Sarah Lindenbaum
@franceswolfreston.bsky.social
Jack of all trades & master of none: Frances Wolfreston scholar, librarian, book historian, Dylanologist, poet, native gardener, historic preservationist, small-time campaign manager. Former professor & rare-book cataloger. EM women's reading, too. She/her
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
November 3, 2025 at 1:42 AM
It's always a treat to find a gift book owned or given by a woman, and doubly so when the giver is none other than poet Katherine Phillips. #HerBook
Today on the blog: a magnificent find by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social of a book that the poet Katherine Philips gave to Mary Jeffreys; a discussion with important scholarly implications for the study of Philips earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/h... #EarlyModern #HerBook
October 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
It's always a treat to find a gift book owned or given by a woman, and doubly so when the giver is none other than poet Katherine Phillips. #HerBook
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social discusses several women who may be the Lady Bellamount who signed this book, each one fascinating earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/p... #HerBook #EarlyModern
Thomas Pierce, Philallelia, or, The Grand Characteristick Whereby a Man may be Known to be Christ’s Disciple (1658)
Today’s featured book has three contemporary owners’ signatures crammed onto the upper fifth of its title page, Edward Wilmot and the signature of “Lady Bellamount,” which is bifurcated by the sign…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social discusses several women who may be the Lady Bellamount who signed this book, each one fascinating earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/p... #HerBook #EarlyModern
Womanhood: Always a political experience in more ways than one. "...it is possible that she wanted to read more closely about traits that would attract a good suitor and make her a virtuous wife, not just one whose connections and station in life appealed to her future husband." #HerBook
Today on the blog: a fascinating discussion by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social on a book on marriage and choosing a wife owned by Elizabeth Cromwell, a cousin of Oliver Cromwell earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/08/04/e... #HerBook #EarlyModern
Alexander Niccholes, A Discourse of Marriage and Wiving (1615)
A Discourse of Marriage and Wiving and of the Greatest Mystery Therein Contained: How to Choose a Good Wife from a Bad was written by Alexander Niccholes, self-identified as a “Batchelour in the Ar…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
August 5, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Womanhood: Always a political experience in more ways than one. "...it is possible that she wanted to read more closely about traits that would attract a good suitor and make her a virtuous wife, not just one whose connections and station in life appealed to her future husband." #HerBook
Anyone with superior #paleography skills want to take a stab at Martha's last name? #HerBook
![The name "martha sam[...?]" in the margins of a 1631 book.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hvgnb6iatiz4flwmpsgj6snr/bafkreic2utskd6ilyy2esjghsn34jk4e2shimm4etwyltjbo6ohtjdaz2a@jpeg)
July 26, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Anyone with superior #paleography skills want to take a stab at Martha's last name? #HerBook
@tarallyons.bsky.social knocks it out of the park with this essay about book collector Katherine Blount's daughter (or granddaughter) Catharina Freman, who was a bibliophile herself and had a collection that includes travel books, literature, histories, and religious works. 👏👏👏 #HerBook
You may remember our discovery of the library of early modern book owner Katherine Blount. Today, in a must-read post, @tarallyons.bsky.social uncovers a library of books belonging to her daughter! earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/j... #HerBook #EarlyModern
John Raymond’s An itinerary contayning a voyage, made through Italy, in the yeare 1646, and 1647 (1648)
When I tell people about the Early Modern Female Book Ownership blog, I often mention the case of Katherine (Butler) Blount (1676-1753) and the series of posts (by Sarah Lindenbaum, Sophie Floate, …
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
June 22, 2025 at 6:52 PM
@tarallyons.bsky.social knocks it out of the park with this essay about book collector Katherine Blount's daughter (or granddaughter) Catharina Freman, who was a bibliophile herself and had a collection that includes travel books, literature, histories, and religious works. 👏👏👏 #HerBook
Some top-notch detective work by Joe Black here in recovering the identities of these long-ago sisters. #HerBook
Today on the blog: a post by Joe Black on a copy of Robert Hill's popular Pathway to Piety in which multiple women have written their name and one used it to record some sad family history earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/06/06/r... #EarlyModern #HerBook
Robert Hill, The Path-Way to Pietie (1629)
Robert Hill’s Path-Way to Pietie was an early seventeenth-century bestseller. First published in 1606 under the title Christs Prayer Expounded, the book went through eight editions by 1629, with a …
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
June 8, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Some top-notch detective work by Joe Black here in recovering the identities of these long-ago sisters. #HerBook
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social does some excellent detective work to trace the identity of a female owner of a devotional work and a book with advice for young men earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/05/19/t... #HerBook #EarlyModern #C17
Thomas Vincent, The Wells of Salvation Opened (1668) / Advice to Young Men (1668)
The previous owner of this leatherbound sammelband containing two works by clergyman Thomas Vincent was not a young man, but a woman likely approaching or in middle age. The book is signed on the f…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
