Find out how developer Michael Kowalski & I made an interactive biography for my PhD. “Making HayleyWorld” bit.ly/MakingHW in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #elit #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th
Blake’s sketch of Eartham Impressionistic pen sketch of house in background, with green bush front right and to right on hill, viewed through 2 trees front centre & left, with more greenery/?dead tree to left foreground. William Blake, 1757–1827, The Entrance Front of Hayley's House at Eartham, 1801, Pen and black ink with watercolor and graphite on medium, smooth, beige wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1981.25.2396.
“The years … in Felpham with Hayley present a time of transition for Blake; his views on the classics … and to some degree Milton, are different in 1804 than they were in 1799”.
Read Jason Whittaker & Annise Rogers’s bit.ly/BME4FS in bit.ly/HayleyEssays to discover what Blake learned from Hayley.
Terracotta Bust of William Hayley Thomas Alphonso Hayley, 1780–1800, William Hayley, 1795, Terracotta, Yale Center for British Art, The Gift of Charles Ryskamp, B2002.6. In September 1795 Tom recalled in a letter: “in the beginning of this year, I modeled a small full-face medallion of my father, for which Mr. Romney did me the honour to give me five guineas.” This is almost certainly the portrait medallion Thomas described and is one of only two surviving pieces of sculpture from his hand; the other, a plaster medallion of George Romney, is now in the collection of the West Sussex Records Office, UK. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:50821
In our intro to bit.ly/HayleyEssays, Mark Crosby & I explain William Hayley’s significance, discuss the book’s chapters & point to research still to be done (there’s LOADS!). So, if you’re an #18thC-ist, or a #Romanticist looking for a new research project/focus, check out bit.ly/HonestChronicler.
📣 New opportunity for early-career scholars!
We’ve partnered with the Women’s History Association of Ireland (@whaireland.bsky.social) to award £500 for the best first monograph in women’s/gender history
❗Deadline: 31 July 2026
Find out more & apply: womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-histo...
A pedant writes. Agree. But given the way storm names cycle through the alphabet, I feel I need to question whether 2026 has gifted us 12 previous lovely days...
Book jacket. Text reads Top left: Palgrave studies in life writing Series editors: Clare Brant • Max Saunders Centre: William Hayley A Biographer’s Influence on Life Writing and Romantic Networks in the Long Eighteenth Century Edited by Lisa Gee • Mark Crosby Bottom right: Palgrave macmillan Image: Full length picture showing (l-r) George Romney (self portrait) peering impishly into the frame, William Hayley standing side on head turned to face the viewer. He’s tall, has an imperious expression under shortish grey hair, is wearing a long dark blue cape, grey trousers and his right hand holds a walking stick. John Flaxman(who comes up to Hayley’s shoulder looks at him while working on a large grey bust. In front of him, the height of Flaxman’s shoulder,. and facing away from us, is Tom Hayley, wearing a red waistcoat over a white/cream shirt, knee length britches, white socks or spats and brown shoes. His hair is brown and touches his shoulder George Romney, 1734–1802, John Flaxman Modeling the Bust of William Hayley, 1795 to 1796, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1981.25.538.
Can’t believe it's almost a year since Mark Crosby & my book of essays about William Hayley (1745-1820) bit.ly/HayleyEssays was published! Am still super-proud of this beautiful volume & the fabulous & fascinating contributions from all the authors whose chapters we had the privilege of editing
Unanticipated (by me, anyway) news
Paid opportunity for PhD students and ECRs! The Elizabeth Montagu Correspondence Online (@montaguletters.bsky.social) 2026 Summer Internship Programme is open for applications.
Deadline: 1st April 2026
More details on the blog: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6359
@simonfspeak.bsky.social hello from the wilds of SoA Kensal Rise ... not stalking you, but had another thought on the way home, which is Mensch publishing. CC will deffo be familiar...
This piece by Charlotte Higgins is excellent and takes an unusually balanced position on the benefits of reading and its technologies
work with me and @drdaveobrien.bsky.social as part of @creativepec.bsky.social! we're recruiting a postdoc to work on the arts, culture and heritage sectors using quantitative methods. please share, please feel free to email me directly with any Qs! jobsite.sheffield.ac.uk/job/Sheffiel...
Munby Fellowship in Bibliography based @theul.bsky.social in Cambridge - closes on 1 February, so still time to apply.
Wot @openspacer.bsky.social says. And read the post/article or whatever you call things people write on substack.
With joyful abandon.
If you've got this far, thank you for reading this incredibly dull thread x
While no other notebook has ever approached the perfection of the Muriel Sparks, my hoard suggests that I (reluctantly) moved on to softback Moleskines, then Whitelines, and then settled on Castells
I may have kept a few, unused sheets of the paper while my ancient notes are heading for the recycling bag...
Grubby old white wire bound notebook cover with James Thin Booksellers Since 1848 logo
While having a bit of a declutter (NOT normal for me), I found a couple of used James Thin notebooks. The best notebooks EVER: gorgeous cream thin-lined paper.
