Dr Mark Purcell
@camlibresearch.bsky.social
Director, Research and Collections, Cambridge University Libraries and Archives and CUL Research Institute; Bye-Fellow, Pembroke College; FSA FRHistS; University Deputy Proctor; The Country House Library (Yale, 2017); private views
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Deffo one of my favourite things in the @17sgs10.bsky.social archive! ❤️
Happy Valentine's Day! In honour of the occasion, we thought you'd enjoy seeing an anatomical paper model of a heart. It was delivered in a letter, from Spalding Gentlemen's Society member Cromwell Mortimer, in 1735. It will feature in our next exhibition - details coming soon. #HappyValentinesDay
February 14, 2026 at 9:38 AM
Deffo one of my favourite things in the @17sgs10.bsky.social archive! ❤️
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Gouda, Sint Janskerk, Day 26, window 28a. Designed & made by Charles Eyck, 1947. Given by the citizens of Gouda. The Liberation Window. This pulls no punches & is a powerful piece of modern glass.
February 13, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Gouda, Sint Janskerk, Day 26, window 28a. Designed & made by Charles Eyck, 1947. Given by the citizens of Gouda. The Liberation Window. This pulls no punches & is a powerful piece of modern glass.
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
The CERL Provenance Working Group has just published its annual newsletter, with reports on projects and ongoing research, case studies, internships and fellowships, events and publications, contributed by colleagues all over Europe.
www.cerl.org/collaboratio...
www.cerl.org/collaboratio...
February 13, 2026 at 10:57 AM
The CERL Provenance Working Group has just published its annual newsletter, with reports on projects and ongoing research, case studies, internships and fellowships, events and publications, contributed by colleagues all over Europe.
www.cerl.org/collaboratio...
www.cerl.org/collaboratio...
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Great day in Oxford, looking at John Baskerville’s Greek matrices at OUP. Plus a quick jaunt to see old favourites @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social.
February 12, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Great day in Oxford, looking at John Baskerville’s Greek matrices at OUP. Plus a quick jaunt to see old favourites @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social.
The last day or so seems to have been full of cats doing - or perhaps watching - strange or exciting things.
February 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM
The last day or so seems to have been full of cats doing - or perhaps watching - strange or exciting things.
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
I’m reading a book of letters of genteel English Catholics from the c18th which covers several decades, and it’s unbelievably dull until 1792, when suddenly it turns into the Scarlet Pimpernel - all daring escapes from Sans Culottes and rescuing nuns and priest from France
February 12, 2026 at 7:03 PM
I’m reading a book of letters of genteel English Catholics from the c18th which covers several decades, and it’s unbelievably dull until 1792, when suddenly it turns into the Scarlet Pimpernel - all daring escapes from Sans Culottes and rescuing nuns and priest from France
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
The south door of the Church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, with its celebrated 12th-century sandstone carving. Thought to be the work of local stonemasons.
📸2023
📸2023
February 12, 2026 at 1:17 PM
The south door of the Church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, with its celebrated 12th-century sandstone carving. Thought to be the work of local stonemasons.
📸2023
📸2023
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
The Melsonby Hoard will go on public display at the Yorkshire Museum later this year. This internationally significant Iron Age find was excavated by @arcdurham.bsky.social, including our Archaeological Services team. Find out more 👉 www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/...
February 11, 2026 at 5:13 PM
The Melsonby Hoard will go on public display at the Yorkshire Museum later this year. This internationally significant Iron Age find was excavated by @arcdurham.bsky.social, including our Archaeological Services team. Find out more 👉 www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/...
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
St Peter's Hanwell, Oxon makes the heart beat a little faster. This is one of several large capital sculptures that greet us on entry. Are they Biblical, benefactors, masons or congregation? In an upside down world perhaps the message is that support the church and it will care for you.
February 10, 2026 at 2:40 PM
St Peter's Hanwell, Oxon makes the heart beat a little faster. This is one of several large capital sculptures that greet us on entry. Are they Biblical, benefactors, masons or congregation? In an upside down world perhaps the message is that support the church and it will care for you.
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Angela Merkel among the Cambridge honorary degrees this year…
February 11, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Angela Merkel among the Cambridge honorary degrees this year…
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
'Always verify your references' was his sage advice to younger scholars. Still apposite in our current information age ... his personal library is a jewel of @dulib.bsky.social
This daguerreotype of Magdalen's President Martin Routh was taken on his 99th birthday on 18 September 1854. In it, he can be seen wearing his famous wig, more typical of fashions of the 1750s than the 1850s.
See this, and the wig itself, in our Old Library.
📍Old Library
📆🕑 OPEN Today, 2-4:30pm
See this, and the wig itself, in our Old Library.