May 19, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social does some excellent detective work to trace the identity of a female owner of a devotional work and a book with advice for young men earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/05/19/t... #HerBook #EarlyModern #C17
As @tarallyons.bsky.social (Terra Lions?) points out, flexible spelling conventions in the early modern period complicate identifying female book owners. #HerBook
Today, @tarallyons.bsky.social discusses a fascinating copy of a book by Crashaw with early modern women's signatures and addresses a problem that complicates much of our research into women's book ownership earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/04/16/w... #HerBook #EarlyModern
William Crashaw’s Consilium quorundam episcoporum Bononiæ (1613)
For this blog post, I’d like to address a common difficulty that scholars face when examining evidence of early modern women and their ownership of books. Because spelling was not regularized in ea…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
April 26, 2025 at 5:32 PM
As @tarallyons.bsky.social (Terra Lions?) points out, flexible spelling conventions in the early modern period complicate identifying female book owners. #HerBook
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Delighted to say that my article, "The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record" is now fully published and open-access! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record
Hereford Cathedral Library holds a fragmentary seventeenth-century letter addressed to a ‘Mrs Shakspaire’, concerning her husband’s dealings with a fatherless apprentice named John Butte or Butts. ...
www.tandfonline.com
April 25, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Delighted to say that my article, "The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record" is now fully published and open-access! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social discusses a lovely little bible with red velvet binding and an inscription by a woman dated 1652 earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/t... #EarlyModern #HerBook
The Holy Bible (1640)
Sometimes, despite one’s best efforts, a book owner simply eludes identification. In this instance, it is one Joyes Pears who owned a 1640 Bible printed by Robert Barker in the mid-seventeent…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
April 1, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social discusses a lovely little bible with red velvet binding and an inscription by a woman dated 1652 earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/t... #EarlyModern #HerBook
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Today on the blog, a rich post by @michelinewhite.bsky.social on a fascinating copy of the romance Argenis by John Barclay, owned by three different generations of early modern Scottish women buff.ly/GJYrHCa #EarlyModern #HerBook
John Barclay’s Argenis (1628) and Three Generations of Erskine Women from Scotland
Figure 1. John Barclay, Argenis (London, 1628). Carleton University, PR 2209 B35 A73. Photos by Micheline White. All images reproduced with permission. There is something special about a book treas…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
March 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Today on the blog, a rich post by @michelinewhite.bsky.social on a fascinating copy of the romance Argenis by John Barclay, owned by three different generations of early modern Scottish women buff.ly/GJYrHCa #EarlyModern #HerBook
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Today on the blog: another wonderful post by Joe Black about an entertaining sermon on marriage, joint male/female early modern ownership, and a connection to Mary Wroth https://buff.ly/41kAMlT #EarlyModern #HerBook
Robert Wilkinson, The Merchant Royall: A Sermon Preached at the Nuptials of the Lord Hay and His Lady (1607)
A woman, according to Jacobean royal chaplain Dr Robert Wilkinson (d.1617), “is like a Ship indeed, for first whosoever marries, ventures; he ventures his estate, hee ventures his peace, he venture…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
February 19, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Today on the blog: another wonderful post by Joe Black about an entertaining sermon on marriage, joint male/female early modern ownership, and a connection to Mary Wroth https://buff.ly/41kAMlT #EarlyModern #HerBook
Maybe we should rename Early Modern Female Book Ownership 'Katherine Blount, Richard Allestree, and Maybe a Few Other Things Too,' @martinevanelk.bsky.social. 😂
Today on the blog: another wonderfully researched post by Joe Black on a book by Richard Allestree (always popular with women readers) that was handed down between women and features interesting ownership marks and binding https://buff.ly/3EpJohU #HerBook #EarlyModern
Richard Allestree, Art of Contentment (1677)
Richard Allestree is one of the more popular authors on this site: as Sarah Lindenbaum notes in a post from October 20, 2021, Allestree’s works “survive in large numbers and seem to have been excep…
earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com
February 3, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Maybe we should rename Early Modern Female Book Ownership 'Katherine Blount, Richard Allestree, and Maybe a Few Other Things Too,' @martinevanelk.bsky.social. 😂
Transcription help needed! I have been staring at the letter before the "Wolferstan" along the top edge for over 10 years now and I have never been able to figure it out. Any guess as to what initial or initials it representations? #Paleography #Handwriting
January 25, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Transcription help needed! I have been staring at the letter before the "Wolferstan" along the top edge for over 10 years now and I have never been able to figure it out. Any guess as to what initial or initials it representations? #Paleography #Handwriting
Could someone point me toward a citation for a census of the extant copies of Lady Mary Wroth's Urania? Help, please!
