Illustration Archive
@profjt.bsky.social
The Illustration Archive is the world’s largest searchable archive dedicated to historical book illustration: https://illustrationarchive.cf.ac.uk/. Account run by Prof Julia Thomas. Interested in the Victorians, word and (mental) image, digital humanities
Reposted by Illustration Archive
Currently prepping these wooden beauties for a new display on Richard Owen’s science, art and legacy going into the NHM’s Images of Nature gallery tomorrow! #woodengraving #megatherium #bones #specialcollections
July 17, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Currently prepping these wooden beauties for a new display on Richard Owen’s science, art and legacy going into the NHM’s Images of Nature gallery tomorrow! #woodengraving #megatherium #bones #specialcollections
Reposted by Illustration Archive
One can begin to understand why cats (even big ones) don't like the water. Stories and Pictures of Animals c1890s #BookologyThursday #booksky
May 22, 2025 at 12:24 PM
One can begin to understand why cats (even big ones) don't like the water. Stories and Pictures of Animals c1890s #BookologyThursday #booksky
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Ladybird book in the spotlight
Sleeping Beauty (1965)
Artist: Eric Winter
Sleeping Beauty (1965)
Artist: Eric Winter
April 30, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Ladybird book in the spotlight
Sleeping Beauty (1965)
Artist: Eric Winter
Sleeping Beauty (1965)
Artist: Eric Winter
Reposted by Illustration Archive
That feeling when you are ready to swap your first-born for a really crisp lettuce
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
April 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
That feeling when you are ready to swap your first-born for a really crisp lettuce
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
Reposted by Illustration Archive
Today’s #MastheadMonday is the Pen and Pencil (1855). It aimed to tap into several fashions that coalesced in the mid C19th: illustrated newspapers, cheap family papers, & the Crimean War. It lasted only 8 issues. Digitised by the BL & free to view: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/pen-a...
April 14, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Today’s #MastheadMonday is the Pen and Pencil (1855). It aimed to tap into several fashions that coalesced in the mid C19th: illustrated newspapers, cheap family papers, & the Crimean War. It lasted only 8 issues. Digitised by the BL & free to view: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/pen-a...
Reposted by Illustration Archive
I can already hear the tech bros calling me a luddite: here it is with no paywall I think app.theneweuropean.co.uk/story/133185...
AI art lacks real creativity
Using artificial intelligence to generate images that mimic artworks robs humanity of one of the most meaningful experiences of all
app.theneweuropean.co.uk
April 7, 2025 at 8:24 AM
I can already hear the tech bros calling me a luddite: here it is with no paywall I think app.theneweuropean.co.uk/story/133185...
Reposted by Illustration Archive
🧠✨ Did you know that 1 in 25 people experience reading without mental images?
In a new piece for @tes, Prof Julia Thomas explores aphantasia, which affects how we engage with literature.
How can educators support readers who don't "see" stories in their mind’s eye? 🧐
🔗 Read more: bit.ly/3RdXbvg
In a new piece for @tes, Prof Julia Thomas explores aphantasia, which affects how we engage with literature.
How can educators support readers who don't "see" stories in their mind’s eye? 🧐
🔗 Read more: bit.ly/3RdXbvg
Aphantasia: education’s blind spot in teaching reading
What is it like to learn to read when you can’t make mental pictures? It’s an issue more educators should be aware of, argues Professor Julia Thomas
bit.ly
March 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
🧠✨ Did you know that 1 in 25 people experience reading without mental images?
In a new piece for @tes, Prof Julia Thomas explores aphantasia, which affects how we engage with literature.
How can educators support readers who don't "see" stories in their mind’s eye? 🧐
🔗 Read more: bit.ly/3RdXbvg
In a new piece for @tes, Prof Julia Thomas explores aphantasia, which affects how we engage with literature.
How can educators support readers who don't "see" stories in their mind’s eye? 🧐
🔗 Read more: bit.ly/3RdXbvg
Have you ever thought about what you see — or don’t see — in your mind’s eye as you read? Take a look at this piece I’ve written about reading and aphantasia: www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
Aphantasia: education’s blind spot in teaching reading
What is it like to learn to read when you can’t make mental pictures? It’s an issue more educators should be aware of, argues Professor Julia Thomas
www.tes.com
March 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Have you ever thought about what you see — or don’t see — in your mind’s eye as you read? Take a look at this piece I’ve written about reading and aphantasia: www.tes.com/magazine/tea...
Reposted by Illustration Archive
The Guardian has published an obituary of my dear friend Brian, written by his wife Maxine. I love the photo she chose for it. www.theguardian.com/education/20... #C19
Brian Maidment obituary
Other lives: Academic expert on downmarket illustrated books, prints and ephemera of Georgian and Victorian eras
www.theguardian.com
March 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
The Guardian has published an obituary of my dear friend Brian, written by his wife Maxine. I love the photo she chose for it. www.theguardian.com/education/20... #C19
This recommendation is a career highlight (I have a new book out, by the way!)
March 13, 2025 at 4:41 PM
This recommendation is a career highlight (I have a new book out, by the way!)
