Volker Schröder
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marphurius.bsky.social
Volker Schröder
@marphurius.bsky.social
290 followers 440 following 170 posts
Associate prof of French (emeritus) at Princeton. Working mostly on 17th-cy literature and culture, with a focus on bibliography, including manuscripts and prints. Research blog: anecdota.princeton.edu. Also on Mastodon: @Marphurius@hcommons.social
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marphurius.bsky.social
"As the robberies pile up, French officials are waking up to an unsettling reality: France is awash in cultural treasures but has minimal resources to protect them from thieves." (Wall Street Journal gift link) www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Why It’s Easier to Rob a Museum Than a Jewelry Store in France
It’s not just the Louvre. Minimal security and the high price of gold have fueled nine heists over the past year.
www.wsj.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
prizepapers.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce this year's rendition of the Prize Papers Talks Special Edition - an online lecture series organised by the German Maritime Museum and the Prize Papers Project! The first talk will be on November 10th, with Jane Ohlmeyer, Tom Truxes, and John Shovlin on the Amity Papers!
November 3, 2025 at 12:29 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
“I hate being called poet/dramatist/translator/director. Poet covers it all for me,” he told The Guardian in 2015. “I want to do justice to my inwardness, my tenderness, my political rage.” (New York Times obituary - gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/b...
Tony Harrison, British Poet of the Working Class, Dies at 88
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
bucksarchives.bsky.social
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
A meme of 'Is this an archive?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be archives based on their content and structure.
November 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
thebookerprizes.com
We're sad to hear of the death of David Bellos, a wonderfully witty writer, professor, translator and judge of the 2016 International Booker Prize.
A head-and-shoulders photo of an older man wearing glasses, a dark pinstripe suit, blue striped shirt and a patterned tie, smiling slightly while looking at the camera.
October 29, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
theartnewspaper.bsky.social
A 77-year old man is the main suspect in an investigation that has involved raids in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, leading Bavarian police to seize forged Picasso, Rembrandt and Kahlo paintings

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/27/f...
October 27, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
📣📣📣 Opportunity: Director of the Voltaire Foundation 📣📣📣

We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to succeed Professor Nicholas Cronk, and warmly invite applications.

www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/op...
Opportunity: Director of the Voltaire Foundation
We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to succeed Professor Nicholas Cronk, and warmly invite applications. The Voltaire Foundation, originally established thanks to the…
www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
yvonneseale.bsky.social
A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments.

#medievalsky

www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...
Screenshot of the Viabundus website.
October 24, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
scientits.bsky.social
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'

10/10 response, no notes
Image of the mechanical ladder outside the Louvre Text below says WENN'S MAL WIEDER SCHNELL GEHEN MUSS (When you need to move fast) Underneath is more German text which translates as "The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min - quiet as a whisper."
October 24, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
eparpillee.bsky.social
I just tried chat GPT out on transcribing a 1644 manuscript I was squinting to read. It's extremely convincing and absolutely wrong: gets the first line about a river right, then makes up a very plausible 17thc spiel about rivers, with period spelling and all, but NOT AT ALL what happens next.
October 24, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
New on the blog:
Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French philosopher Voltaire.

voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/t...
Three Near-Identical Voltaire Letters
Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French philosopher Voltaire. The Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford …
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
The Minions strike again.
October 19, 2025 at 4:36 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
@book-historia.bsky.social
peccadille.bsky.social Joh Peccadille @peccadille.bsky.social · Oct 14
I’m looking for anyone who has visited the Winterthur Museum (Delaware, USA) and would be willing to upload their photos to Wikimedia Commons.