January 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Could someone point me toward a citation for a census of the extant copies of Lady Mary Wroth's Urania? Help, please!
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Start your week off with this moving post by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social on an early modern female owner of Donne's Poems https://buff.ly/4gK8Vkk #HerBook #EarlyModern @tarallyons.bsky.social @michelinewhite.bsky.social @memps2.bsky.social @erinannmcc.bsky.social
Poems, by J[ohn]. D[onne]., with Elegies on the Authors Death, 1639
Surprisingly, Early Modern Female Book Ownership has never before profiled a copy of John Donne’s oft reprinted Poems: With Elegies on the Authors Death, first published two years after the p…
buff.ly
January 6, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Start your week off with this moving post by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social on an early modern female owner of Donne's Poems https://buff.ly/4gK8Vkk #HerBook #EarlyModern @tarallyons.bsky.social @michelinewhite.bsky.social @memps2.bsky.social @erinannmcc.bsky.social
Reposted by Sarah Lindenbaum
Today on the blog, a great post by Joe Black, on female ownership and authorship of the Countess of Morton's Daily Exercise https://buff.ly/3VwXZOv #EarlyModern #HerBook @franceswolfreston.bsky.social @memps2.bsky.social @tarallyons.bsky.social @michelinewhite.bsky.social
Anne Douglas, Countess of Morton, The Countess of Morton’s Daily Exercise (1696)
The Countess of Morton’s Daily Exercise was an early modern best seller, appearing in seventeen editions between 1666 and 1696. It was a steady seller as well, with at least eight additional editio…
buff.ly
December 12, 2024 at 3:59 PM
Today on the blog, a great post by Joe Black, on female ownership and authorship of the Countess of Morton's Daily Exercise https://buff.ly/3VwXZOv #EarlyModern #HerBook @franceswolfreston.bsky.social @memps2.bsky.social @tarallyons.bsky.social @michelinewhite.bsky.social
Lots going on in this Bible! #HerBook
Today on our blog on early female book ownership: a post by @tarallyons.bsky.social on a lovely bible with names of early modern women, a gift inscription, and a recipe https://buff.ly/3YPkiQ7 #EarlyModern #HerBook
The Holy Bible (London: 1630)
Image by Dr. Tara Lyons with permission of Reader’s Books, Petworth, UK. This 1630 English Bible has an array of evidence of women’s book ownership. At the top of the front cover’…
buff.ly
November 17, 2024 at 11:55 PM
Lots going on in this Bible! #HerBook
Started off the morning reading The Paris Review's 2021 interview with Annette Gordon-Reed. On reading White over Black at age 12, she said: "That book is well written enough for someone that age to read it and understand, and that’s how history should be."
That's how I strive to write history.
That's how I strive to write history.
November 17, 2024 at 5:19 PM
Started off the morning reading The Paris Review's 2021 interview with Annette Gordon-Reed. On reading White over Black at age 12, she said: "That book is well written enough for someone that age to read it and understand, and that’s how history should be."
That's how I strive to write history.
That's how I strive to write history.