📍Old Library
📆🕑 OPEN Today, 2-4:30pm
February 11, 2026 at 10:17 AM
'Always verify your references' was his sage advice to younger scholars. Still apposite in our current information age ... his personal library is a jewel of @dulib.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
February 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
‘His tidy scenarios can feel naive, or alien, to contemporary audiences. But that’s if you’re not really looking. Carpaccio, like Bruegel the Elder, is nothing if not generous to the wandering eye,’ writes Ben Street
The raw appeal of Carpaccio
The best way of appreciating Carpaccio’s work is to treat his paintings like Venice itself – to meander through them and bathe in their elusiveness, writes Ben Street
buff.ly
February 8, 2026 at 8:45 PM
‘His tidy scenarios can feel naive, or alien, to contemporary audiences. But that’s if you’re not really looking. Carpaccio, like Bruegel the Elder, is nothing if not generous to the wandering eye,’ writes Ben Street
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Such great news for @stedscath.bsky.social
I'm hugely excited about the return of the Bury Psalter to @stedscath.bsky.social; the donation of the manuscript to the Cathedral means that it can stay in Bury. Along with the Bury Chronicle at Moyse's Hall Museum it's one of only two of the Abbey's books that remain in the town they were made for
Save the date! At Evensong on Thursday 5 March, the Cathedral will be formally receiving the Bury Psalter, which has been gifted by the King Edward VI Grammar School Foundation Trust. Dating from around 1400, it was used at the ancient Abbey of St Edmund. Everyone is welcome at this special service
February 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Such great news for @stedscath.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
This is extremely exciting-- the Bury Psalter is a truly monumental, important example of high-end nonmetropolitan English manuscript production--nothing provincial about it!
Save the date! At Evensong on Thursday 5 March, the Cathedral will be formally receiving the Bury Psalter, which has been gifted by the King Edward VI Grammar School Foundation Trust. Dating from around 1400, it was used at the ancient Abbey of St Edmund. Everyone is welcome at this special service
February 7, 2026 at 9:02 PM
This is extremely exciting-- the Bury Psalter is a truly monumental, important example of high-end nonmetropolitan English manuscript production--nothing provincial about it!
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
pleased to report that we’ve managed to reclaim half the sofa for human bums after giving the cat the option to shelve herself
February 7, 2026 at 6:29 PM
pleased to report that we’ve managed to reclaim half the sofa for human bums after giving the cat the option to shelve herself
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Woodcut of the crucifixion, from a Dutch edition of the ‘Speculum Humanæ Salvationis’ (Mirror of Human Salvation), printed at Culemborg in 1483. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1916 & now Inc.4.E.9.1[3112].
February 6, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Woodcut of the crucifixion, from a Dutch edition of the ‘Speculum Humanæ Salvationis’ (Mirror of Human Salvation), printed at Culemborg in 1483. Given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social in 1916 & now Inc.4.E.9.1[3112].
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Fun task last thing on a Friday: recataloguing (because it had disappeared from the catalogue) Francis Bacon’s presentation copy to Cambridge University of his Works (London, 1623). In a contemporary binding of blue velvet embroidered with silver thread. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Sel.2.84.
February 6, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Fun task last thing on a Friday: recataloguing (because it had disappeared from the catalogue) Francis Bacon’s presentation copy to Cambridge University of his Works (London, 1623). In a contemporary binding of blue velvet embroidered with silver thread. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social Sel.2.84.
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Iford, East Sussex, St Nicholas. One of those endearing Norman churches built in a linear alignment of nave, central tower and chancel which never had transepts
February 7, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Iford, East Sussex, St Nicholas. One of those endearing Norman churches built in a linear alignment of nave, central tower and chancel which never had transepts
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
Some of the surviving third century walls of Caistor Roman Town (Venta Icenorum) in Norfolk. The town was established in around AD 70, and served as the principal centre for the region. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #RomanBritain
February 7, 2026 at 7:33 AM
Some of the surviving third century walls of Caistor Roman Town (Venta Icenorum) in Norfolk. The town was established in around AD 70, and served as the principal centre for the region. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #RomanBritain
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
There’s something for all book-lovers at this summer’s London Rare Books School #Books
ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...
ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...
Course Descriptions
London Rare Books School courses offered
ies.sas.ac.uk
February 6, 2026 at 7:20 PM
There’s something for all book-lovers at this summer’s London Rare Books School #Books
ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...
ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...
Reposted by Dr Mark Purcell
⚓🐬 Legendary Venetian printer Aldus Manutius died #onthisday in 1515. Pictured here is the iconic Aldine dolphin -and anchor-printer's device, associated with the adage 'festina lente' (make haste slowly).
February 6, 2026 at 10:01 AM
⚓🐬 Legendary Venetian printer Aldus Manutius died #onthisday in 1515. Pictured here is the iconic Aldine dolphin -and anchor-printer's device, associated with the adage 'festina lente' (make haste slowly).
Home after an an evening in college, to face a frenzied assault from Tomkins, the resident cat. Still grumbling now.
February 6, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Home after an an evening in college, to face a frenzied assault from Tomkins, the resident cat. Still grumbling now.
Herewardus expugnatus est : a multis Normanni. Much amused to see this splendid (and new) thing at Norwich Castle today. The story of Hereward the Wake, with other highlights including the Conqueror venerating the shrine of St Etheldreda at Ely.
February 6, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Herewardus expugnatus est : a multis Normanni. Much amused to see this splendid (and new) thing at Norwich Castle today. The story of Hereward the Wake, with other highlights including the Conqueror venerating the shrine of St Etheldreda at Ely.
Good to see this again today - the amazing Paston Treasure Painting at the Castle Museum in Norwich. I was involved in the big Yale book about it back in 2017.
February 6, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Good to see this again today - the amazing Paston Treasure Painting at the Castle Museum in Norwich. I was involved in the big Yale book about it back in 2017.