melusina
@melusinagr.bsky.social
Co-founder, co-creator, co-conspirator (Codex Machina podcast, Strange Land Books). Luddite. Artist with the soul of a poet. Academic trying to help decolonize Book Studies/Book History. Loves periodicals. Addicted to art supplies. Plays #ttrpgs.
Pinned
🎙️ New episode! We discuss The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, and boy, what a discussion. Like Piranesi, it’s a book that keeps you thinking. 📖
We really loved this book and it sparked a great discussion. Definitely recommended but find a friend to read it with you so you can talk about it!!
Reposted by melusina
New fellowship opportunity at the University of Bergen in Norway for an early career scholar of electronic literature. Check it out!
The 2026 Joseph P. Tabbi Fellowship for International Researchers in Electronic Literature | UiB
www4.uib.no
November 28, 2025 at 11:09 PM
New fellowship opportunity at the University of Bergen in Norway for an early career scholar of electronic literature. Check it out!
It’s time to go whole hog with our research on Star Trek and the book! I had to go back to our pre-Codex Machina podcast and revisit our episodes on “What is the Future of the Book?” as depicted in Star Trek. What a fun topic. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
November 28, 2025 at 10:54 PM
It’s time to go whole hog with our research on Star Trek and the book! I had to go back to our pre-Codex Machina podcast and revisit our episodes on “What is the Future of the Book?” as depicted in Star Trek. What a fun topic. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
Reposted by melusina
Hell yes. Trish Loughran's "Books in the Nation," in The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book, ed. Leslie Howsam (Cambridge University Press, 2015) is a killer riposte to Anderson on this score.
November 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Hell yes. Trish Loughran's "Books in the Nation," in The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book, ed. Leslie Howsam (Cambridge University Press, 2015) is a killer riposte to Anderson on this score.
Reposted by melusina
Reposted by melusina
what i love is that in 1990 judas priest got brought to trial over the claim that subliminal messages in the recording "better by you better than me" caused two suicides and now in 2025 openai seems to be generating a suicide a week with its superliminal messages and the US government is funding it
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 AM
what i love is that in 1990 judas priest got brought to trial over the claim that subliminal messages in the recording "better by you better than me" caused two suicides and now in 2025 openai seems to be generating a suicide a week with its superliminal messages and the US government is funding it
Reposted by melusina
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
💜 I can also call this #bookhistory
November 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM
💜 I can also call this #bookhistory
Reposted by melusina
*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...
Reposted by melusina
I received the reader reports back for my book manuscript. Thank you (you know who you are) for the most generous, supportive, & helpful comments!
I guess this book thing is happening! Look for Doctoring the West: Women Physicians and the Politics and Practice of Medicine sometime next year!
I guess this book thing is happening! Look for Doctoring the West: Women Physicians and the Politics and Practice of Medicine sometime next year!
November 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
I received the reader reports back for my book manuscript. Thank you (you know who you are) for the most generous, supportive, & helpful comments!
I guess this book thing is happening! Look for Doctoring the West: Women Physicians and the Politics and Practice of Medicine sometime next year!
I guess this book thing is happening! Look for Doctoring the West: Women Physicians and the Politics and Practice of Medicine sometime next year!
Reposted by melusina
Attention all AUPresses members: The 2026 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show is now open for your gorgeous and creative entries!
View the Call for Entries on the AUPresses Design website and submit materials by January 12, 2026:
design.up.hcommons.org/
View the Call for Entries on the AUPresses Design website and submit materials by January 12, 2026:
design.up.hcommons.org/
November 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Attention all AUPresses members: The 2026 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show is now open for your gorgeous and creative entries!
View the Call for Entries on the AUPresses Design website and submit materials by January 12, 2026:
design.up.hcommons.org/
View the Call for Entries on the AUPresses Design website and submit materials by January 12, 2026:
design.up.hcommons.org/
Reposted by melusina
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Would You Like To Be Defector’s Sixth-Ever Editorial Intern? | Defector
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. Wow! That could be you! How could it be you? I am here to answer that question, and many more. What will a Defector inte...
defector.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Reposted by melusina
What book would you recommend to someone learning about neurodiversity for the first time?
