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bobmaclean.bsky.social
Bob MacLean
@bobmaclean.bsky.social
430 followers 480 following 73 posts
Assistant Librarian (rare books), University of Glasgow Library Archives and Special Collections
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Reposted by Bob MacLean
ewangibbs.bsky.social
My new book, An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class, is now listed in Verso's trade catalogue for 2026.

You can find it here: versobooks.com/en-gb/pages/...
February 11, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
asls.org.uk
I nod and nod to my own shadow and thrust
A mountain down and down.
Between my feet a loch shines in the brown,
Its silver paper crinkled and edged with rust…

—Norman MacCaig, “Climbing Suilven”
from BETWEEN MOUNTAIN AND SEA: Poems From Assynt (Birlinn, 2018)
#poetry
birlinn.co.uk/product/betw...
Norman MacCaig Climbing Suilven I nod and nod to my own shadow and thrust A mountain down and down. Between my feet a loch shines in the brown, Its silver paper crinkled and edged with rust. My lungs say No; But down and down this treadmill hill must go. Parishes dwindle. But my parish is This stone, that tuft, this stone And the cramped quarters of my flesh and bone. I claw that tall horizon down to this; And suddenly My shadow jumps huge miles away from me.
February 10, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
shonamaclean.bsky.social
This is my new book (26/026). It's the 1st time in years that I'll be published as 'Shona' rather than 'S.G.'and I am very happy to be reclaiming my name. It's about a reading society formed in a northern Scottish town in the 1830s. Drama ensues. (My mother-in-law crocheted the shawl 🧶)
October 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
asls.org.uk
Book launch: The Cromarty Library Circle
25 Feb, Dunkeld: £5
@shonamaclean.bsky.social launches her latest novel, THE CROMARTY LIBRARY CIRCLE: a Scottish town on the cusp of change & the townspeople whose lives will be irrevocably altered over one tumultuous year
www.culturepk.org.uk/event/an-eve...
An evening with Shona MacLean: The Cromarty Library Circle - Culture Perth & Kinross
Get ready to welcome the bestselling author of The Bookseller of Inverness to Birnam Arts!
www.culturepk.org.uk
February 2, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
howtobooks.bsky.social
New our blog, @jamesafox.bsky.social on Robert Burns and the how-to of barrel gauging 📏🛢📖🍺

howtobook.hypotheses.org/5697

#bookhistory #robertburns #taxes
February 3, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
heatherfro.bsky.social
Applications for our rare books librarian position at the University of Arizona are open until Feb 9 (next week)
We have a fab diverse collection, great people to work with, and amazing Mexican food.
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

I'm not on the search, please feel free to reach out w qs!
Librarian, Rare Books (Assistant or Associate)
CHARACTERISTIC DUTIESAcquire, appraise, and preserve collections of primary and significant research value, especially rare books.In partnership with ...
arizona.csod.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
drdavidrundle.bsky.social
First London Palaeography Seminar of 2026 coming up! Eyal Poleg, no less, speaking on 'The Science of Erasures' - Tuesday 3rd February, 5:30pm Senate House and online. To learn more and to register:
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
January 26, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
ies-sas.bsky.social
This year's Stevenson Lecture will examine the library assembled at Auchincruive House in Ayr by Glasgow merchant Richard Oswald (c.1705–1784) — in light of Oswald’s extensive profits from the transatlantic slave trade.

📅 25 Feb, 6pm
📍 Senate House, London
This event is free, booking is required.
Stevenson Lecture 2026 | Richard Oswald’s Library: Slavery, Collecting, and the Invention of Rare Books
ies.sas.ac.uk
January 23, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
bhgross144.bsky.social
The most exciting #BookHistory talk of the season is coming up next week!

Join us @ransomcenter.bsky.social or online as Ann Blair delivers the 2026 Pforzheimer lecture. This talk has Erasmus, Gessner, and volumes both large &small!

Learn more: www.eventbrite.com/e/pforzheime...

#booksky 🗃️📜📚
Pforzheimer Lecture How Renaissance Scholars and Printers Decided on the Size of Books w/Dr. Ann Blair Wednesday, January 21 at 6 p.m.
January 15, 2026 at 9:14 PM
bobmaclean.bsky.social
Back to work! Happy New Year, all!
View of sunrise looking East over Glasgow from the top floor of University of Glasgow Library. Building on left with “University Library” in large white signage. Snow-covered buildings far below. Blue sky and rising sun
January 5, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
adamwithbooks.bsky.social
On reading both sides of a piece of paper: a mini essay

adamsmyth.substack.com/p/bothsidesi...
December 31, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
heatherfro.bsky.social
“The tell isn’t that fake citations look wrong. It’s that they look too right. Too convenient. Too perfectly aligned with whatever point the AI is making“
open.substack.com/pub/cardcata...
How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian
The verification tricks that would make fact-checkers weep with joy.
open.substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
Books = amazing tech. Here's an offertory book recording donations on shabbat. To heed the prohibition on writing during sabbath the page has a grid with holes that correspond to an amount. Thread goes thru the hole pledged; when paid, thread comes out. jewishmuseum.org.uk/50-objects/c...
An open book on a stand. On the left hand page is the grid with holes in each box and names to the left, like a spreadsheet. On the right are the backs of the holes from the next page.
December 11, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
drdavidrundle.bsky.social
Palaeographers: you definitely should consider applying to this illustrious fund:
britishacademy.bsky.social The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · Dec 11
We are still accepting applications to the Neil Ker Memorial Fund 2026, open to both early career and established scholars of any nationality. Awards are tenable for a maximum of 12 months. Find out more and apply: https://bit.ly/4hO0Oo1
December 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
histparl.bsky.social
Following on from his article on Peter McLagan, Scotland's first Black MP, Dr Martin Spychal has explored the life of his father, Peter McLagan senior, and his ownership of enslaved people in Demerara (modern-day Guyana):

