Sophie Coulombeau
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sophiecoulombeau.bsky.social
Sophie Coulombeau
@sophiecoulombeau.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in English Literature & Creative Writing. Burneys, book history, 18thc reading habits & naming practices. Novelist. Maker of radio. Mother & carer. Yotam Ottolenghi superfan.
Pinned
It's here! Our special issue of JECS (journal of @bsecs.bsky.social), a bumper vol of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on 18c networks, gender, sociability & manuscript, deriving from @maryhamiltonpapers.bsky.social project. I'll be skeeting today about the contributions in turn...stay tuned!
At last our special issue, JECS 48.4, is out, all 200+ pages of it! We're very proud of it. Thanks are due to many colleagues, but especially Nuria Yáñez-Bouza for proof-correcting heroics, and the general editor, Emrys Jones, for brilliant support throughout. #18thC #langsky
This looks absolutely epic
👑 The King's Dinner 🍰 will be out this June.

It's our attempt at a truly digital history monograph. Our goal is to tell history. Our approach was to apply digital humanities methods to our historical questions.

I think we've done a good job, and I hope you like it.

uclpress.co.uk/book/the-kin...
The King’s Dinner
The King’s Dinner is about what it meant to be British at the end of the eighteenth century. Drawing on a large, open dataset of two royal household kitchen ledgers, the authors study the role and inf...
uclpress.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
'Ahead of the autumn budget on 26 November, Universities UK (UUK) has calculated that funding per student for teaching in 2025-26 is at 64 per cent of the level it was in 2015-16.' 1/3
University teaching income ‘£6.4 billon less’ than 10 years ago
UUK says shortfall in teaching money is ‘baked in’ to higher education funding system as institutions brace for new tax in upcoming budget
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
This is me, by the way. I'm the one in my family with indefinite leave to remain. The father, the husband who would be hived off under these proposals.
There are proposals to cancel Indefinite Leave to Remain.
That would tear families apart — including my own.
My wife could have been separated from her children under. People like my friend Tariq, who’ve lived here since babies, could be taken from their communities.

