Features
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Rare Care: Prioritizing the Personal in Rare Books & Special Collections Curatorship with Artists’ Books
In enacting rare care, we interrogate how we frame entry to, and use of, physical materials and spaces alike. Moving away from gatekeepers, we can serve as both curators of…
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In Defence of Publishing before Print
Can a medieval manuscript, or indeed any form of textual codification that happened prior to the printing press, be referred to as a form of publication? The aim of this…
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Passports as Books and Books as Passports
Even though there is, of course, no easy definition of what a book is exactly, a passport is an object that is very much like a book, without being usually…
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Life’s Mini Pleasures
In early 2024, I came across a miniature replica of a bookshelf situated in a recycled Altoids tin on my Instagram “explore” page. It was impossible to pass this over.…
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A Muppet History of the Book
At the beginning of special collections instruction sessions, I sometimes ask students what books are meaningful to them and why. If there’s time, I might share The Monster at the End…
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“Now I’ve read all the books beside your bed:” Books, Literature, and Taylor Swift
It’s no secret that the cultural zeitgeist is currently saturated with Taylor Swift, from her massively successful Eras Tour to her relationship with football star Travis Kelce. Their swoon-worthy romance seems ripped…
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#reader-core: Aesthetics and Algorithmic Capitalism
Since Jane Austen’s publication of Sense and Sensibility in the 19th century, we’ve moved on from empire waist gowns, empire itself, and of course, industrial capitalism. And with these social,…
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The St Pancras / Hatchard’s Christmas Tree
Earlier this year I wrote a piece for SHARP news on the new Penguin Books Vending Machine at Exeter Railway Station, including other Penguin initiatives around selling books. Bookending what has…