Sam Bailey
@18thcenturysam.bsky.social
PhD in 18thc erotica / Antiquarian bookseller at The Keel Row Bookshop // she/they
This conference has been absolutely transformative for me every year that is has run. The continued commitment to hybrid is fantastic, I'll be attending online! Apply while you still can!
Deadline extended! You have until Monday October 20th to put in an abstract! #queerbibliography #transbookhistory
@bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org
@bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org
Your challenge for this weekend is to put in an abstract for Queer Bibliography 2026. It's what all the cool kids are doing.
The theme is Space, Place, Community (widely understood, certainly not limited to the South). CFP: shorturl.at/XAVJ0; Submit: forms.gle/XD7FgrrStp3j...
Athens GA and online
The theme is Space, Place, Community (widely understood, certainly not limited to the South). CFP: shorturl.at/XAVJ0; Submit: forms.gle/XD7FgrrStp3j...
Athens GA and online
October 15, 2025 at 10:05 AM
This conference has been absolutely transformative for me every year that is has run. The continued commitment to hybrid is fantastic, I'll be attending online! Apply while you still can!
Reposted by Sam Bailey
Deadline extended! You have until Monday October 20th to put in an abstract! #queerbibliography #transbookhistory
@bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org
@bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org
Your challenge for this weekend is to put in an abstract for Queer Bibliography 2026. It's what all the cool kids are doing.
The theme is Space, Place, Community (widely understood, certainly not limited to the South). CFP: shorturl.at/XAVJ0; Submit: forms.gle/XD7FgrrStp3j...
Athens GA and online
The theme is Space, Place, Community (widely understood, certainly not limited to the South). CFP: shorturl.at/XAVJ0; Submit: forms.gle/XD7FgrrStp3j...
Athens GA and online
October 14, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Deadline extended! You have until Monday October 20th to put in an abstract! #queerbibliography #transbookhistory
@bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org
@bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org
Surely one of the great ODNB epithets?
!['Wilson, Edward [called Beau Wilson] (d. 1694), murder victim and subject of alleged sexual scandal'](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vfhmsfpymjc5oa47h3fpauju/bafkreidnse4fvb2krlihniky56ymhv2sekskt2wsw3ke3knmmplqnku46q@jpeg)
October 13, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Surely one of the great ODNB epithets?
Reposted by Sam Bailey
anyway, apropos of nothing, if anyone needs provide editing, proofreading, or archival/special collections/bibliographical research services, I have those skills that can be used on a freelance basis and otherwise
October 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM
anyway, apropos of nothing, if anyone needs provide editing, proofreading, or archival/special collections/bibliographical research services, I have those skills that can be used on a freelance basis and otherwise
On my desk today: victorian Frankenstein x Dickens x Zola fan fiction; and a sammelband of pamphlets about ghosts, adult circumcision, and slavery.
September 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM
On my desk today: victorian Frankenstein x Dickens x Zola fan fiction; and a sammelband of pamphlets about ghosts, adult circumcision, and slavery.
Today's task: a love poem in cipher at the back of an otherwise quotidian local woman's memorandum book.
September 19, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Today's task: a love poem in cipher at the back of an otherwise quotidian local woman's memorandum book.
Reposted by Sam Bailey
Our next Bibliographical Skills Workshop is taking place at the University of Stirling, on 28 October 2025: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
Bibliographical Skills Workshop
Learn the basics of how to identify and describe early modern printed books.
ies.sas.ac.uk
September 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Our next Bibliographical Skills Workshop is taking place at the University of Stirling, on 28 October 2025: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
I'm really delighted to say that following submission of my thesis in December, I'll be starting as a full-time cataloguer and bookseller at the Keel Row Bookshop, supported by a traineeship from the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association. Expect to see many more books here!
September 15, 2025 at 7:37 AM
I'm really delighted to say that following submission of my thesis in December, I'll be starting as a full-time cataloguer and bookseller at the Keel Row Bookshop, supported by a traineeship from the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association. Expect to see many more books here!
