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Dr Mark Purcell

@camlibresearch.bsky.social

3.7K followers 1.2K following 420 posts

Director, Research and Collections, Cambridge University Library and CUL Research Institute; Bye-Fellow, Pembroke College; FSA FRHistS; University Deputy Proctor; The Country House Library (Yale, 2017); private views

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 1d

I was wondering myself what the gallows was about. Apparently it’s a reference to the nearby Execution Dock, where hangings ordered by the Court of Admiralty took place until 1830.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 1d

On Saturday at the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping, and a bit puzzled by this notice, on an open door leading onto a balcony above the Thames, at 1235pm.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 1d

Seem to have succumbed to Freshers’ Flu. A bit better for a day snoozing at home, and hopefully better still tomorrow. It’s very boring feeling ill.

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 3d

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 2d

This sounds jolly interesting! Just ordered your book up to @theul.bsky.social (apt, I suppose)

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 4d

First of the year.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 6d

At Battersea Power Station, and it’s definitely like being back in Cambridge.

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

History Daily - This Many Years Ago @thismanyyearsago.bsky.social · 8d

259 years ago, on the 2nd of October 1766, ‘Cheese Riots’ broke out at the Nottingham Goose Fair after Lincolnshire merchants had bought large quantities of cheese with the intent to sell it back home. The residents of Nottinghamshire did not want food to leave their county. #otd #history 🗃️

A satirical cartoon depicting a fat 'forestaller' being dragged along by a rope round his neck by a chain of countrymen, to the cheers of a crowd. On of them shouts: “How much now you rogue in grain?” Illustration by Isaac Cruikshank

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 9d

Another year … Flags flying and bells ringing. Some sunshine would be good next.

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 9d

30th September is the feast of St Jerome. This portrait of St Jerome was added perhaps c. 1070 CE.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 389; Jerome's Life of St Paul (Vita Pauli, ); 10th century CE; St Augustine's, Canterbury; f.1v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social
@corpuscambridge.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Jesse "Pecke in the Crowne" Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 9d

Somehow I forgot the best one!

[Diminutive humans attack a giant black cat, woodcut, Japan, 1883)]

Diminutive humans attack a giant cat; a ghost-like figure sits in a flaming black boat in the top left. A political satire. Snatches of the dialogue are by groups of figures; a longer commentary is in the block above. Color woodcut, Japan, 1883 (Wellcome Collection) https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ahwjqbxj

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 9d

It’s very nearly October …

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · Aug 13

The many contributions of Peter Mandler, including as a former President @royalhistsoc.org, are celebrated in a new OA book 'Democratising History', published @uolpress.bsky.social.

Peter's innovations as RHS President (2012-16) are reviewed by @eicathomefinn.bsky.social and Richard Fisher 1/2

Book cover for: Democratising History. Modern British History Inside and Out. Laura Carter (Editor), Freddy Foks (Editor), Philip Harling (Editor)

Chapter by Margot Finn and Richard Fisher, 'Professionalisation, publishing and policy: Peter Mandler and the Royal
Historical Society'

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 13d

The college banana tree seems to be surviving the autumn.

Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 14d

Leaping ahead to the 15thc, this book highlights how decorative a ‘Text Manuscript’ can be! This breviary was translated into Dutch for a nun in Delft. These were the winter offices, and this bright book would surely lift a nun’s heart in those dark days. www.textmanuscripts.com/medieval/bre...

A large initial-G infilled with red, blue, and green flourishing, and decorative acanthus designs extend around the margins of the black text on white parchment.

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Churchill Archives Centre @chuarchives.bsky.social · 21d

📚 Whether you're an undergraduate, postgraduate, academic, or independent researcher, our research grants and By-Fellowships are designed to support work using our collections here at Churchill Archives Centre.

🔗 Click the link to find out more & apply: buff.ly/JGsTtHK

A poster advertising the By-Fellowships and Research Grants offered by Churchill Archives Centre. The text included on this image can be found at the link in the main post.

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 17d

AN #EARLYMODERN POST!! They still exist! And a lovely one at that, for five years and with the brilliant people at KCL who have turned that place in quite the hub of exciting early modern research.

Run, don’t walk.

Lecturer in the History of Early Modern Europe and the World at King's College London

Discover an exciting academic career path as a Lecturer in the History of Early Modern Europe and the World at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Gabriele Passabì @gabpassabi.bsky.social · 15d

Marc Bloch will be admitted to the Pantheon in Paris! The date for the "Panthéonisation" is set for 16 June 2026. Meanwhile, @sorbonneparis1.bsky.social has launched a website to keep track of the many conferences to celebrate the event. Some of them start this month.

marcbloch.pantheonsorbonne.fr

Marc Bloch | Marc Bloch

marcbloch.pantheonsorbonne.fr

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 15d

The new Dolby Quarter @pembroke1347.bsky.social looking very handsome in the evening sunshine today. In the background the mighty tower of the former Emmanuel United Reformed Church, a monster piece of rogue goth, and now the splendid Pembroke Auditorium.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 18d

A fine autumn morning in Cambridge.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 18d

Exploring …

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Marc Riggsbee @marcriggsbee.bsky.social · 21d

Toledo

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Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell

Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · 22d

A pair of frolicking foxes for #NationalFoxDay 🦊

These foxes are from a richly illuminated 16th Century copy of the Persian version of Qazwini's ʻAjāʼib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʼib al-mawjūdāt (MS Nn.3.74)

See it up close in the Cambridge Digital Library: https://loom.ly/9vanVC4

An illustrated Persian manuscript page featuring two playful foxes, surrounded by green plants. The foxes are drawn in a stylised manner with golden fur and friendly expressions.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 22d

A detour after a London meeting to visit St Etheldreda, Ely Place. The chapel is the main remnant of the former town palace of the bishops of Ely. The spectacular library of Bishop John Moore given to @theul.bsky.social by King George I in 1715 (and known as ‘the Royal Library’) was once kept here.

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Dr Mark Purcell @camlibresearch.bsky.social · 25d

It was a dark and stormy night …

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