzz Bones - the Original Fidget Spinner: For as long as there have been children, there have been toys which make irritating noises.
Originally made from the foot bones of a pig, Buzz Bones make a hu...
www.instructables.com
May 28, 2025 at 6:21 AM
3D-print your own medieval toy! Thanks to my amazing collaborators Beth Kimber and @noreenmasud.bsky.social
www.instructables.com/Buzz-Bones-t...
www.instructables.com/Buzz-Bones-t...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
No fewer than three members of Bristol’s English Department have found their monographs shortlisted for the University English Book Prize for Outstanding First Manuscript, across the 2023 and 2024 competitions! universityenglish.ac.uk/book-prize/
May 21, 2025 at 7:03 AM
No fewer than three members of Bristol’s English Department have found their monographs shortlisted for the University English Book Prize for Outstanding First Manuscript, across the 2023 and 2024 competitions! universityenglish.ac.uk/book-prize/
Reposted by Richard Ansell
New article!
'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.
It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!
Some context below:
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.
It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!
Some context below:
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Validate User
academic.oup.com
May 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM
New article!
'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.
It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!
Some context below:
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
'Seeing Women in the Early English and Dutch East India Companies' is now available as an Advance Article with Historical Research.
It's been years of work, but I'm proud of this one. I hope #earlymodern #skystorians enjoy it!
Some context below:
academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
We are pleased to share the details for the Annual Gender & History Lecture, which will be given by Dr Onni Gust. Their talk is titled 'Kin: transgender history with and beyond the human'.
May 15, 2025, 15:00 - 16:30 (In person and Online)
Register here 👇
ticketpass.org/event/ELMPHJ...
May 15, 2025, 15:00 - 16:30 (In person and Online)
Register here 👇
ticketpass.org/event/ELMPHJ...
April 24, 2025 at 11:29 AM
We are pleased to share the details for the Annual Gender & History Lecture, which will be given by Dr Onni Gust. Their talk is titled 'Kin: transgender history with and beyond the human'.
May 15, 2025, 15:00 - 16:30 (In person and Online)
Register here 👇
ticketpass.org/event/ELMPHJ...
May 15, 2025, 15:00 - 16:30 (In person and Online)
Register here 👇
ticketpass.org/event/ELMPHJ...
Reposted by Richard Ansell
New in the Jacobite Studies series ✨
The Jacobites and the grand tour by @drjeremyfilet.bsky.social - the first monograph to fully examine the intersecting networks of Jacobites and travellers to the continent.
Published today in partnership with the JST @funkyplaid.bsky.social
#Jacobites
The Jacobites and the grand tour by @drjeremyfilet.bsky.social - the first monograph to fully examine the intersecting networks of Jacobites and travellers to the continent.
Published today in partnership with the JST @funkyplaid.bsky.social
#Jacobites
April 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM
New in the Jacobite Studies series ✨
The Jacobites and the grand tour by @drjeremyfilet.bsky.social - the first monograph to fully examine the intersecting networks of Jacobites and travellers to the continent.
Published today in partnership with the JST @funkyplaid.bsky.social
#Jacobites
The Jacobites and the grand tour by @drjeremyfilet.bsky.social - the first monograph to fully examine the intersecting networks of Jacobites and travellers to the continent.
Published today in partnership with the JST @funkyplaid.bsky.social
#Jacobites
Reposted by Richard Ansell
I have my proof of this beauty! The previously unpublished c17 travel writings of John Walker, edit. by Anthea Jones. Walker travelled England, Scotland, Wales, France & more. It is fab. #17thCenturyTravel
www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/john...
www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/john...
John Walker's Commonplace Book: A Traveller in the 1670s, edited by Anthea Jones — Hobnob Press
Travelling for pleasure in the 1670s required plenty of stamina. John Walker, a well-to-do country gentleman in his early thirties, rode many miles on horseback through England, Wales and Scotland, an...
www.hobnobpress.co.uk
April 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM
I have my proof of this beauty! The previously unpublished c17 travel writings of John Walker, edit. by Anthea Jones. Walker travelled England, Scotland, Wales, France & more. It is fab. #17thCenturyTravel
www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/john...
www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/john...