This would greatly help my students, who will be contributing to Wikipedia this semester on topics related to the history of this museum!
October 14, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
catrionaseth.bsky.social
This was really fun (see also @thetimes.com)... looking for the real Marie-Antoinette! humanities.web.ox.ac.uk/article/rese...
Research finds 'defining' childhood portrait of Marie Antoinette is really her sister
humanities.web.ox.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 12:33 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
Krasznahorkai (pronounced CRAS-now-hoar-kay), 71, is known for novels featuring lengthy sentences and dark subjects. Susan Sontag once called him a “master of the apocalypse,” and the Hungarian movie director Bela Tarr has adapted several of his novels for the screen. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/b...
Nobel Prize in Literature Is Awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai
www.nytimes.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
The president of Bard College said the college would be “forced to reconsider getting the best people if they came from abroad.”
“It’s not patriotic,” Dr. Botstein said. “It harms the economy and has nothing to do with excellence.” - New York Times gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...
Trump’s H-1B Visa Fee Could Strain Universities and Schools
www.nytimes.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions, partly in the composer’s own hand – the first Purcell autograph to be found for more than 30 years.' 1/3
‘Almost unheard of’: experts find more music by English composer Henry Purcell
Printed score and keyboard manuscript by Purcell, who died in 1695, unearthed in Worcestershire and Norfolk
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:03 AM
marphurius.bsky.social
"Driven by a desire to escape screens and reclaim a sense of control, they are resurrecting digital cameras, flip phones and CDs." Wall Street Journal gift link: www.wsj.com/tech/persona...
Young People Are Falling in Love With Old Technology
Driven by a feeling they’ve lost control to screens, twenty-somethings are resurrecting CDs, flip phones and digital cameras
www.wsj.com
October 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
kojamf.bsky.social
Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.
October 5, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
iobabooks.bsky.social
Recent changes to U.S. trade policies are affecting the book trade. The IOBA Board of Directors penned this letter reflecting our concerns. It was sent to U.S. Congress and Senate Committees.
Dear Chairman, I'm writing to you as the President of the Independent Online Booksellers Association. IOBA is a U.S.-based, nonprofit, international trade organization benefiting member booksellers conducting business online, with many members also having brick and mortar retail operations. The Executive Branch of the US government issued Executive Orders 14193, 14194, 14195, 14226, 14227, 14228, 14257, 14259, 14266, and 14298, all readable at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/ The stated intents of the Executive Orders were balancing trade and improving national security, but these Orders caused unintended, significant harm to the bookselling trade. Additionally, the Orders apply to trade in newly produced goods, but our members are unduly burdened as they trade mainly in used, collectible, and antiquarian books. Books are tariff-free in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 9/2025, but Orders override that, and U.S. and non-U.S. booksellers are severely constrained by country-by-country ad valorem tariffs of 10% to 25% or a flat rate from $80 to $200 USD. Navigating uncertainty, major countries and blocs have suspended parcel shipments to the U.S., thus affecting our member booksellers. Particularly harmful is suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries. Books have low profit margin, and most online sales are for a single book, thus the ad valorem tariffs negate any profit on, and effectively stop, international sales to U.S. booksellers and retail customers. Even a 10% levy on books, plus the undue burden of reportage, threatens the viability of the traditionally low profit bookselling business. Some of our member booksellers specialize in non-U.S. topics and source books from non-U.S. countries. Current tariffs effectively thwart these booksellers from sourcing inventory, and their businesses will fail if this is not remedied. Our U.S. and non-U.S. member booksellers operate what is classified as a "small business," are self-employed, and their trade supports their families and their local economies. Current Executive Orders, as written, are causing both present and lasting harm to these booksellers. I urge you to use the power of your position to influence key decision-makers, with the goal of amending Executive Orders, and other policies, to stop this harm. Sincerely, Jeffrey A. Rothermel President, Independent Online Booksellers Association
September 19, 2025 at 8:43 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
"The David Bowie Center in London is a new home for the singer's 90,000-item archive. It holds the key to his dramatic reinventions." (New York Times gift link): www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
When writing lyrics, for instance, Bowie sometimes used a cutup technique, jotting phrases down on paper, snipping them into fragments and then rearranging them.
September 17, 2025 at 1:07 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
"Penske Media is the first major U.S. news company to challenge Google and its parent Alphabet in court over its growing use of artificial intelligence." (Wall Street Journal gift link): www.wsj.com/tech/ai/roll...
Rolling Stone Publisher Sues Google Over AI Summaries
Publisher alleges artificial-intelligence-generated answers steal its content and have reduced traffic and revenue for its sites.
www.wsj.com
September 14, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
siefar.bsky.social
Upcoming Exhibition : "Women’s business/Businesswomen" (13 September 2025 - 11 January 2026)
Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet, Musea Antwerpen.
Sur les femmes de la famille Plantin-Moretus.
www.codart.nl/guide/agenda...
Women’s business/Businesswomen - CODART
…
www.codart.nl
September 13, 2025 at 6:26 PM
marphurius.bsky.social
Henry David Thoreau is retiring (New York Times gift link): www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/s...
A Thoreau Impersonator Bids a Fond Farewell to Walden Pond
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Volker Schröder
tnummedal.bsky.social
Please circulate - we are hiring in Early Modern European history!
Brown University - Early Modern European History, Brown University | H-Net
networks.h-net.org
September 12, 2025 at 12:28 AM