Sarah Bull
@sarahebull.bsky.social
5.1K followers 2.5K following 3.1K posts
English professor, book historian. 19th C, mainly. Interested in the histories of medicine, sexuality, and print culture, text reuse, IP, letterpress, DH/computational approaches. Book: Selling Sexual Knowledge (CUP, 2025)
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sarahebull.bsky.social
The open access version of Selling Sexual Knowledge is out (hardcopies coming shortly)! Reposting this little thread from December where I take a break from chowing down on holiday treats to talk a little about what it's actually about and why I wrote it.
Reposted by Sarah Bull
ryancordell.org
If you work with historical newspaper data, check out @matthewkollmer.com’s tutorial for generating image clippings—sections of the full page—based on text & coordinate data. Matthew’s been doing yeoman’s work figuring this in for a forthcoming exhibit for our Virality of Racial Terror project
matthewkollmer.com
If you, like me, sometimes need to generate thousands of clipping images from Chronicling America, then you may find this post helpful.

It provides my pipeline (code and explanatory text) for programmatically generating newspaper clipping images via the Chronicling America API.
How to Create Newspaper Clipping Images in Chronicling America, Programmatically – Matthew Johannes Kollmer
matthewkollmer.com
sarahebull.bsky.social
A helpful thread! I wish my bookstore would bring coursepacks back — thinking of making my own somehow for next semester.
carallewis.bsky.social
Does anyone still make coursepacks for students?

Super common when I was in college & grad school, but I imagine putting PDFs on the LMS has mostly (entirely?) replaced it. Anyone just printing out everything for them?
sarahebull.bsky.social
I teach a course with a lot of broadview texts already and would love to get a reader with the shorter readings... thank you!
sarahebull.bsky.social
Whaaat?! Thank you for mentioning this — I didn't know!
sarahebull.bsky.social
My university stopped making print coursepacks during the pandemic :(
sarahebull.bsky.social
It's the only way, whew.
sarahebull.bsky.social
Ok, this is harder than it looks:
sarahebull.bsky.social
You really have the eager follow-up questions nailed!
sarahebull.bsky.social
Very grateful for the suggestions in this thread, though, including yours!
sarahebull.bsky.social
I've definitely seen evidence and talk of systems involving PO boxes and similar (from the 1860s) — it seems to have slowed down but not stopped some investigations. I think I've been hoping to find a dedicated study of this kind of thing, but it sounds like that's not the way it played out. +
Reposted by Sarah Bull
annakornbluh.bsky.social
this good thing is three weeks from today!

heisting student debt

with Kashana Cauley and The Debt Collective

interccect.com/2025/09/26/w...
What's Funny About Student Debt
sarahebull.bsky.social
Excited to read this!!
Reposted by Sarah Bull
drreznicek.bsky.social
Really excited to see these proofs for @lydiacooper.bsky.social’s and my special issue of Studies in the Novel on Disease and Disability in the Novel
sarahebull.bsky.social
Thanks so much, Lesley! I really appreciate it. Yes, I feel like I've seen quite a bit about language in these kinds of ads, but less about tracking or trying to evade tracking efforts. I've read the McClaren book, but ages ago, so I'll check both out. Thanks!
sarahebull.bsky.social
Oh, very cool — thank you!
Reposted by Sarah Bull
pennpress.bsky.social
LISTEN: Author Katherine J. Parkin discusses her new book THE ABORTION MARKET, a compelling and revealing look at how the buying and selling of abortion access impacted millions of women between 1962 and 1972, on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's podcast!

bit.ly/46EHaai
sarahebull.bsky.social
Oh, good idea! I'm currently waiting for it to come in the mail, but will check it out immediately.
sarahebull.bsky.social
Will take another look! It's been a while now for me, too. I love her book!
sarahebull.bsky.social
Another note: I should have specified that I'm not really interested in the use of aliases or coded/euphemistic language (there's lots of work on this) so much as strategies for making it more difficult to trace the identity or location of the advertiser, or for the advertiser to trace ad uptake
sarahebull.bsky.social
SIGHTED: The Man of Pleasure’s Pocket Book at the Thomas Fisher Library!
sarahebull.bsky.social
Holy crap, yes, I think that's exactly what the person I'm looking at must be doing, too. I can't believe I forgot this, Claire! Thanks for the reminder!
sarahebull.bsky.social
Thanks so much — I don't remember seeing anything there, but I should re - look at Rosenberg's book and the other readings you suggested — clearly my memory is not working 🫣