Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Matt Owen @mjowen174.bsky.social · 17h

If you could please do us a favour and RT (or whatever it is on here) my writing CV I would be extremely grateful. I am a very capable writer of words, mainly “humorous”’ and if you have some PROPER paid work for me, please DM me. Thank you for your time www.mathew-owen.co.uk

Home | Matt Owen | Freelance Writer

I offer a broad and diverse range of writing services. Get in touch!

www.mathew-owen.co.uk

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 1d

It's #WorldAlgaeDay! Japanese algologist Kintaro Okamura (1867-1935) provided taxonomies & descriptions in English & Japanese for his monumental work "Nihon sorui zufu" / "Icones of Japanese Algae" (1907-1942). Find it in #BHLib via
#MBLWHOILibrary
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography... 🧪

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 2d

Chilling out with today's post this evening @stoneclub.bsky.social

Photo of the first issue of Ancient Times magazine on a tabletop

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 3d

I have this very book on a trolley ready for a seminar I'm teaching next week, along with Hargrave Jennings' 'Phallicism' (1884) and Richard Payne Knight's 'Discourse on the Worship of Priapus' (1894)

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University of Exeter Special Collections @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social · 4d

Good morning to everyone but especially to all the octopuses, for today is their special day!

To celebrate World Octopus Day, here's an illustration of an octopus from the book 'The World of the Sea' by Moquin Tandon, published in 1869.

📷 Reserve 591.92 TAN

#WorldOctopusDay #OctopusDay #RareBooks

Cropped image showing an engraving of an octopus

Full-page engraving from a book. It shows an octopus lying on the seabed, with a squid and a cuttlefish coming towards. The cuttlefish is making a cloud. The engraving is captioned: 'Plate XI. A Poulpe. A Cuttle-Fish Making His Cloud. A Calmar'.

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Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social · 6d

New open-access publication: Discover how a multidisciplinary approach helped identify and contextualise three Qurʾānic parchment fragments from the University of Münster collection, revealing their shared origins in an Umayyad Qur’an:
www.nature.com/articles/s40...

From fragments to text and ink: a scientific and historical study of an Umayyad Qur’ān - npj Heritage Science

npj Heritage Science - From fragments to text and ink: a scientific and historical study of an Umayyad Qur’ān

www.nature.com

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Luke McKernan @lukemckernan.bsky.social · 7d

Thanking librarians, past and present lukemckernan.com/2025/10/05/t...

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University of Exeter Special Collections @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social · 7d

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the badgers, for today is their special day!

To celebrate National Badger Day, here is an illustration of a badger from the book 'Animated Nature' (1828) by Georges-Louis Leclerc.

📷 Reserve 590 BUF

#NationalBadgerDay #BadgerDay #RareBooks

Cropped image from a book, showing a colour illustration of a badger standing on a patch of grass, painted in shades of black, white and green.

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 7d

Sunday morning. I've already had a stroll through a Devon churchyard a few hours ago, now it's time to read up on some related folklore

Photo of a book, 'Hallowed Ground. The Folklore of Churches and Churchyards' with an image of a church surrounded by gravestones on its front cover, next to a cup of hot chocolate

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Dr Rose Teanby @roseteanby.bsky.social · 7d

Join me in person or online on 5th November 1pm for a Photo Oxford talk at @bodleianlibs about the photographic and artistic life of Constance Talbot. She witnessed the birth of #photography but maintained a love of art throughout her life. Details here:

photooxford.org/events/const...

Constance Talbot, early photographer and lifelong artist Talk by Rose Teanby — Photo Oxford

Sir Victor Blank Lecture Theatre, The Bodleian Library Wednesday, 5 November

photooxford.org

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The Folklore Library & Archive @folklorelibrary.bsky.social · 7d

Our next big event is coming to Crediton…

Save the date - Friday 12th December at 7:30pm

Watch this space.

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The Folklore Podcast @folklorepod.bsky.social · 8d

Do you follow @folklorelibrary.bsky.social

We founded this registered charity to save and preserve folklore materials and at-risk heritage.

The charity holds collections of international significance.