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There are so many ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the humanities. This NEH-funded collaboration between the University of Wyoming and Cardiff University in Wales used AI to preserve more than 3,000 images of 22 medieval cathedrals at high resolutions. ow.ly/PS0T50V0qAB
Building on Cathedrals: AI Brings Medieval Architecture to Life
An innovative project led by Professor Julia Thomas is transforming how we explore and preserve medieval architectural heritage.
ow.ly
February 18, 2025 at 1:20 PM
There are so many ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the humanities. This NEH-funded collaboration between the University of Wyoming and Cardiff University in Wales used AI to preserve more than 3,000 images of 22 medieval cathedrals at high resolutions. ow.ly/PS0T50V0qAB
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For those who may not yet have heard, our dear friend Brian Maidment passed away a little over a week ago. It is difficult to put into words how much he meant to our community, but @pritijoshi.bsky.social has paid him wonderful tribute here: rs4vp.org/in-memoriam-...
In Memoriam: Remembering Brian Maidment – RSVP
A tribute from RSVP president Priti Joshi to past president and long-time member, Brian Maidment, who passed away January 28, 2025.
rs4vp.org
February 6, 2025 at 10:14 PM
For those who may not yet have heard, our dear friend Brian Maidment passed away a little over a week ago. It is difficult to put into words how much he meant to our community, but @pritijoshi.bsky.social has paid him wonderful tribute here: rs4vp.org/in-memoriam-...
Reposted by Illustration Archive
This (typo) is literally the dream, not an inconvenience
February 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
This (typo) is literally the dream, not an inconvenience
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Jimmy Page's Zodiac Dining Table in his Arts & Crafts home, Tower House, London, designed by William Burges.
February 7, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Jimmy Page's Zodiac Dining Table in his Arts & Crafts home, Tower House, London, designed by William Burges.
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🚀📈 Making Victorian visual culture searchable: Introducing an open-access and AI-powered dataset of 72,000 illustrations from the Illustrated London News (1842-1890). (w. Bethany Warner, @pfyfe.bsky.social and @bcgl.bsky.social)
openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....
openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....
A Fully-Searchable Multimodal Dataset of the Illustrated London News, 1842–1890 | Journal of Open Humanities Data
The Journal of Open Humanities Data (JOHD) aims to be a key part of a thriving community of scholars sharing humanities data. The journal features peer reviewed publications describing humanities rese...
openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com
February 5, 2025 at 8:23 AM
🚀📈 Making Victorian visual culture searchable: Introducing an open-access and AI-powered dataset of 72,000 illustrations from the Illustrated London News (1842-1890). (w. Bethany Warner, @pfyfe.bsky.social and @bcgl.bsky.social)
openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....
openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....
All our AI tools for searching the content of digitised image collections are free and available now via the website. Please use! findingaplace.org.uk?page_id=285
Resources – findingaplace.org.uk
findingaplace.org.uk
February 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
All our AI tools for searching the content of digitised image collections are free and available now via the website. Please use! findingaplace.org.uk?page_id=285
Reposted by Illustration Archive
Publication day! *Literary Illusions* is finally out!
January 31, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Publication day! *Literary Illusions* is finally out!
For those interested in AI and historical images (and cathedrals), here is a lovely exhibition of the work we’ve been doing with @lampallib.bsky.social
shorturl.at/0gTgn
shorturl.at/0gTgn
Building on Cathedrals
AI-Driven Insights into Architectural Heritage
shorturl.at
January 21, 2025 at 8:43 PM
For those interested in AI and historical images (and cathedrals), here is a lovely exhibition of the work we’ve been doing with @lampallib.bsky.social
shorturl.at/0gTgn
shorturl.at/0gTgn
Reposted by Illustration Archive
My book, Fiction on the Page in Nineteenth-Century Magazines, is out now with Oxford University Press!
academic.oup.com/book/58989
It’s a book about page fillers, product placement, and strange hybrid fiction. It asks how the page of the magazine became a spur for new, odd genres.
academic.oup.com/book/58989
It’s a book about page fillers, product placement, and strange hybrid fiction. It asks how the page of the magazine became a spur for new, odd genres.
January 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
My book, Fiction on the Page in Nineteenth-Century Magazines, is out now with Oxford University Press!
academic.oup.com/book/58989
It’s a book about page fillers, product placement, and strange hybrid fiction. It asks how the page of the magazine became a spur for new, odd genres.
academic.oup.com/book/58989
It’s a book about page fillers, product placement, and strange hybrid fiction. It asks how the page of the magazine became a spur for new, odd genres.
Everyone has to see a ghost on Christmas Eve. Here’s one, just in case. From The Ingoldsby Legends (designed by John Leech). Available on The Illustration Archive
December 24, 2024 at 12:30 PM
Everyone has to see a ghost on Christmas Eve. Here’s one, just in case. From The Ingoldsby Legends (designed by John Leech). Available on The Illustration Archive
Mr Pickwick under the mistletoe (Phiz) farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/1128770...
December 24, 2024 at 12:18 PM
Mr Pickwick under the mistletoe (Phiz) farm8.staticflickr.com/7390/1128770...