Sarah-Beth Watkins

How much did maidservants and water-bearers contribute to the 17th-century publishing industry? @joe_saunders1 investigates the 'lowest sort' in the print trade in our latest #MonsterTakeover post: https://manyheadedmonster.com/2021/03/02/the-lowest-sort-in-the-print-trade-of-17th-century-england/ …pic.twitter.com/9m1zm2N7xV

The trees are about to perform one of nature’s greatest magic tricks So as we bid winter goodbye, here are my favourite twigs & buds from February. They’re living jewels, don’t you think?pic.twitter.com/YEwpjNfhyn

Here’s a tiny book in a tiny slipcase. Just because. [Schloss’s English Bijou Almanac for 1841. Case Z 8166 .8]pic.twitter.com/553isDmeUA

Exactly 200 years since the death of John Keats, one of his love letters to Fanny Brawne (Oct 1819): "You dazzled me. There is nothing in the world so bright and delicate" #Keats200pic.twitter.com/jyhfksnAxf

Love this small fragment of a cupboard cloth from c.1530. It is embroidered with #AnneBoleyn’s white falcon emblem, rather cruelly pecking at #KatherineofAragon’s emblem of a pomegranate. It is reputed to have been made by Elizabeth Boleyn, Anne’s mother. #Tudor #Embroidery.pic.twitter.com/QJCmcDMxqy

We've just put 32 new petitioners' stories online! You'll find rebels, murderers, playhouse-managers, and Frenchmen, all trying to use the #PowerOfPetitioning to woo Charles II. Read them for yourself here: https://petitioning.history.ac.uk/investigating-petitioners/petitioners-in-the-reign-of-charles-ii-1660-1685/ …pic.twitter.com/7QyHhPAPee

Cock Swete: the name of one of the four fishermen who sold fish and seafood to Edward II when he and another person "secretly made love" in Edward's London house in October 1324 (see my last post). You couldn't make it up. :D :Dpic.twitter.com/ppcU5snKYs

Best door ever? Stillingfleet, St Helen’s. Possibly 10th c.pic.twitter.com/PQqA2DAGwN

While today, our documents are kept in special archival storage boxes, many of our medieval documents were originally stored in pouches made from leather or canvas, and endorsed with memoranda identifying their contents - as seen in today's #archivejigsaw http://orlo.uk/O8zLZ pic.twitter.com/hMKMtyaYPP

Sometimes I worry that I’m too tired and busy to deal properly with emails and requests and then I remember Nancy Mitford just sent out cards like this:pic.twitter.com/xURmGRb7PL

Affectionately known as the ‘graffiti grannies of Lisbon', Lata65 is a Portuguese org that runs workshops in street art for the over-65s-the oldest participant is 90-year-old Isaura Santos Costa #womensart #FridayFeelingpic.twitter.com/o6AF2502LD

Murmurations tonight. Breathtaking.pic.twitter.com/kpMRGhQSvu

As 'how to politely sign off an email' seems to be a hot topic today, I'm reviving my petition to return to 17th-century effusiveness Your Always burning Salamander, Emilypic.twitter.com/IQaSTvmNvK

An owl obviously spotted something to eat even in the snow. They are wonderful creatures, but they don’t take prisoners!pic.twitter.com/VkYuZTJCgs

A rare site, as the Hampton Court Palace moat fills up - confirms it has been very wet! Contemplating whether to have a quick kayak on it.pic.twitter.com/RpgTGKBte8 – at Hampton Court Palace

February: Sol-mōnaþ in Old English ('mud month,' Bede: "the month of cakes, which they offered in it to their gods." Either the cakes looked mud due to colour/texture, or literally it was the month of mud due to wet English weather...) But this pic is snowy and prettier!pic.twitter.com/lCradGOp9z