historyofparliament.com/2025/12/11/p...
Peter McLagan senior (1774-1860): enslaver, plantation owner and landed proprietor - The History of Parliament
Dr Martin Spychal explores the life of Peter McLagan senior (1774-1860). A farmer’s son from Perthshire, McLagan senior acquired considerable wealth as an enslaver and plantation owner in Demerara…
historyofparliament.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
bhgross144.bsky.social
"There seems a love in hair, though it be dead.
It is the gentlest, yet the strongest, thread of our frail plant..." -Leigh Hunt, "On a Lock of Milton's Hair" (The author of #ParadiseLost was born #OnThisDay in 1608.)

(More on Hunt's hair collection: sites.utexas.edu/ransomcenter...)

#poetry 🗃️📜
Portrait and hair sample of John Milton. Photo by Pete Smith. Leigh Hunt Hair Collection Harry Ransom Center University of Texas at Austin ON A LOCK OF MILTON'S HAIR It lies before me there, and my own breath Stirs its thin outer threads, as though beside The living head I stood in honoured pride, Talking of lovely things that conquer death. Perhaps he pressed it once, or underneath Ran his fine finger, when he leant, blank-eyed, And saw in Fancy Adam and his bride With their rich locks, or his own Delphic wreath. There seems a love in hair, though it be dead. It is the gentlest, yet the strongest, thread Of our frail plant, -- a blossom from the tree Surviving the proud trunk; as if it said, Patience and Gentleness is Power. In me Behold affectionate Eternity. -Leigh Hunt
December 9, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
jdmccafferty.bsky.social
A Book Peddler

Master of the Canesso Peddler
ca. 1670–90

(Met Museum)
December 9, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
rhiggitt.bsky.social
This is such a sad story! An important collection that had been sent for digitisation (though why from Kent to Scotland, I'm not sure) 📜 www.bbc.com/news/article...
Museum staff 'devastated' after drawings worth £500,000 destroyed
About 1,700 military drawings from the Royal Engineers Museum were destroyed in the theft last month.
www.bbc.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:01 PM
bobmaclean.bsky.social
Delighted to see this published. It was very rewarding and worthwhile collaborating with you on this Matthew, well done 👍
November 29, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
liamsims.bsky.social
A wonderfully elaborate binding for Mrs Elizabeth Colles, from the early seventeenth century. It contains three linguistic works, including Thomas Thomas’s Dictionary (Cambridge, 1610). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Rel.d.61.2. #herbook
November 14, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
whitneytrettien.bsky.social
Holy shit, just learned about the typewriter art of Montserrat Alberich Escardívol, a Catalan typist. Using an extra wide typewriter and 180 color ribbons, she built up elaborate images from simple characters like 'm' and '.' and ';'. Here is her typewritten painting of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
Full-color image of the Cathedral of Barcelona, composed on a typewriter by Montserrat Alberich Escardívol. Image from WikiMedia.
November 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
profdanielcook.bsky.social
Meanwhile, on Zoopla: one of Sir Walter Scott’s former properties is on the market…

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/det...
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
profastreete.bsky.social
A wee bit of news.

news.sky.com/story/fascin...
'Fascinating' personal library of 'forgotten scholar' rediscovered
It is hoped that Zachary Boyd's collection at the University of Glasgow will help shed light on 17th century Scotland and a tumultuous time in European history.
news.sky.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
lynnemthomas.com
This talk will be recorded! It will be posted on our YouTube page once we have a chance to caption it. That can take a few weeks.
illinoisrbml.bsky.social University of Illinois RBML @illinoisrbml.bsky.social · Oct 14
Join us on Thursday, October 23 from 3-5 pm for a talk by Scheide Librarian Emeritus Paul S. Needham (Princeton University), titled "Gutenberg's Second Invention: The 1460 Mainz Catholicon."

All are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served.
Graphic with an image of the Catholicon partially enlarged by a magnifying glass and text: "The RBML presents a talk by Paul Needham. Gutenberg's Second Invention: The 1460 Mainz Catholicon. Thursday, October 23, 3-5pm in Main Library Room 346. More than 500 years after its printing, the production details of the Catholicon are still a much debated topic in incunabula research. Come learn about the most recently discovered clues with the subject's preeminent scholar, Paul Needham!"
October 15, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Bob MacLean
uofgnews.bsky.social
Zachary Boyd (1585–1653) was a minister, poet &
@uofglasgow.bsky.social academic who lived through one of Scotland’s most turbulent times.

Now his library has been brought together for the 1st time in more than 370 years by UofG's Prof Adrian Streete

📸Martin Shields

gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...
Professor Adrian Streete and Siobhán Convery, Director, Library Collections, look at a dictionary from the personal library of Zachary Boyd. Behind the pair is floor to ceiling book shelves with hundreds of books. Credit Martin Shields.
October 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM