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Natasha Constantinidou

@nconstantinidou.bsky.social

1.4K followers 410 following 200 posts

Historian of early modern European ideas and culture, researching (Greek) early printed books; co-ordinator of #HorizonEurope #GrECI project http://greci-twinning.org #bookhistory #classicalreception #skystorians

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · Aug 26

#Proofs !!

Happy that this piece is finally coming out soon, on #earlymodern 'Books for Greeks and Books for non-Greeks in Sixteenth-Century Venice'

#skystorians #bookhistory #classicalreception

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 41m

On 4 Oct 1582 Gregory XIII implemented the reformed (Gregorian) calendar. 4 Oct was followed by 15 Oct. #otd

(National Gallery of Art, Washington)

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 14h

Today's manuscript contains hymns and prayers bound with slightly later printed pastoral works. It contains prayers in Latin with interlinear German, each followed by a German translation, with some marginal notes. Germany, late 15th c. (UPenn Ms. Codex 1604) #medievalsky

🔗: https://bit.ly/3Xd1Voy

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Alex Wingate @bibliowingate.bsky.social · 1d

You will all be please to know that they *did* weigh one of their copies for me, and I think my math maths right! There’s only a difference of 2oz between my estimate and theirs which should account for the limp vellum binding on theirs and lack of binding on mine! #BookHistory

Alex Wingate @bibliowingate.bsky.social · 6d

I think I’ve sent my weirdest reference request ever to a library: I’m asking if they’ll weigh two copies of a particular book because I’m trying to verify my guesstimate of how many of 225 copies two different people bought. They bought by weight for old paper, not copies, hence math! #BookHistory

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 2d

I weep.

Google Scholar Homepage with an AI assistant

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 2d

And here is the page in full glory, #bookhistory

Martin Luther sits at a writing desk, writing, and a heavenly sent dove is illuminating the room. This is athe hand coloured title page of a bible print from 1530. You may access a digital copy here: https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0011/bsb00113027/images/index.html

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 4d

Essays by Nickolas Pickwoad include references to French bookbinding as well

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

MedievalWomenSpeak @medievalwomenspeak.bsky.social · 4d

I have discovered that women are more than capable of undertaking any task which requires physical strength or of learning any discipline which requires discernment and intelligence. Books which say otherwise were definitely not written by women.

- Christine de Pizan, b. 1365

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 4d

A very pretty acorn panelled binding covers our first librarian's copy of Horace's Odes, printed in Paris by Simon de Colines, 497 years ago. The 16th century binding was the work of another Parisian, binder & bookseller Jehan Norvis #autumn #bindings

Upper cover of 16th century leather binding

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 4d

📢 Excited to share the full programme of our concluding conference!

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 4d

🎉 We are delighted to announce the programme for the GrECI Concluding Conference, taking place 22–24 October 2025 at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation in Nicosia! 🇨🇾

🗓️ Discover the full programme 👉 greci-twinning.org/wp-content/u...

@ucy1.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu @uio.no

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 6d

Typographic apparitions 👻

Spotted in a 1498 Cologne missal: a case of off-set printing, where ink from the forme (or from another printed page?) accidentally transferred onto these printed page.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Detail of a page with musical staf printed, added music by hand, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

Detail of a page with liturgical text printed, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 8d

#bookhistory #materialculture #skystorians

Suzanne Karr Schmidt @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 8d

To Your Health!

This Madonna of Loreto broadside and its contact-relic veil bore medical benefits... The hand-dated certificate from today, Oct. 6, (1780) notes that this precious cloth touched Mary's miraculous house, sculpture, and scapular, and could help heal all ills! #NewAcq #NewberryLibrary

Madonna of Loreto broadside with seal, black contact relic veil, and the Christ child in her arms, dated Oct 6 1780.

Madonna shrouded in the veil that touched her miraculous house, among other things.

Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 8d

Ooh, I spent a semester there as an undergraduate!

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

CrowdsourceHerBook @crowdsourceherbook.bsky.social · 9d

To illustrate, some lines from the poem About Husbands. (Appreciated or not at the time, ladies certainly did learn Greek and Latin) #bookhistory #womenshistory #classics

Screenshot of page 94 of John Godfrey Saxe's poem About Husbands from the collection The Masquerade and other poems (1866)

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 11d

📖 Read the full interview here:
parathyro.politis.com.cy/features/int...

The GrECI Project explores how ancient Greek heritage was received, translated, and integrated across Western Europe.

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 11d

It me 😯🙂

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 11d

[Interview to PolitisNewspaper]

@nconstantinidou.bsky.social (Coordinator of the Project) spoke to Marisa Labiri about the research conducted by GrECI, unravelling how the ancient Greek language, culture and ideas became foundational to European culture and identity between the 15th–17th centuries.

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 13d

Well-played, @merriam-webster.com

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 13d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 14d

Is your conference taking place in a palace? Because ours

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 14d

Today in my @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social LIS class, 2,000 years of Latin Paleography in three hours! LFG!

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 14d

☞☞ Hands-on reading ☜☜

The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.

They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜

Detail of a manicure and a little face gesturing towards the handwritten text of a manuscript in gothic script written on parchment. The man depicted seems angry. The manicure has a sleeve

A manicule with a stretched sleeve drawn in red in the margins pointing towards a text in Gothic script written on parchment

A manicule used to highlight a rubricated section title in a medieval manuscript written in gothic script on parchment

A very large vaguely drawn manicule pointing towards text in gothic script written on parchment

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

GrECI @greci-eu.bsky.social · 15d

Together with Ana Carmona Aliaga, postdoctoral researcher at UMLP and member of GrECI, they met with the public, sparking curiosity and making science more accessible to all. An inspiring and enriching evening for for people of all ages! 👩🔬👨🔬

@ucy1.bsky.social @uio.no @nconstantinidou.bsky.social

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 15d

I miss these views ...

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 15d

29 Sept 1511: b. Michael Servetus future anti-Trinitarian thinker in Navarre #otd He was burnt on 27 Oct 1553 on a pyre of his own books (McGovern)

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Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Vanessa Desclaux @vanessadesclaux.bsky.social · 16d

Feuilleter et commenter un des manuscrits grecs les plus précieux transmettant le savoir des plantes et des remèdes de Dioscoride? C’est possible mardi 30 sept à la BnF Richelieu en compagnie des conservateurs et chercheurs: antiquitebnf.hypotheses.org/33710

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Natasha Constantinidou @nconstantinidou.bsky.social · 17d

#bookbinding #bookhistory

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 17d

This embroidered binding contains a Bible, printed in London in 1651, together with The Whole Book of Psalms, collected unto English Meeter, also London, 1652.

(Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Reposted by Natasha Constantinidou

Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 18d

Can somebody help me deciphering this blind stamp on a book binding around 1500? The second part looks IHS to me, but I cannot read the first part.

???|IHS

Thanks in advance! 🙏

#bookbinding
#bookhistory
#gothic

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