Self-promotional thread time! Like what I do On Here about book history and material culture? I would love to talk to your class or event about it! 📖
I’ve published on topics including the history of book conservation, the social significance of bookshelf organization, and the depiction of books in Magic the Gathering, and I would LOVE to write something for your publication!
Looking for video content about various physical aspects of rare books and the world of working with them? Check out my series #BiteSizedBookHistory, and let me know if you want to see content on a particular topic! 📺📖 youtube.com/c/BookHistoria
I make book supports and snake weights, which I strive to keep accessibly priced so everyone can care for their collection, no matter how big or small! I also take custom commissions 📚 (Even better, I’m having a sale at the moment!) etsy.me/3yzeix1
I would also love to speak with students or anyone interested in entering rare book librarianship or rare bookselling as a career! My DMs are open, and you can find my email address on my website 📚
Oh yeah, I’m also available as a podcast guest! 🎙 Next week’s episode of @whatyoulovepod features yours truly expounding on the world of book history, and the joy of books that have been loved to pieces 📚
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Books are cool, but there's this whole weird culture of Performative Book Loving that makes me grit my teeth. It's been around for centuries (see: rich folks decking out their stately homes in books they never read), but social media has made it particularly insufferable
I do think it's at least partly a reaction to the Rise And Grind attitude of late stage capitalism – who wouldn't just want to lay around and read all day rather than working themselves to death? – but it's also clout-chasing
I see this a lot in image compositions on Instagram... it's this somewhat artificial maximalism of bookshelves, an uncanny valley of cozy reading nooks
The “o no a library weeded their collection! :’( what is this world coming to?” post has a similar vibe as that cop publicity stunt Little Free Library thing a few months ago. Both are manufactured emotional manipulation based on the IDEA of books rather than the REALITY of books
With the cop LFL incident, the idea of people taking books to sell was treated as abhorrent, immoral. The practice of weeding is seen in the same way. Neither view considers the people actually DOING the thing (taking books, weeding)
If people were desperate enough to raid a LFL to get a couple bucks from shitty used paperbacks, they were probably in a tight spot (if they sold them at all!! That’s just what the cops speculated happened!! Maybe they just wanted books!!)
“Mr Henry Martin’s book December 1854——Don’t steal this book my honest friend, for fear the gallos will be your end. For above you see the owner’s name”
Well this is an interesting outreach predicament… I’ll admit, some cutesy animal talk makes me cringe, but it’s usefulness in scicomm CANNOT be denied. Making a topic silly or cute can make it accessible
Particularly when you’re talking about snakes and spiders and other phobia-inducing animals that are (often) not looking for a fight and/or harmless, this cute-ification can help reduce the intimidation factor
This can (and has, to some extent) been applied to books, with frequent exclamations of "Absolute unit!" and "chonky," etc., and the professional pushback has been isolated