We’re updating our Space for Reading at the Weston Library and this time, the theme is Neurodiversity.
Share your book recommendations here: https://forms.office.com/e/bRHBxTXBSY
We’re updating our Space for Reading at the Weston Library and this time, the theme is Neurodiversity.
Share your book recommendations here: https://forms.office.com/e/bRHBxTXBSY
November 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM
What book would you recommend to someone learning about neurodiversity for the first time?
We’re updating our Space for Reading at the Weston Library and this time, the theme is Neurodiversity.
Share your book recommendations here: https://forms.office.com/e/bRHBxTXBSY
We’re updating our Space for Reading at the Weston Library and this time, the theme is Neurodiversity.
Share your book recommendations here: https://forms.office.com/e/bRHBxTXBSY
This is a bit dumb because treason is not an objective thing, words have meaning and this is objectively not treason idk why we are letting people pretend they can just define words now.
% who do | don't consider it to be treason for members of Congress to tell military members that they have a legal duty to refuse to carry out illegal orders
U.S. adults 25% | 49%
Democrats 12% | 71%
Independents 19% | 51%
Republicans 44% | 28%
today.yougov.com/topics/polit...
U.S. adults 25% | 49%
Democrats 12% | 71%
Independents 19% | 51%
Republicans 44% | 28%
today.yougov.com/topics/polit...
November 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
This is a bit dumb because treason is not an objective thing, words have meaning and this is objectively not treason idk why we are letting people pretend they can just define words now.
Reposted by melusina
Hey you, is this a 2 on your forehead, or are you modeling for this science book again? #skystorians
1 2 3 all over the face. This numbered face is part of an #earlymodern book about physiognomy, the art of face reading, and chiromancy, the art of fortune-telling by looking at your hand. The numbers described the person's character, personality or body functions from their outer appearance.
1/2
1/2
November 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Hey you, is this a 2 on your forehead, or are you modeling for this science book again? #skystorians
Reposted by melusina
Actually this is ONLINE
If you’re in Leiden www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia
Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users—in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. Currently, we a...
www.universiteitleiden.nl
November 25, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Actually this is ONLINE
👇🏻
There was civilization in the Americas before the settlers arrived. The other work being performed here is to erase that and present settlement as the arrival of civilization instead of the annihilation of another
Neither Trump, nor half of his cabinet have “ancestors” who were in North America before the revolution. I’d guess that less than half of current US citizens do. “Your ancestors” is doing a lot of implicitly white Christian nationalist work here.
November 22, 2025 at 11:32 PM
👇🏻
💪
wrote an article for @thebookseller.com outlining to the industry why small presses are the lifeforce & future of book production. Pls share esp w people who may not know what small press publishers do!
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:44 PM
💪
Reposted by melusina
A #bookhistory academic’s review of @biblioasis.bsky.social bestseller, The Notebook. 📒. 🇨🇦
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
Roland Allen. The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. – SHARP News
sharpweb.org
November 22, 2025 at 4:43 PM
A #bookhistory academic’s review of @biblioasis.bsky.social bestseller, The Notebook. 📒. 🇨🇦
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
sharpweb.org/sharpnews/20...
Reposted by melusina
Gangnam Style 1493.
November 19, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Gangnam Style 1493.
Reposted by melusina
New batch of book reviews up at SHARP News @sharpnews.bsky.social! Topics covered include the early modern European book trade, writing in Hindi, women in publishing, notebooks, Shakespeare folios, & the Yiddish press: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/.
November 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
New batch of book reviews up at SHARP News @sharpnews.bsky.social! Topics covered include the early modern European book trade, writing in Hindi, women in publishing, notebooks, Shakespeare folios, & the Yiddish press: sharpweb.org/sharpnews/.
