Adam Smyth
@adamwithbooks.bsky.social
lit+material texts. balliol, oxford + london.
Rep'd RCW Literary Agency
THE BOOK-MAKERS (2024)
co-ed Inscription: The Journal of Material Text
president Oxford Bibliographical Society
micro-essays adamsmyth.substack.com
Rep'd RCW Literary Agency
THE BOOK-MAKERS (2024)
co-ed Inscription: The Journal of Material Text
president Oxford Bibliographical Society
micro-essays adamsmyth.substack.com
Reposted by Adam Smyth
THIS!
hello. if you work at a university please ask your library to buy my book. it is all about books and libraries and also plants, museums, the Royal Society, and the ways we learn. I think it will be interesting to lots of people, hopefully. thank you www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
Hans Sloane's Library Collection and the Production of Knowledge | Cambridge University Press & Assessment
www.cambridge.org
November 28, 2025 at 5:00 PM
THIS!
Reposted by Adam Smyth
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A Provincial Market in Second-Hand Books: Book Sales in Devon, 1688–1725
Abstract. Comparatively little is known about England’s early book-auction trade outside of London and the university towns, with few catalogues surviving
doi.org
November 27, 2025 at 9:31 AM
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
This, with @illdottore.bsky.social, will be terrific -- Monday 1st, in London.
ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
Slavery as a feature of Roman book culture
ics.sas.ac.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:10 AM
This, with @illdottore.bsky.social, will be terrific -- Monday 1st, in London.
ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
Loved the print-making course I took at inspiring West Dean College, led by wonderful Mary Dalton. Here is my attempt at books on a shelf, through a net of pastness ...
@westdean.ac.uk
@westdean.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Loved the print-making course I took at inspiring West Dean College, led by wonderful Mary Dalton. Here is my attempt at books on a shelf, through a net of pastness ...
@westdean.ac.uk
@westdean.ac.uk
Reposted by Adam Smyth
This, by @adamwithbooks.bsky.social in the most recent HLQ, is really excellent. "Bibliography tends to drain out affect— but it needn’t."
November 25, 2025 at 3:50 AM
This, by @adamwithbooks.bsky.social in the most recent HLQ, is really excellent. "Bibliography tends to drain out affect— but it needn’t."
Reposted by Adam Smyth
‘Gutenberg seems to have had a habit of falling out with people.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on a biography of the printer told through his books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on a biography of the printer told through his books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 11:55 AM
‘Gutenberg seems to have had a habit of falling out with people.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on a biography of the printer told through his books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on a biography of the printer told through his books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Adam Smyth
Reposted by Adam Smyth
Who doesn’t love Good Housekeeping? Especially when they make the Book Game by enigmatic Frances Wise one of the 50 best beach reads *ever*!
June 24, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Who doesn’t love Good Housekeeping? Especially when they make the Book Game by enigmatic Frances Wise one of the 50 best beach reads *ever*!
Reposted by Adam Smyth
‘It’s possible that the history of printing is a stitched-together story of the movement of knowledge from East to West, rather as paper-making spread from Asia through the Arab world from the eighth century.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
‘It’s possible that the history of printing is a stitched-together story of the movement of knowledge from East to West, rather as paper-making spread from Asia through the Arab world from the eighth century.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Adam Smyth
‘In focusing on the connection between print and preservation, we miss the culture of ephemeral texts that Gutenberg’s innovation unleashed.’
Adam Smyth on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
‘In focusing on the connection between print and preservation, we miss the culture of ephemeral texts that Gutenberg’s innovation unleashed.’
Adam Smyth on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Adam Smyth
‘Centuries of printing preceded Gutenberg. As White is careful to describe, Gutenberg was born nine hundred years after printed texts were first produced in China by rubbing paper onto inked, carved woodblocks.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social):
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social):
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
‘Centuries of printing preceded Gutenberg. As White is careful to describe, Gutenberg was born nine hundred years after printed texts were first produced in China by rubbing paper onto inked, carved woodblocks.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social):
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social):
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Adam Smyth
Reposted by Adam Smyth
‘Interest in Gutenberg’s Bible waned to such an extent that at least fifteen of them ended up sliced into strips to reinforce more desirable titles – such as a handbook of legal process in Saxony from 1666.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 1:30 PM
‘Interest in Gutenberg’s Bible waned to such an extent that at least fifteen of them ended up sliced into strips to reinforce more desirable titles – such as a handbook of legal process in Saxony from 1666.’
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth (@adamwithbooks.bsky.social) on Gutenberg’s books
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Adam Smyth
Pleased to be in the latest @lrb.co.uk with a piece on Eric White's (very good) biography of Mr G's books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Pleased to be in the latest @lrb.co.uk with a piece on Eric White's (very good) biography of Mr G's books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Pleased to be in the latest @lrb.co.uk with a piece on Eric White's (very good) biography of Mr G's books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Smyth · Slice It Up: Gutenberg’s Great Invention
Gutenberg remains unknowable: an implied but not a felt presence. This is true for all but a small number of 15th-...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Pleased to be in the latest @lrb.co.uk with a piece on Eric White's (very good) biography of Mr G's books.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Adam Smyth
Hooray to @thespectator1828.bsky.social and to Frances Wilson for nominating THE BOOK GAME, by elusive but deserving (and unrelated) Frances Wise, as a Book of the Year for 2025!
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Hooray to @thespectator1828.bsky.social and to Frances Wilson for nominating THE BOOK GAME, by elusive but deserving (and unrelated) Frances Wise, as a Book of the Year for 2025!
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
Hooray to @thespectator1828.bsky.social and to Frances Wilson for nominating THE BOOK GAME, by elusive but deserving (and unrelated) Frances Wise, as a Book of the Year for 2025!
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Hooray to @thespectator1828.bsky.social and to Frances Wilson for nominating THE BOOK GAME, by elusive but deserving (and unrelated) Frances Wise, as a Book of the Year for 2025!
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
@4thestatebooks.bsky.social @chloehouston.bsky.social
Reposted by Adam Smyth
Somewhat astonishingly, here it is, a book, a thing in the world... More, including acknowledgements, soon❤️
October 31, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Somewhat astonishingly, here it is, a book, a thing in the world... More, including acknowledgements, soon❤️
Reposted by Adam Smyth
"Abandoned and failed projects, ca. 1998-2025: an incomplete, chronological list" -- worth your time, from Adam Smyth, who lists all the stuff he dropped or which didn't work adamsmyth.substack.com/p/abandoned-...
Abandoned and failed projects, ca. 1998-2025: an incomplete, chronological list
[This is an updated version of the original from 2021.]
adamsmyth.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:56 PM
"Abandoned and failed projects, ca. 1998-2025: an incomplete, chronological list" -- worth your time, from Adam Smyth, who lists all the stuff he dropped or which didn't work adamsmyth.substack.com/p/abandoned-...
Book-shop question!
What are the best 2nd-hand bookshops in the UK -- if by 'best' I mean shops that tend towards (1) interestingly curated stock (2) atmosphere (bit messy, bit tumbled down -- but a place you want to be in) (3) knowledgeable staff who add something (4) inspiring. Trying to make a list!
November 5, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Book-shop question!