If memory serves, they were called 'Muriel Sparks' cos originally made for her.
Wish they were still made...
Are you a community specialist and interested in the world of open source investigations? Come work with us! We're searching for a Community Operations & Project Manager. Apply by January 11th. www.bellingcat.com/bellingcat-j...
Can there ever be enough roasties?
2. Animal. Piggy has a different vibe...
There's an inadvisable amount of blue cheese? Who knew?
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the #18thC Ecologies Network! Co-convened by myself & @calsutherland.bsky.social at @cecs-york.bsky.social , ECEN is a hub for researchers interested in the many diverse ecologies of the period 🌱
Find out more: hzj520.wixsite.com/eighteenth-c...
The ad for the second postdoctoral position on our @leverhulme.ac.uk Britain’s Early Medieval Letters project is now live. We’re looking for an Old English specialist (who also works with Latin). 32-month FT post. Deadline for apps is 16 Jan 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
Book jacket. Text reads Top left: Palgrave studies in life writing Series editors: Clare Brant • Max Saunders Centre: William Hayley A Biographer’s Influence on Life Writing and Romantic Networks in the Long Eighteenth Century Edited by Lisa Gee • Mark Crosby Bottom right: Palgrave macmillan Image: Full length picture showing (l-r) George Romney (self portrait) peering impishly into the frame, William Hayley standing side on head turned to face the viewer. He’s tall, has an imperious expression under shortish grey hair, is wearing a long dark blue cape, grey trousers and his right hand holds a walking stick. John Flaxman(who comes up to Hayley’s shoulder looks at him while working on a large grey bust. In front of him, the height of Flaxman’s shoulder,. and facing away from us, is Tom Hayley, wearing a red waistcoat over a white/cream shirt, knee length britches, white socks or spats and brown shoes. His hair is brown and touches his shoulder George Romney, 1734–1802, John Flaxman Modeling the Bust of William Hayley, 1795 to 1796, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1981.25.538.
A quick post to say I’ m taking a December break from posting about bit.ly/HayleyEssays,. Places to go, people to see, work to do, etc. …
(etc = mostly sorting out messy piles of things that refuse to tidy themselves up because they’re inanimate objects and lack sentience).
Engraving of Jeremiah Meyer. William Pether, ca. 1738–1821, Jeremiah Meyer, Esqr. r. A., Miniature painter in Enamel to His Majesty, 1789, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1977.14.12362. Meyer, his body turned slightly to the left, looks over his left shoulder, while – from the top – he holds what looks to be a large sketch pad, with a pencil or brush held gently in his right hand. His face bears a concentrated expression as if he’s observing something closely. His features are large and heavy, his hair neatly dressed and curled outwards over his ears (his right lobe is visible). His hairline is slightly receding. He wears what looks like a simple, brown jacket over a cream or white cravat.
1784. Painter in Enamels to King George III and in Miniatures to Queen Charlotte, Jeremiah Meyer had a plan. He brought a popular Opera back from Stuttgart, hoping his writer-friend William Hayley could earn some £ by translating it for the London stage…
bit.ly/KnausMeyer in bit.ly/HayleyEssays
How did developer Michael Kowalski & I make an interactive biography – “HayleyWorld” – for my PhD? And why did I decide to call it a “zoeography"? bit.ly/MakingHW in bit.ly/HayleyEssays.
Video intro here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4N.... #elit #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th
Shadow of a finger pointing to the chapter title. Text reads ‘Be My Enemy for Friendship’s Sake’: Hayley and Blake’s Biographers Jason Whittaker and Annise Rogers
Interested in #WilliamBlake &/or biography? Read @jasonpaulwhittaker.bsky.social & @urthonaunbound.bsky.social’s: “‘Be My Enemy for Friendship’s Sake’: Hayley and
Blake’s Biographers” bit.ly/BME4FS in bit.ly/HayleyEssays #Blake #romanticism #lifewriting #biography #18thC #c18th
Lost Romney watercolour, b&w/sepia L-R Eliza Ball Hayley in profile (facing right), seated at a table, looking down while at some form of handiwork: possibly sharpening a pen, or preparing materials for needlework. William Hayley is seated behind the same table, pictured front on, wearing a jacket with a huge collar. His arms rest semi crossed on the table, and in front of him is a large book with another document on it. Standing to his right (directly opposite the seated Eliza) is Captain Howell, a protegé of William Hayley’s who was lost at sea. Howell is looking down at the document while William Hayley’s head is slightly tilted up to look at him
Poet, biographer, man of letters, and cultivator of influential literary and artistic networks during the late 18th century, William Hayley was considered one of the brightest stars in the poetical firmament.
So why isn’t he more famous? See bit.ly/HonestChroni... our intro to bit.ly/HayleyEssays
Know I’m repeatedly repeating myself, but Mark Crosby & I have a book out, crammed with erudite, fascinating & readable contributions from an impressive range of scholars. If your research touches on long #18thC art, literature or socio-cultural history, please check out bit.ly/HayleyEssays TY!