Reposted by melusina
Palaeography 🧵! Or why it can take a historian a while to confirm what they already suspected must be the case and not really get any further than they were—but this time with confidence 😂
I'm working with documents that list the incomes of medieval French lordships, so a lot of it is about grain.
I'm working with documents that list the incomes of medieval French lordships, so a lot of it is about grain.
November 19, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Palaeography 🧵! Or why it can take a historian a while to confirm what they already suspected must be the case and not really get any further than they were—but this time with confidence 😂
I'm working with documents that list the incomes of medieval French lordships, so a lot of it is about grain.
I'm working with documents that list the incomes of medieval French lordships, so a lot of it is about grain.
Reposted by melusina
Job: PhD position "Medieval and early modern Hanseatic history" (Univ. of Bergen)
https://www.hsozkult.de/job/id/job-158730
Bergen, 01.04.2026-31.03.2029, University of Bergen, Bewerbungsschluss: 05.12.2025
https://www.hsozkult.de/job/id/job-158730
Bergen, 01.04.2026-31.03.2029, University of Bergen, Bewerbungsschluss: 05.12.2025
www.hsozkult.de
November 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Job: PhD position "Medieval and early modern Hanseatic history" (Univ. of Bergen)
https://www.hsozkult.de/job/id/job-158730
Bergen, 01.04.2026-31.03.2029, University of Bergen, Bewerbungsschluss: 05.12.2025
https://www.hsozkult.de/job/id/job-158730
Bergen, 01.04.2026-31.03.2029, University of Bergen, Bewerbungsschluss: 05.12.2025
Reposted by melusina
Here’s another fully funded 4-year PhD position at Leiden within the ERC project LangPro led by Dr Alisa van de Haar, and co-supervised by yours truly, on guilds and associations supporting early modern language professionals bit.ly/49rsLA3
Apply by 15 Feb. 2026; starting date 1 Aug. 2026
Apply by 15 Feb. 2026; starting date 1 Aug. 2026
PhD position, project LangPro: 'Societies and Guilds in the Language Industry'
PhD position, project LangPro: 'Societies and Guilds in the Language Industry'
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Here’s another fully funded 4-year PhD position at Leiden within the ERC project LangPro led by Dr Alisa van de Haar, and co-supervised by yours truly, on guilds and associations supporting early modern language professionals bit.ly/49rsLA3
Apply by 15 Feb. 2026; starting date 1 Aug. 2026
Apply by 15 Feb. 2026; starting date 1 Aug. 2026
Reposted by melusina
ROFL. Eco is not wrong. He's not wrong at all.
November 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
ROFL. Eco is not wrong. He's not wrong at all.
Reposted by melusina
#medievalsky #histmed #manuscripts
I’m looking for information on a miscellany, part of which contains the Sefer Hashlamat ha-tevaʿ we-ha-mezeg by the Hebrew translator known today as Doeg the Edomite.
It's Hamburg, SUB Cod. hebr. 123.
digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/recherche/de...
I’m looking for information on a miscellany, part of which contains the Sefer Hashlamat ha-tevaʿ we-ha-mezeg by the Hebrew translator known today as Doeg the Edomite.
It's Hamburg, SUB Cod. hebr. 123.
digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/recherche/de...
Hamburger Kulturgut Digital
Hashlamat ha-teva, fol. 119-128: SUB Hamburg Cod. hebr. 123
digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de
November 15, 2025 at 10:23 PM
#medievalsky #histmed #manuscripts
I’m looking for information on a miscellany, part of which contains the Sefer Hashlamat ha-tevaʿ we-ha-mezeg by the Hebrew translator known today as Doeg the Edomite.
It's Hamburg, SUB Cod. hebr. 123.
digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/recherche/de...
I’m looking for information on a miscellany, part of which contains the Sefer Hashlamat ha-tevaʿ we-ha-mezeg by the Hebrew translator known today as Doeg the Edomite.
It's Hamburg, SUB Cod. hebr. 123.
digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/recherche/de...