Hot take but it may be inadvisable for booksellers to describe 'Samuel Mearne bindings' on books printed 40 years after his death.
September 5, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Hot take but it may be inadvisable for booksellers to describe 'Samuel Mearne bindings' on books printed 40 years after his death.
I've been reading a lot of introductions to get a feel for writing my own, and I fear this thesis may fall into the classic genre of 'book about the turn of the 18thc that begins with long quotation of questionable relevance from Pepys' Diary/London Spy/The Spectator.'
August 7, 2025 at 9:25 AM
I've been reading a lot of introductions to get a feel for writing my own, and I fear this thesis may fall into the classic genre of 'book about the turn of the 18thc that begins with long quotation of questionable relevance from Pepys' Diary/London Spy/The Spectator.'
Some days I wonder if doing a whacko collation over the course of 2 days is worth it or if '8 volumes, gathered in an erratic order' would have the same effect.
July 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Some days I wonder if doing a whacko collation over the course of 2 days is worth it or if '8 volumes, gathered in an erratic order' would have the same effect.
Perhaps my most heinous take is that books as furniture is a practice that is both rooted in the long tradition of using books as vehicles for visually appealing bindings, and is a necessary means of dealing with the swathes of volumes that have few other uses.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
‘Look how well-read I am!’ How ‘books by the metre’ add the final touch to your home – or your image
It’s never been easier to build an impressive-looking library, especially if you’re mostly interested in the colour and size of your books. Is this necessarily a bad thing?
www.theguardian.com
July 23, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Perhaps my most heinous take is that books as furniture is a practice that is both rooted in the long tradition of using books as vehicles for visually appealing bindings, and is a necessary means of dealing with the swathes of volumes that have few other uses.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
There have been too many instances in this PhD where following up a citation leads to me realising that some apparently momentous event in the history of sexuality was probably just made up by John Wilkes in an attempt to impress women.
July 22, 2025 at 10:23 AM
There have been too many instances in this PhD where following up a citation leads to me realising that some apparently momentous event in the history of sexuality was probably just made up by John Wilkes in an attempt to impress women.
I have rarely seen a work of art that speaks to me so specifically.
July 18, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I have rarely seen a work of art that speaks to me so specifically.
Reposted by Sam Bailey
Earlier today, Patrick J. Kearney emailed me to tell me that he fabricated five letters allegedly written from James Campbell Reddie to Henry Spencer Ashbee, a transcription of which he has posted on his website +
scissors-and-paste.net/pdf/Reddie_L...
scissors-and-paste.net/pdf/Reddie_L...
July 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Earlier today, Patrick J. Kearney emailed me to tell me that he fabricated five letters allegedly written from James Campbell Reddie to Henry Spencer Ashbee, a transcription of which he has posted on his website +
scissors-and-paste.net/pdf/Reddie_L...
scissors-and-paste.net/pdf/Reddie_L...
Today I am a bibliographer of erotica, reading a letter between two other bibliographers of erotica, which was mounted into a a bibliographer of erotica's copy of the Erotika Biblion.
June 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Today I am a bibliographer of erotica, reading a letter between two other bibliographers of erotica, which was mounted into a a bibliographer of erotica's copy of the Erotika Biblion.
My ambition for a bookshop is to have a floor dedicated to 'specialist publications' that consists of scarce but unsaleable books.
June 15, 2025 at 11:54 AM
My ambition for a bookshop is to have a floor dedicated to 'specialist publications' that consists of scarce but unsaleable books.
