Steven Van Impe
@svanimpe.bsky.social
5.4K followers 590 following 2.7K posts
Book historian, rare books curator Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, Antwerp. Opinions mine, I may be wrong, follow/like isn't endorsement. He/him. Caregiver for a partner with Long Covid. Used to be @RareBookLibAntw on Twitter. Profile pic by LUCID.
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Reposted by Steven Van Impe
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
roaringgirle.bsky.social
a tiny bit of good news is that we have secured funding to digitize john milton's copy of holinshed's CHRONICLES (1587).

the images will form part of MILTON'S LIBRARY, an open-access site featuring the 10 books positively identified as milton's w/ transcriptions/translations of his marginal notes.
A close-up image of a handwritten note in a sixteenth-century book. The note reads: 'Spenser repor / teth otherwise / [o]f this Knight / [D]ialogue of Ire- / [la]nd / [p]. 76.
svanimpe.bsky.social
"Yes, we destroyed the earth AND the economy, but at least we didn't have to interact with females anymore to get our orgasms."
mattburgess1.bsky.social
Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year
We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
phkraemer.bsky.social
De Vlaamse regering in de ochtend:
Prioriteit voor onze eigen taal en cultuur!

De Vlaamse regering in de namiddag:
Musea? Geen geld.
Universiteiten? Geen geld.
Talenonderwijs? Geen geld.
Onderzoeksinstellingen? Geen geld.
svanimpe.bsky.social
Adding the BBCs Middlemarch, and especially North and South, which is all too often overlooked in favour of yet another Austen.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
meganlcook.bsky.social
I really love this photo from 1981 of a man and small child looking in the front window while someone composes on a Linotype machine (digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/pphnegs_imag...)
A black and white photo taken from the interior of the Anthoensen Press in 1981 shows a figure seated at a linotype machine. Outside the large window, a man holds a small child, and both look in at the printer at work.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
lizlehfeldt.bsky.social
#teaching #pedagogy folks: in a course that I've inherited there is a required group project. Looking for resources to help guide students in fundamentals of group work.

Group work is often something that they don't enjoy, but I'm also sure there are ways to make it manageable/constructive. Ideas?
svanimpe.bsky.social
Foreign, on Netflix:
- Alta Mar (Spanish transatlantic ocean liner in the 40s)
- Lidia Poët (based on Italy's first female lawyer)
- Il Gattopardo
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
alexvont.bsky.social
One of the posts that got me flamed back in the old place was when I said I didn’t fetishise books as objects and wasn’t bothered if their owners wanted to rip them in half to make their baggage lighter or chuck them in the recycling once they’ve read them or whatever. Some people went ballistic
nick-pettigrew.bsky.social
The veneration of Books As Objects misses the point entirely. If you're reading a book, turn the corners down, break the spine, spill soup on it. It's your book, go nuts. A pristine, unread book is a tragedy in a way that a beloved, much-read book that looks like the dog's been at it could never be.
rachelfeder.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
svanimpe.bsky.social
If your definition is sufficiently wide, Miss Marple is period drama. The Joan Hickson one from the 80s, not the more recent ITV version.
svanimpe.bsky.social
We've rediscovered that DVDs with (older) period drama series are available from the public library!

Some ideas:
- Pillars of the Earth
- Little Dorrit
- Fortunes of War (1941-44 is still period, right?)
- Cadfaell
- Hornblower
- Sharpe
- Forsyte Saga
svanimpe.bsky.social
Looking at you, 1976 Yearbook of the Association of Potato Peeling Machines Manufacturers of America!
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
lynnemthomas.com
Every book is *someone's* favorite. And that is a glorious thing.
wiswell.bsky.social
Tell me your most life-affirming literary opinion.
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
museecluny.bsky.social
Des faux reliquaires 😮
Ces reliquaires sont entrés au musée de Cluny au milieu du 19e siècle comme des objets médiévaux.
Ils sont en réalité l’œuvre d’un faussaire de Metz, nommé D’Hermange ! Il en aurait fabriqué une douzaine de ce type, trompant même les connaisseurs. 🤥
Reliquaire composée d’une monstrance cylindrique horizontale, enchâssée dans une structure architecturée surmontée de pinacles portant des perles d’agate et des cabochons de verroterie. Reliquaire composée d’une monstrance cylindrique horizontale, enchâssée dans une structure architecturée surmontée de pinacles portant une crête sommée de perles d’agate.
svanimpe.bsky.social
Filling out a form for a course I'm giving in January. Q: "Do students need to bring materials, install software, ... ?"

Very tempted to fill in "A magnetic compass, a Bible (NT), and either two lemons or a large potato."
svanimpe.bsky.social
AKA World Rare Books Influencers day! 💐
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
bleary.off-the-records.com
If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.
Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?
svanimpe.bsky.social
Oei is dat hoe we 'exorcisme' tegenwoordig spellen?
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
tcarmody.bsky.social
The greatest, most literarily interesting prose narrative from antiquity is the Gospel of Mark. Eat it Thucydides
rachelfeder.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
Reposted by Steven Van Impe
dougmessel.com
Cormac McCarthy is dead let’s go ahead and put the punctuation marks in Blood Meridian now
rachelfeder.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
svanimpe.bsky.social
Oh excellent! I read part of this in highschool (in Dutch translation), so decades ago.