Simon Davies
@simonfd.bsky.social
Publishing Manager, @themhra.bsky.social
Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide
Posting about scholarly publishing • History and future of the book • Book design, typography, typesetting 📚
Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic 🌒
• Views here my own
Co-editor of the MHRA Style Guide
Posting about scholarly publishing • History and future of the book • Book design, typography, typesetting 📚
Also work on the history of witchcraft & magic 🌒
• Views here my own
These lines from Edwin Grabhorn, renowned San Francisco printer, writing in 1948, now seem bitterly ironic in light of what Silicon Valley has done from the area.
Rather than ‘illumination’ we’ve got the exact opposite
Rather than ‘illumination’ we’ve got the exact opposite
January 16, 2026 at 10:01 AM
These lines from Edwin Grabhorn, renowned San Francisco printer, writing in 1948, now seem bitterly ironic in light of what Silicon Valley has done from the area.
Rather than ‘illumination’ we’ve got the exact opposite
Rather than ‘illumination’ we’ve got the exact opposite
Got this as a present for my sister at Xmas, because she loves the poem: Bruce Rogers’s edition of ‘The night before Christmas’.
This copy had a gift card from(?) BR himself in 📖
This copy had a gift card from(?) BR himself in 📖
January 15, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Got this as a present for my sister at Xmas, because she loves the poem: Bruce Rogers’s edition of ‘The night before Christmas’.
This copy had a gift card from(?) BR himself in 📖
This copy had a gift card from(?) BR himself in 📖
Another wildly OTT bookplate from the C19th:
December 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Another wildly OTT bookplate from the C19th:
I have a few of these good-looking Texts & Translations catalogues left over from an event: if anyone would like one, especially if you have a nice English Lit/Modern Languages common room to leave it lying around in, DM me and I’ll send you one! 📚
December 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I have a few of these good-looking Texts & Translations catalogues left over from an event: if anyone would like one, especially if you have a nice English Lit/Modern Languages common room to leave it lying around in, DM me and I’ll send you one! 📚
Thanks, Microsoft To Do, for auto-adding these dates to my to-do list -- sadly I'm a little overdue already 😰
December 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Thanks, Microsoft To Do, for auto-adding these dates to my to-do list -- sadly I'm a little overdue already 😰
Looking forward to reading this.
Always happy to see more books about the theory/practice of scholarly editing. Too many think they can do it just because they know about an author, but it’s a complex field in its own right!
Always happy to see more books about the theory/practice of scholarly editing. Too many think they can do it just because they know about an author, but it’s a complex field in its own right!
December 15, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Looking forward to reading this.
Always happy to see more books about the theory/practice of scholarly editing. Too many think they can do it just because they know about an author, but it’s a complex field in its own right!
Always happy to see more books about the theory/practice of scholarly editing. Too many think they can do it just because they know about an author, but it’s a complex field in its own right!
When you really hate falconry but you have to do it anyway
#relatable
#relatable
December 12, 2025 at 5:54 PM
When you really hate falconry but you have to do it anyway
#relatable
#relatable
Just the most cutest witch's familiar you ever saw 😊🐶
December 12, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Just the most cutest witch's familiar you ever saw 😊🐶
Hello everyone, what do you think about the Th ligature? I'm starting to quite dislike it.
Top to bottom (all Adobe): 1. Caslon, 2. Caslon with ligature switched off for Th, kerning -20, 3. Aldine, 4. Minion 3, 5. Minion Pro
(The more I look at it the less any of them look right?!)
#typography
Top to bottom (all Adobe): 1. Caslon, 2. Caslon with ligature switched off for Th, kerning -20, 3. Aldine, 4. Minion 3, 5. Minion Pro
(The more I look at it the less any of them look right?!)
#typography
December 3, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Hello everyone, what do you think about the Th ligature? I'm starting to quite dislike it.
Top to bottom (all Adobe): 1. Caslon, 2. Caslon with ligature switched off for Th, kerning -20, 3. Aldine, 4. Minion 3, 5. Minion Pro
(The more I look at it the less any of them look right?!)
#typography
Top to bottom (all Adobe): 1. Caslon, 2. Caslon with ligature switched off for Th, kerning -20, 3. Aldine, 4. Minion 3, 5. Minion Pro
(The more I look at it the less any of them look right?!)
#typography
My face when I have to write something/anything
December 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM
My face when I have to write something/anything
Fun with paragraph breaks; who says you need to stick to boring old indents?!
(Insel-Verlag edn of Also sprach Zarathustra, 1908)
#bookdesign #typography
(Insel-Verlag edn of Also sprach Zarathustra, 1908)
#bookdesign #typography
December 2, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Fun with paragraph breaks; who says you need to stick to boring old indents?!
(Insel-Verlag edn of Also sprach Zarathustra, 1908)
#bookdesign #typography
(Insel-Verlag edn of Also sprach Zarathustra, 1908)
#bookdesign #typography
Fancy guy on a fancy horse, 1549
#earlymodern
#earlymodern
November 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Fancy guy on a fancy horse, 1549
#earlymodern
#earlymodern
'The hand that keeps the world informed'
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
November 24, 2025 at 1:12 PM
'The hand that keeps the world informed'
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
(from the Manual of Linotype Typography)
Love the sinister lighting; tough on the compositor's eyes, mind...
Absolutely thought this book was going to be about something else
*George Harrison plays*
*George Harrison plays*
November 20, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Absolutely thought this book was going to be about something else
*George Harrison plays*
*George Harrison plays*
Why would anyone want this service??
November 17, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Why would anyone want this service??
The doom of books; or, what the phonograph will do (1894)
November 13, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The doom of books; or, what the phonograph will do (1894)
@heatherfro.bsky.social timeline synchronicity:
November 11, 2025 at 10:16 AM
@heatherfro.bsky.social timeline synchronicity:
October 29, 2025 at 10:16 AM
October 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Saint Benedict reviving a monk killed by the Devil (c. 1505). The Devil killed him by throwing bricks at him, apparently
October 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Saint Benedict reviving a monk killed by the Devil (c. 1505). The Devil killed him by throwing bricks at him, apparently
When I was a student I applied a couple times for jobs at the university library; never got one, the feedback was I shouldn’t say how much I like books, because as a library worker they might as well be cans of beans. I think about that when I see things like this.
October 22, 2025 at 9:53 AM
When I was a student I applied a couple times for jobs at the university library; never got one, the feedback was I shouldn’t say how much I like books, because as a library worker they might as well be cans of beans. I think about that when I see things like this.
If you need cheering up and/or extreme office/life-choice jealousy, here’s a dreamy photo of Giovanni Mardersteig’s Officina Bodoni in Verona
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
October 21, 2025 at 12:34 PM
If you need cheering up and/or extreme office/life-choice jealousy, here’s a dreamy photo of Giovanni Mardersteig’s Officina Bodoni in Verona
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
(From: www.tipoteca.it/en/evento/of...)
From the same book: the perfect Q?
#typography
#typography
October 21, 2025 at 9:34 AM
From the same book: the perfect Q?
#typography
#typography
So many different ampersand designs on a single page &&&
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
October 21, 2025 at 9:17 AM
So many different ampersand designs on a single page &&&
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
#bookhistory #typography
(Barthelemy Germain, 1578)
Bluesky is almost universal horror this morning, as per; here’s a nice sixteenth-century title page 🤷♂️
#bookdesign #typography
#bookdesign #typography
October 15, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Bluesky is almost universal horror this morning, as per; here’s a nice sixteenth-century title page 🤷♂️
#bookdesign #typography
#bookdesign #typography