Please follow if you don’t and tell your friends if you do 🥰

bit.ly/flafundraising to support

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University of Exeter Special Collections @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social · 9d

Tomorrow is UK Fungus Day! 🍄

Did you know we look after notebooks of botanist Edward Parfitt (1820-1893) relating to Devonshire fungi?

His notes include watercolour illustrations and notes on when and where he observed different types of fungi.

📷 EUL MS 35

#UKFungusDay #Fungi #Devon #Archives

A display of the collection on a table. A notebook is placed on a book cushion and opened to a page with notes and an illustration of fungi. Around the cushion four other notebooks are laid out, all entitled ‘Devonshire Fungi’. In the foreground are some loose papers, including illustrations and notes on fungi. In the background are shelves of historic books.

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Bertrom. @bertrom.bsky.social · 11d

RIP the wonderful Primatologist Jane Goodall.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

A beautiful person.

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 11d

A friend and colleague of mine recently returned from visiting a Rumanian community in the Danube Delta and his wonder at hearing Old Church Slavonic in the liturgy

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Hellebore @helleborezine.bsky.social · 11d

Exciting news! HELLEBORE’s first short story anthology is here! 9 new tales of the supernatural and the strange by Ramsey Campbell, Ally Wilkes, Reggie Oliver, Helen Grant and more, set in some of the most beguiling locations of Occult Britain.

👉🏼 Pre-order now to secure your copy: helleborezine.com

Tales of Occult Britain - edited by Maria J Pérez Cuervo- cover art by Isabella Mazzanti, design by Sam Freeman. Cover shows a skull with a crown, a witch, a faerie, a toad and the moon.

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University of Exeter Special Collections @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social · 11d

Good afternoon to everyone, but especially to all the raccoons, for today is their special day!

This woodcut of a raccoon was printed in 1635 in 'Historia Naturae, Maxime Peregrinae' by Juan Eusebio Nieremberg.

📷 Baring-Gould Library 0689 Folio

#InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay #RareBooks

Cropped image of a page in an opened book. In the centre of the page is a large woodcut illustration of a raccoon. The title in Latin above it is 'Mapach'

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 12d

Maybe of interest to @karakmufti.bsky.social

Esmat Elhalaby @esmat.bsky.social · 12d

out today from @ucpress.bsky.social comes with words and a map. can be displayed and/or read.

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 12d

In times like these we need more stories, not less, because writers like yourself help us explore and reflect about what it means to be human, and it's only by truly understanding that that any of us can find a way out of this mess (for all of us)

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 14d

A wonderful way to end Hell Tor 2025 with a panel of Steve Nallon, Claire Amias, Jonathan Rigby and Stephen Volk reflecting on their personal selection of ghostly film and tv clips

Photo of a quartet of panelists on stage beneath a screen with the words 'Ghosys of my Life'

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 14d

I've just been listening to actress Pauline Moran on stage in Exeter this afternoon reminiscing about her days playing bass in the all-female band She-Trinity in the 1960s

Many happy returns btw

James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 14d

Pauline Moran and Jonathan Rigby in conversation at the Hell Tor festival this afternoon

Photograph of Pauline Moran and Jonathan Rigby in conversation at the Hell Tor festival beneath a large screen depicting a scene from her performance in The Woman in Black

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 14d

Another of today's Hell Tor events - (Rev.)Peter Laws, author of 'The Frighteners: Why We Love Monsters, Ghosts, Death & Gore' and many other books & podcasts, exploring why as a society we feel drawn to the paranormal, and the human needs this may meet

Photo of Peter Laws on stage in front of a screen showing some of his books and other media activities

James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 14d

Day three of Hell Tor festival beginning with more meticulously-researched myth-busting on the folklore of Screaming Skulls by @folklorepod.bsky.social

Photograph of folklorist Mark Norman on stage giving a talk on 'Screaming Skulls' with a large screen behind him on which there is a picture of a skull and a painted portrait

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James_AL_Downs @magiclantern.bsky.social · 15d

From this evening's fascinating Hell Tor festival conversation between Jonathan Rigby & Caroline Munro about her career working with Billy Wilder, Hammer, Ray Harryhausen, Tom Savini & many others - plus an audience member expressing gratitude for her Cellar Club with @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social

Photograph of actor and author Jonathan Rigby in conversation with actress Caroline Munro at the Hell Tor festival

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