Martine van Elk
@martinevanelk.bsky.social
Professor in Long Beach, CA. She/her. Early modern women writers, drama, and book history. Blogs on early modern women. Opinions my own (of course)
bio.site/martinevanelk
https://hcommons.org/members/martinevanelk/
https://earlymodernfemalebookownership.w
bio.site/martinevanelk
https://hcommons.org/members/martinevanelk/
https://earlymodernfemalebookownership.w
The actor playing Hamlet looks like William Stack, but that may be too early a production:
November 4, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The actor playing Hamlet looks like William Stack, but that may be too early a production:
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 6:41 PM
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
Giving a boost to our Call for Papers for the 2026 Forum on early modern women and migrancy. Deadline October 15!
September 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Giving a boost to our Call for Papers for the 2026 Forum on early modern women and migrancy. Deadline October 15!
Here's the CFP for our journal's forum with Alt Text
July 20, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Here's the CFP for our journal's forum with Alt Text
In case you haven't seen it, here's our call for the upcoming Forum in Early Modern Women. Consider submitting a short piece on the theme of migrancy! #EarlyModern
July 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
In case you haven't seen it, here's our call for the upcoming Forum in Early Modern Women. Consider submitting a short piece on the theme of migrancy! #EarlyModern
More #HerBook from my trip to Italy: these lovely monochrome decorations by Aiuto del Pinturicchio feature several reading figures, some of whom are female. Dated 1489-91, in the Basso Della Rovere Chapel in the Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo #HerBook #EarlyModern #Renaissance
June 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
More #HerBook from my trip to Italy: these lovely monochrome decorations by Aiuto del Pinturicchio feature several reading figures, some of whom are female. Dated 1489-91, in the Basso Della Rovere Chapel in the Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo #HerBook #EarlyModern #Renaissance
Okay, one more annunciation: a fresco at Santa Maria in Trastevere. Love the casual hold of the book on her lap. And I completely missed this one: www.wga.hu/html_m/c/cav... #HerBook
June 5, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Okay, one more annunciation: a fresco at Santa Maria in Trastevere. Love the casual hold of the book on her lap. And I completely missed this one: www.wga.hu/html_m/c/cav... #HerBook
This Madonna is holding a book with a nice binding. Madonna and Child with Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint John the Evangilist, painted in c. 1517 by Andrea Del Sarto, at the Uffizi #HerBook
June 5, 2025 at 3:14 PM
This Madonna is holding a book with a nice binding. Madonna and Child with Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint John the Evangilist, painted in c. 1517 by Andrea Del Sarto, at the Uffizi #HerBook
Mary was not only depicted with books in images of the annunciation. Here are a few bookish Madonnas who are not interrupted in their reading by an angel. First, Raphael's Madonna and Child with the Young St John the Baptist, painted c. 1505-06, at the Uffizi #HerBook #EarlyModern
June 5, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Mary was not only depicted with books in images of the annunciation. Here are a few bookish Madonnas who are not interrupted in their reading by an angel. First, Raphael's Madonna and Child with the Young St John the Baptist, painted c. 1505-06, at the Uffizi #HerBook #EarlyModern
And the last one for now, by Mariotto di Nardo, in which unusually, Mary towers over the angel, almost as if lecturing from her book. Part of a dismantled predella, dated c. 1385 at the Vatican museum #HerBook
June 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
And the last one for now, by Mariotto di Nardo, in which unusually, Mary towers over the angel, almost as if lecturing from her book. Part of a dismantled predella, dated c. 1385 at the Vatican museum #HerBook
Although there is a more famous annunciation in the Basicila of San Lorenzo, I liked this one, which we saw close to the entry to the Laurentian library, in which Mary is holding a book in her lap and has one next to her #HerBook
June 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Although there is a more famous annunciation in the Basicila of San Lorenzo, I liked this one, which we saw close to the entry to the Laurentian library, in which Mary is holding a book in her lap and has one next to her #HerBook
One of my favorites: a beautiful fresco by Fra Angelico in a cell at the convent San Marco in Florence, c. 1440s, Mary holding her finger in the book to keep her place #HerBook
June 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
One of my favorites: a beautiful fresco by Fra Angelico in a cell at the convent San Marco in Florence, c. 1440s, Mary holding her finger in the book to keep her place #HerBook
Following up on yesterday's thread, here are some more annunciations featuring Mary with a book. First up: one by Matthias Stomer, painted 1635-40, at the Uffizi #HerBook #EarlyModern
June 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Following up on yesterday's thread, here are some more annunciations featuring Mary with a book. First up: one by Matthias Stomer, painted 1635-40, at the Uffizi #HerBook #EarlyModern
This one is by Fra' Bartolomeo, another monochrome Annunciation on the doors closing a small tabernacle, painted c. 1497-99, at the Uffizi. Here she is holding her finger in the book so as not to lose her place while the annunciation is happening #HerBook #Renaissance
June 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
This one is by Fra' Bartolomeo, another monochrome Annunciation on the doors closing a small tabernacle, painted c. 1497-99, at the Uffizi. Here she is holding her finger in the book so as not to lose her place while the annunciation is happening #HerBook #Renaissance
And this wonderful one is by Leonardo da Vinci, also at the Uffizi, painted c. 1472-75. #HerBook #Renaissance
June 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
And this wonderful one is by Leonardo da Vinci, also at the Uffizi, painted c. 1472-75. #HerBook #Renaissance
This is a monochrome on the back of a triptych, painted by Hugo van der Goes, c. 1476, housed at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence #HerBook #Renaissance
June 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
This is a monochrome on the back of a triptych, painted by Hugo van der Goes, c. 1476, housed at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence #HerBook #Renaissance
In a trip to Italy I saw many images of women with books and thought it'd be nice to share some over the next few days. Lots of annunciation images feature Mary with a book. This fresco is by Pietro di Miniato, at the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, c. 1390-1420? #HerBook #Renaissance
June 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
In a trip to Italy I saw many images of women with books and thought it'd be nice to share some over the next few days. Lots of annunciation images feature Mary with a book. This fresco is by Pietro di Miniato, at the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, c. 1390-1420? #HerBook #Renaissance
Interesting funeral monument for mother and daughter in St Ethelred church at Hatfield. Elizabeth Brocket and Agnes Saunders
June 22, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Interesting funeral monument for mother and daughter in St Ethelred church at Hatfield. Elizabeth Brocket and Agnes Saunders
#HisBook: a interesting copy of a 1678 edition of Katherine Philips's poems at University of Utah inscribed with "John Jubile Flinn Bought this Book out of respect to the Memory of the Author January 1st 1786" and a handcolored frontispiece #EarlyModern collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=8...
March 28, 2024 at 2:05 AM
#HisBook: a interesting copy of a 1678 edition of Katherine Philips's poems at University of Utah inscribed with "John Jubile Flinn Bought this Book out of respect to the Memory of the Author January 1st 1786" and a handcolored frontispiece #EarlyModern collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=8...
Wet but good day on the picket line today
January 23, 2024 at 1:15 AM
Wet but good day on the picket line today
A bit late for our blog but this gift inscription is lovely www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40462042... #EarlyModern #18thc #HerBook
November 20, 2023 at 5:06 PM
A bit late for our blog but this gift inscription is lovely www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40462042... #EarlyModern #18thc #HerBook
It's EMROC Transcribathon day! We're off... emroc.hypotheses.org/transcribath...
November 17, 2023 at 4:12 PM
It's EMROC Transcribathon day! We're off... emroc.hypotheses.org/transcribath...