James_AL_Downs

@magiclantern.bsky.social

Writer: 'Anton Walbrook' (2020) 'Joseph Pike' (2018) & 'A Carnal Medium' (2012), photohistorian, archivist of Middle East collections at Exeter University, runs the Digital Archive of the Middle East (https://dame.exeter.ac.uk/), collector & bibliophile

@fraserraeburn.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 3:18 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Not sure it's a great sign when diplomats are asking historians of the 1930s for advice.

This Fellowship offers the opportunity to work with the
Historians Team in the Global Strategy Department of the FCDO. The
Innovation Fellowship award holder will collaborate with colleagues in the
Strategy Directorate and others across the FCDO and foreign policy
community in Whitehall, to develop understanding amongst policymakers on
how the history of the 1930s might help them think better about present-day
challenges. In particular, they will look to develop historical awareness
amongst policy-making colleagues of how the UK state conducted
diplomacy, made policy and formulated strategy in the face of multiple
challenges and crises, including rapid technological change, stubborn
economic malaise, overwhelming global commitments, increasing
international isolation, and the growing number and strength of adversaries.
The Innovation Fellowship award holder will also support the Historians’
wider Applied History work - providing rapid, policy-focused historical
analysis - and use their own networks to help strengthen the Historians
team’s links with external researchers.

@dhlabexeter.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 8:17 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

The Theatre Royal in Exeter was closed in 1962 and many of the playbills previously used to advertise its performances are now held in the University of Exeter’s Special Collections! The interns used our camera in Lab 1 to take images which are then cropped and exported for Special Collections.

@dhlabexeter.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 8:17 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

The new cohort of DH interns have got stuck straight in with ongoing projects here at the Digital Humanities Lab! For a few years now we have been working to digitise playbills from the old Exeter Theatre Royal.

@themedievaldrk.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 5:18 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Many people like to laugh at medieval illuminations of stag-snails, oh those funny medieval artists making up anim...

@magiclantern.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 9:07 AM

I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

@magiclantern.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 8:39 AM

Weekend reading

Photo of the turquoise cover of a book, "The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders' by Sarah Aziza, illustrated with a photo of a peach-like fruit beneath a red poppy, and some leafy stems

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 8:44 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Good morning to everyone but especially to all the octopuses, for today is their special day!

To celebrate World Octopus Day, here's an illustration of an octopus from the book 'The World of the Sea' by Moquin Tandon, published in 1869.

📷 Reserve 591.92 TAN

#WorldOctopusDay #OctopusDay #RareBooks

Cropped image showing an engraving of an octopus

Full-page engraving from a book. It shows an octopus lying on the seabed, with a squid and a cuttlefish coming towards. The cuttlefish is making a cloud. The engraving is captioned: 'Plate XI. A Poulpe. A Cuttle-Fish Making His Cloud. A Calmar'.

@aeporreca.org Oct 7, 2026, 8:35 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

The Association for Human Mathematics (AHM) statement on OpenAI’s October 6 release of mathematical documents just dropped! www.ahmath.org/statements

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 8:30 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

On 07 October 1889, the (New) Theatre Royal opened in Exeter. It was demolished in 1962.

Our collections include many items relating to the Theatre Royal, including 2,383 playbills!

#OnThisDay #TheatreHistory #TheatreArchives #Archives #Exeter #ExeterHistory @uniofexeterdrama.bsky.social

Colourised postcard showing the last Theatre Royal on the corner of Longbrook Street and New North Road.

Five Theatre Royal (Exeter) playbills dating from 1891 to 1932

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 9:28 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the badgers, for today is their special day!

To celebrate National Badger Day, here is an illustration of a badger from the book 'Animated Nature' (1828) by Georges-Louis Leclerc.

📷 Reserve 590 BUF

#NationalBadgerDay #BadgerDay #RareBooks

Cropped image from a book, showing a colour illustration of a badger standing on a patch of grass, painted in shades of black, white and green.

@aohsusometimesy.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 11:59 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

When you have departments that produce fewer numbers of majors why is that always the fault of the department and not of the administrators? “Only two students taking Akkadian. We have to fire you.” “No, you’re supposed to get me more Akkadian students. You’ve failed your job. I fire you!”

@regretteruane.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 6:44 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Jeanne Dielman peeling those potatoes

@magiclantern.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 7:07 AM

Misty at Shobrooke this morning

Photo of a large stone bridge over water surrounded by a misty landscape of trees and parkland

Photo of early morning sun shining beneath trees

Photo of rays from early morning sun shining up from beneath trees

@lingdustin.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 3:56 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:

Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads:

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."

@jdmccafferty.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 12:37 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

A crucifix mandrake, probably 16th century Extraordinary. (Schloss Ambras Innsbruck)

@davidmbarnett.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 1:37 PMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

In case you missed it - though I'm not sure how you would, as I was an absolute bore about it - my fourth folk horror novel TWISTED PIKE was released yesterday:

www.canelo.co/books/twiste...

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 10:43 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Believe it or nut - it's already October! 🍂

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

📷 Illustration of oak, hazelnut & hornbeam from ‘The Flowering Plants of Great Britain’ (1855) by Anne Pratt [Baring-Gould Library 0691]

#FridayFlowers #FlowersOnFriday #RareBooks

Photograph of an opened book featuring a full-page colour illustration of leaves, flowers and fruit of the Common British Oak, the Hazelnut tree and the Hornbeam tree.

@exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 9:20 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the raccoons, for today is their special day!

This woodcut of a raccoon was printed in 1635 in 'Historia Naturae, Maxime Peregrinae' by Juan Eusebio Nieremberg.

📷 Baring-Gould Library 0689 Folio

#InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay #RareBooks

Cropped image of a page in an opened book. In the centre of the page is a large woodcut illustration of a raccoon. The title in Latin above it reads 'Mapach'.

@matthewteller.com Oct 1, 2026, 11:44 AMReposted by @magiclantern.bsky.social

I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope y’all have fun reading it 😍

Front cover of new book “Finding Aladdin” by Matthew Teller

@magiclantern.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 9:11 AM

Algerian Cinema: From Colonial Images to a New Generation

algeriaconnect.com/algerian-cin...

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