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Kate Loveman

@kateloveman.bsky.social

180 followers 220 following 98 posts

Mostly posting about Samuel Pepys’s diary, and other strange 17th-century stuff

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Apr 24

The Strange History of Samuel Pepys’s Diary is officially published today! Available for £22 or less in all good bookshops, and some evil ones.

www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary

Cambridge Core - British History after 1450 - The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary

www.cambridge.org

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 6d

On National Poetry Day, the greatest poem I have ever read

A printed poem which reads:

I hav for breakfast Weetabix

I hav for lunch some meat

I have for tea 2 sosajis and thats enuf to eat

Peter Hazel, 5

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · 10d

200th anniversary of the first passenger railway this weekend. Also 200th anniversary of the publication of Pepys’s diary. Not actual footage

Cartoon of Stephenson’s rocket. Samuel Pepys sits on a carriage, holding the first edition of his diary

Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · 11d

The John Lewis Christmas theme this year seems to be alcoholic mice.

Christmas tree decoration: a woollen mouse wrapped in a towel and with a towel-turban raises a glass of wine. In the other paw it holds a bottle of red wine labelled “Waitrose English soft red”

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · 19d

Enjoyed writing “Prep for Romantics, Murderbot” on my teaching calendar for this term.

Not in the same session, unfortunately.

Reposted by Kate Loveman

The History of Literature Podcast @holpod.bsky.social · 27d

Episode 732 starts with @jackewilson.bsky.social taking a look at the different ways that 10 writers have viewed the Bible. Then Jacke talks with Kate Loveman about her new book on Samuel Pepys. #books @universitypress.cambridge.org @kateloveman.bsky.social #booksky

732 The Bible (#18 GBOAT) | The Diaries of Samuel Pepys (with Kate Loveman) | Health Advice

Jacke starts the episode by looking at the different ways that ten writers have viewed the Bible, #18 on the list of the Greatest Books of All Time. Then he's joine…

www.historyofliterature.com

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

Cambridge University Press @universitypress.cambridge.org · 29d

Celebrating 200 years since the publication of Samuel Pepys’s Diary! 📜

Author @kateloveman.bsky.social shares what inspired her to write ‘Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary’. 📖

Read more 🔗 https://cup.org/4paZtex

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Sep 3

Happy Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone Day to all who celebrate 🎶

The Temptations, in pink 1970s flared suits, singing Papa was a rolling stone

Reposted by Kate Loveman

Alice Thornton's Books @thorntonsbooks.bsky.social · Aug 21

Lovely to see this write up of our project in the Smithsonian Magazine. #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️ @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/r...

Read the Dramatic 17th-Century Memoirs of Alice Thornton, Who Wrote Four Versions of Her Life Story

Researchers have digitized all four volumes, which are now available online. The autobiographies offer a compelling window into a tumultuous period in English history

www.smithsonianmag.com

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

Martine van Elk @martinevanelk.bsky.social · Aug 20

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

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 18

I’m excited to be speaking at this year’s #CheltLitFest (10-19 October 2025) 📚🍂
View the full line-up here: www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/whats-on
Tickets go on sale 4 September

www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/unloc...

Unlocking Samuel Pepys' Diary | Cheltenham Festivals

During the 1660s, Samuel Pepys kept a coded diary full of intimate details and political scandal. Had the contents been revealed, they could have destroyed

www.cheltenhamfestivals.org

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

The Georgian Lords @georgianlords.bsky.social · Aug 18

Chipping away at the 2nd earl of Oxford. Son of Robert Harley, Queen Anne's great minister:
"his consuming passions [were] bibliomania, literary patronage and, towards the end of his life, drink..."
#HistParl

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · Aug 17

A favourite memorial from @exetercathedral.bsky.social. Born Nutcombe Quicke in 1727 he attended Cambridge University & in 1753 married Anne, daughter of the Bishop of Exeter. He became Canon Chancellor of the Cathedral & in 1792 changed his name to Nutcombe Nutcombe to receive an inheritance.

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

Kate Ozment @grubstreetwomen.bsky.social · Aug 16

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 ❤️

www.oxforddnb.com

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 16

Hellblazing and necromancy going on at my local library next weekend

Flyer advertising “John Constantine magical trickster and debut headliner” performing at Leicester Central Library on 23 Aug at 1:30 to 3:30pm

Reposted by Kate Loveman

cambridgebookshop.bsky.social @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social · Aug 15

Huge thanks to @kateloveman.bsky.social for her brilliant talk on 'The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary'. 📖

From burying cheese during the Great Fire of London, to leaving King Charles II coronation for a wee, she explored historic moments in Pepys's diary in strange yet intimate ways. 🧀👑

Kate Loveman standing in front of Cambridge University Press Bookshop holding a copy of her book "The Strange History of Samuel Pepys Diary"

Kate Loveman and a guest engaging in a conversation in Cambridge University Press Bookshop, one with a red tote bag and the other with a pen in hand.

Kate Loveman standing on a set of spiral stairs and reading a book aloud in Cambridge University Press Bookshop with a listening audience member seated nearby; visible signage indicates various academic subjects available on the first floor.

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 15

Thank you! I had a great time

Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 15

Just received a contract for the use of recordings “in perpetuity, throughout the universe in all forms of media now known or hereafter developed”

Holodeck here I come.

Commander Riker steps onto the holodeck (showing a forest) in the first episode of Star Trek: TNG

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Reposted by Kate Loveman

Richard Ansell @richardjansell.bsky.social · Aug 15

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

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 13

Book shop window with copies of Strange History of Samuel Pepys’s Diary in it. Tiny playmobil Pepys bottom left

Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 9

Yep, it would be the De Beer edition (kind of shocking it’s from the same year lightning struck the Hill Valley clock tower)

Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 8

Pepys’s list of “Publique Depravity of Manners” from 1692 always cheers me up.

“Plays and Stage — profane”
🧐

“Bookes — Atheisticall”
(he buys them)

“Publique Mistresses”
(he has one)

“Universitys debauched”

Universitys debauched, written in Pepys’s hand

Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 7

Published today! Guy de la Bédoyère’s selection from Pepys’s diary has new transcriptions of shorthand and the polyglot!

www.waterstones.com/book/the-con...

The Confessions of Samuel Pepys by Guy de la Bédoyère | Waterstones

Buy The Confessions of Samuel Pepys by Guy de la Bédoyère from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

www.waterstones.com

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 5

Come to my talk on Wednesday 13th at Cambridge University Press bookshop!

Features drinking and unscholarly language - certainly by Pepys and possibly by me

@cambridgebookshop.bsky.social

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-strang...

The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Diary

Join author Kate Loveman to explore the fascinating history of Samuel Pepys's secret diary, full of unprintable details and scandal

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 5

That definitely happened!

Kate Loveman @kateloveman.bsky.social · Aug 4

Need a play about this encounter….

Plaque from Shakespeare’s New Place, Stratford reads: “1643, Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I, is entertained at New Place by Susanna Hall, Shakespeare’s daughter.”

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