Does anyone on here have any recommendations for reading about gender and hobbyists? Particularly about how male hobbyists create intimate communities around homosocial hobbies? I remember reading something years ago about the sexual politics of model army builders but I now can't recall it at all
May 22, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Does anyone on here have any recommendations for reading about gender and hobbyists? Particularly about how male hobbyists create intimate communities around homosocial hobbies? I remember reading something years ago about the sexual politics of model army builders but I now can't recall it at all
Reposted by Sam Bailey
Just wanted to shout out NOTCHES, the history of sexuality blog I help to edit, which is feeling a little lonely on Bluesky at the moment! If you'd like to have more history of sexuality (including looooots of queer stuff) pop up on your feed, why not give us a follow? @notchesblog.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Just wanted to shout out NOTCHES, the history of sexuality blog I help to edit, which is feeling a little lonely on Bluesky at the moment! If you'd like to have more history of sexuality (including looooots of queer stuff) pop up on your feed, why not give us a follow? @notchesblog.bsky.social
Such an exciting programme! What better reason than this to come to the sunny Tyneside riviera in June?
Registration for the 3rd Queer Bibliography symposium is now live! Please share widely.
Attendance is FREE with registration; the symposium runs 11-13 June both in-person at Newcastle University (UK) & online.
Register (by 09 June): bit.ly/QB2025Register
Short Programme: bit.ly/QB2025ShortP...
Attendance is FREE with registration; the symposium runs 11-13 June both in-person at Newcastle University (UK) & online.
Register (by 09 June): bit.ly/QB2025Register
Short Programme: bit.ly/QB2025ShortP...
Queer Bibliography 2025: Attendee Registration
Please fill out the form below to register for attendance for Queer Bibliography 2025: In the Making, held at Newcastle University (UK) 11-13 June 2025, on site and online. If you are speaking, you ar...
bit.ly
May 12, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Such an exciting programme! What better reason than this to come to the sunny Tyneside riviera in June?
ESTC not only being back but for the first time actually displaying the local catalogue notes is like all my Christmases have come at once.
May 12, 2025 at 12:10 PM
ESTC not only being back but for the first time actually displaying the local catalogue notes is like all my Christmases have come at once.
Reposted by Sam Bailey
Registration for the 3rd Queer Bibliography symposium is now live! Please share widely.
Attendance is FREE with registration; the symposium runs 11-13 June both in-person at Newcastle University (UK) & online.
Register (by 09 June): bit.ly/QB2025Register
Short Programme: bit.ly/QB2025ShortP...
Attendance is FREE with registration; the symposium runs 11-13 June both in-person at Newcastle University (UK) & online.
Register (by 09 June): bit.ly/QB2025Register
Short Programme: bit.ly/QB2025ShortP...
Queer Bibliography 2025: Attendee Registration
Please fill out the form below to register for attendance for Queer Bibliography 2025: In the Making, held at Newcastle University (UK) 11-13 June 2025, on site and online. If you are speaking, you ar...
bit.ly
May 9, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Registration for the 3rd Queer Bibliography symposium is now live! Please share widely.
Attendance is FREE with registration; the symposium runs 11-13 June both in-person at Newcastle University (UK) & online.
Register (by 09 June): bit.ly/QB2025Register
Short Programme: bit.ly/QB2025ShortP...
Attendance is FREE with registration; the symposium runs 11-13 June both in-person at Newcastle University (UK) & online.
Register (by 09 June): bit.ly/QB2025Register
Short Programme: bit.ly/QB2025ShortP...
I don't think I've ever encountered a bibliography that announces so clearly up front that it is going to be wrong.
April 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I don't think I've ever encountered a bibliography that announces so clearly up front that it is going to be wrong.
Proud that my local is the sort of pub where patrons quote modernist epics in toilet graffiti
April 18, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Proud that my local is the sort of pub where patrons quote modernist epics in toilet graffiti
Reposted by Sam Bailey
PLEASE REPOST: I'm looking for someone to do one to two days (possibly more) of (paid) research assistance in Los Angeles for my current book project. I need someone who is experienced with archives, careful, and discreet. Ideal work for a grad student in history. ben [at] ben writes things dot com
March 18, 2025 at 10:12 AM
PLEASE REPOST: I'm looking for someone to do one to two days (possibly more) of (paid) research assistance in Los Angeles for my current book project. I need someone who is experienced with archives, careful, and discreet. Ideal work for a grad student in history. ben [at] ben writes things dot com