Flavius Josephus, Famous and Memorable Works (1640) By Hilary Ely and Joseph Black The Cranston Library, Reigate, an English parish lending library founded in 1701, has in its collection a copy of Flavius Josephus’s Famous and Memorable Works (1640,…

Today (after a bit of a hiatus) a brand-new blog post by Joe Black and Hilary Ely on joint early modern inscriptions by an aunt and nice in a copy of a book by Josephus with a bit of verse earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/f... #HerBook #EarlyModern

This week's Early Modern Female Book Ownership blog features a religious book owned by possibly Devonian female owners. #HerBook

I hope Aphra Behn wins her special election today. 🤞@aftynbehn.bsky.social

More amazing work from @tamarajatkin.bsky.social on Bathsua Makin's books. I'm especially interested in the book that she inscribed "B. Makin." On the open market, without a scholar's eye, this is the type of inscription that could easily be mistaken for a man's. #HerBook

Ridiculous sketched portrait of a poor stressed out soul who needs 5 more days on their weekend.

Tonight’s silly sketchbook mood.

#art

Yes!

It's always a treat to find a gift book owned or given by a woman, and doubly so when the giver is none other than poet Katherine Phillips. #HerBook

Thomas Pierce, Philallelia, or, The Grand Characteristick Whereby a Man may be Known to be Christ’s Disciple (1658) Today’s featured book has three contemporary owners’ signatures crammed onto the upper fifth of its title page, Edward Wilmot and the signature of “Lady Bellamount,” which is bifurcated by the sign…

Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social discusses several women who may be the Lady Bellamount who signed this book, each one fascinating earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/p... #HerBook #EarlyModern

Womanhood: Always a political experience in more ways than one. "...it is possible that she wanted to read more closely about traits that would attract a good suitor and make her a virtuous wife, not just one whose connections and station in life appealed to her future husband." #HerBook

The vote of confidence helps!

That was one of my guesses, but the first, penultimate, and ultimate letters are so similar!

The name "martha sam[...?]" in the margins of a 1631 book.

Anyone with superior #paleography skills want to take a stab at Martha's last name? #HerBook

@tarallyons.bsky.social knocks it out of the park with this essay about book collector Katherine Blount's daughter (or granddaughter) Catharina Freman, who was a bibliophile herself and had a collection that includes travel books, literature, histories, and religious works. 👏👏👏 #HerBook

Some top-notch detective work by Joe Black here in recovering the identities of these long-ago sisters. #HerBook

Thomas Vincent, The Wells of Salvation Opened (1668) / Advice to Young Men (1668) The previous owner of this leatherbound sammelband containing two works by clergyman Thomas Vincent was not a young man, but a woman likely approaching or in middle age. The book is signed on the f…

Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social does some excellent detective work to trace the identity of a female owner of a devotional work and a book with advice for young men earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/05/19/t... #HerBook #EarlyModern #C17

As @tarallyons.bsky.social (Terra Lions?) points out, flexible spelling conventions in the early modern period complicate identifying female book owners. #HerBook

The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record Hereford Cathedral Library holds a fragmentary seventeenth-century letter addressed to a ‘Mrs Shakspaire’, concerning her husband’s dealings with a fatherless apprentice named John Butte or Butts. ...

Delighted to say that my article, "The Shakspaires of Trinity Lane: A Possible Shakespeare Life-Record" is now fully published and open-access! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Holy Bible (1640) Sometimes, despite one’s best efforts, a book owner simply eludes identification. In this instance, it is one Joyes Pears who owned a 1640 Bible printed by Robert Barker in the mid-seventeent…

Today on the blog: @franceswolfreston.bsky.social discusses a lovely little bible with red velvet binding and an inscription by a woman dated 1652 earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/t... #EarlyModern #HerBook

This is a stunning one!

John Barclay’s Argenis (1628) and Three Generations of Erskine Women from Scotland Figure 1. John Barclay, Argenis (London, 1628). Carleton University, PR 2209 B35 A73. Photos by Micheline White. All images reproduced with permission. There is something special about a book treas…

Today on the blog, a rich post by @michelinewhite.bsky.social on a fascinating copy of the romance Argenis by John Barclay, owned by three different generations of early modern Scottish women buff.ly/GJYrHCa #EarlyModern #HerBook

Robert Wilkinson, The Merchant Royall: A Sermon Preached at the Nuptials of the Lord Hay and His Lady (1607) A woman, according to Jacobean royal chaplain Dr Robert Wilkinson (d.1617), “is like a Ship indeed, for first whosoever marries, ventures; he ventures his estate, hee ventures his peace, he venture…

Today on the blog: another wonderful post by Joe Black about an entertaining sermon on marriage, joint male/female early modern ownership, and a connection to Mary Wroth https://buff.ly/41kAMlT #EarlyModern #HerBook

Good as guess as any. I'm positively stumped.

Yesssss.

Reminds me of this blog post I wrote when I was working as a rare-book cataloguer 10 years ago: www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/2015/10/...

Maybe we should rename Early Modern Female Book Ownership 'Katherine Blount, Richard Allestree, and Maybe a Few Other Things Too,' @martinevanelk.bsky.social. 😂

Pencil signatures in a book reading in part "Wolferstan" and "1704."

Transcription help needed! I have been staring at the letter before the "Wolferstan" along the top edge for over 10 years now and I have never been able to figure it out. Any guess as to what initial or initials it representations? #Paleography #Handwriting

Portrait of Lady Mary Wroth, author of Urania.

Could someone point me toward a citation for a census of the extant copies of Lady Mary Wroth's Urania? Help, please!

Poems, by J[ohn]. D[onne]., with Elegies on the Authors Death, 1639 Surprisingly, Early Modern Female Book Ownership has never before profiled a copy of John Donne’s oft reprinted Poems: With Elegies on the Authors Death, first published two years after the p…

Start your week off with this moving post by @franceswolfreston.bsky.social on an early modern female owner of Donne's Poems https://buff.ly/4gK8Vkk #HerBook #EarlyModern @tarallyons.bsky.social @michelinewhite.bsky.social @memps2.bsky.social @erinannmcc.bsky.social

Anne Douglas, Countess of Morton, The Countess of Morton’s Daily Exercise (1696) The Countess of Morton’s Daily Exercise was an early modern best seller, appearing in seventeen editions between 1666 and 1696. It was a steady seller as well, with at least eight additional editio…

Today on the blog, a great post by Joe Black, on female ownership and authorship of the Countess of Morton's Daily Exercise https://buff.ly/3VwXZOv #EarlyModern #HerBook @franceswolfreston.bsky.social @memps2.bsky.social @tarallyons.bsky.social @michelinewhite.bsky.social

Please!