These people are Britain.
November 23, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
This has been such an incredible experience in interdisciplinary collaboration, and I've learned so much. I hope that you all enjoy reading about Mary and her crew! Do get in touch with any questions about access etc.
November 21, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
But most of all, to @historyhannahb.bsky.social for leading the project and to my wonderful Co-Investigators and co-editors David Denison and @nuriyabo.bsky.social for the teamwork. Nuria in particular has been the powerhouse behind this volume, and we'd be nowhere without her.
November 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Enormous thanks to all our contributors, our wonderful reviewers, and the AHRC for funding the research project without which this volume would never have been possible. Also to star general editor Emrys Jones at JECS, and all open access funders.
November 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Closing up this v interdisciplinary special issue is Yoko Iyeiri, with an analysis of how Hamilton's enormous archive shows linguistic change, specifically in relation to the development of the adverb. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Now Anne-Christine Gardner w/ 'Self-Corrections as Indexes of Social Relationships: Observations From Mary Hamilton's Correspondence With Frances Burney (1783–1789)'. Anne & I take complementary approaches to the same material: IMHO it's a fun conversation! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Then, we have @voloshkova.bsky.social with 'Mary Hamilton, Manuscript Poetry, and the Bluestocking Network: Promoting Hannah More, Ann Yearsley, and Anne Hunter', investigating Hamilton as promoter of poetry. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Next, it's Mascha Hansen with 'The Literary Court: Reading Queen Charlotte'. This article investigates the literary cultures revolving around Queen Charlotte, in some of which Mary Hamilton took part. It's our last gold OPEN ACCESS contribution! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Then, er, it's me again! In 'A ‘generous Rival’? Mary Hamilton and Frances Burney', I use archival & digital approaches to solve the mystery of why Hamilton loved Burney but Burney loathed Hamilton. The answer is one to which many novelists may relate. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
In '‘I was so ill, and so low…’: Women, Mental Health, & Strategies of Care in The Mary Hamilton Papers', @annafranjam.bsky.social
explores how space, sociability & letter-writing were understood as strategies of self care by female correspondents in the Hamilton archive. Another OPEN ACCESS baby!
November 21, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Next up is 'Franks & Friendship: Eighteenth-Century Postal Practices in The Mary Hamilton Papers' by Christine Wallis, who uses evidence from TMHP to explore how postage and franking aided correspondents' politeness and identity work. It is also OPEN ACCESS! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Next is 'The Tip of the Iceberg: Reading Practices in Mary Hamilton's Archive, 1783–1784', by @crulph.bsky.social & I. A data-driven dive into what, how, where, when & with whom Mary Hamilton read, & reflection on DH methodologies applied to ms life writing. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
ALSO OPEN ACCESS is our 1st article, 'Reconstructing Mary Hamilton's Social Networks', by David Denison & Tino Oudesluijs, who present an innovative method for reconstructing social networks from ms letters-connecting not just correspondents but mentionees too
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Also OPEN ACCESS is the Introduction, co-authored by @nuriyabo.bsky.social, David Denison, and myself. Here we situate @maryhamiltonpapers.bsky.social in context of other 18thc digital initiatives, & highlight key findings of the contributions to the vol. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
The OPEN ACCESS Foreword, by Hannah Barker & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, is a great place to start. It introduces Hamilton, her archive, & previous relevant scholarship. It also acknowledges the crucial contributions of many other folk, esp @thejohnrylands.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 21, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Queen Charlotte! William Hamilton! Francis Napier! George III! Charlotte Gunning! Richard Glover! Mary Delany! Frances Boscawen! William Weller Pepys! The Duchess of Portland! The whole gang and more. If you're interested in any of these figures, there'll be something for you in the collection.
November 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Observe, if you will, the cover illustration(repro'd at closer scale below). A network diagram featuring many (though far from all) of Mary Hamilton's close contacts. Elizabeth Carter! Frances Burney! Hannah More! Elizabeth Montagu! Joshua Reynolds! Eva Maria Garrick! Horace Walpole! George IV!
November 21, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Right then. Buckle up, knuckleheads, as they say. This is a special issue of JECS that I co-edited with my esteemed colleagues David Denison (Manchester) and Nuria Yáñez-Bouza (Vigo). It is a "major research output", as they say, from our AHRC-funded research project @maryhamiltonpapers.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
It's here! Our special issue of JECS (journal of @bsecs.bsky.social), a bumper vol of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on 18c networks, gender, sociability & manuscript, deriving from @maryhamiltonpapers.bsky.social project. I'll be skeeting today about the contributions in turn...stay tuned!
At last our special issue, JECS 48.4, is out, all 200+ pages of it! We're very proud of it. Thanks are due to many colleagues, but especially Nuria Yáñez-Bouza for proof-correcting heroics, and the general editor, Emrys Jones, for brilliant support throughout. #18thC #langsky
November 21, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
My contribution explores how space, sociability & letter-writing were conceptualised as strategies of self care by female correspondents in the Hamilton archive. Many thanks to @sophiecoulombeau.bsky.social, Nuria Yáñez-Bouza & David Denison and the JECS team for all their hard work on the issue!
November 21, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Sophie Coulombeau
Thrilled to be part of this special issue and to see my article, "I was so ill, and so low…’: Women, Mental Health and Strategies of Care in The Mary Hamilton Papers' now online #openaccess @maryhamiltonpapers.bsky.social #mentalhealth #womenshist
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
‘I was so ill, and so low…’: Women, Mental Health, and Strategies of Care in The Mary Hamilton Papers
This article examines how space, sociability, and letter-writing are conceptualised as self-care strategies by female correspondents in the Hamilton archive. Building on a recent proliferation of int....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:20 AM
It's here! Our special issue of JECS (journal of @bsecs.bsky.social), a bumper vol of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on 18c networks, gender, sociability & manuscript, deriving from @maryhamiltonpapers.bsky.social project. I'll be skeeting today about the contributions in turn...stay tuned!
At last our special issue, JECS 48.4, is out, all 200+ pages of it! We're very proud of it. Thanks are due to many colleagues, but especially Nuria Yáñez-Bouza for proof-correcting heroics, and the general editor, Emrys Jones, for brilliant support throughout. #18thC #langsky
November 21, 2025 at 8:34 AM