Françoise Baillet
Prof. of British History and Culture at @universite-caen.bsky.social
Victorianist. Newspapers & magazines. Labour and the illustrated press.
Principal Investigator (PI) of @punchspocketbook.bsky.social.
She/her
- In today's mail, this wonderful edition of William B. Osgood Field's "John Leech on my Shelves," a catalogue raisonné of Field's extensive collection of original drawings, illustrated books, etchings and wood blocks, today kept at the Houghton Library, @harvard.edu
- Somehow, I doubt this...
- Wishing you all a happy, exciting, and creative new year!
- Reposted by Françoise BailletIt's #MapMonday! Here's a #map of #workhouses, #asylums, hospitals and dispensaries in #London, 1900. Take a closer look on @layersoflondon.bsky.social at www.layersoflondon.org/map/... #VictorianHistory #BritishHistory #GIS #HGIS #MappyMonday
- Make a Bond film academic Student Loans are Forever.
- Excellent news indeed.
- With thanks to @rs4vp.org for generously supporting the first steps of this project through the Patrick Leary Field Development Grant.
- Happy Friday! Some light reading to enliven your weekend: a retrospective on the "Pictorial Punch: Treasures from the Archive" study day by our friends @punchspocketbook.bsky.social in November. Several candid photos from the day included! Thanks for #SharingYourNews! rs4vp.org/pictorial-pu...
- The Tammany Scrapbooks in display at the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures. A thought for the late Brian Maidment, whose illuminating writings on the subject helped me understand and enjoy nineteenth-century scrapbooks.
- Back in Cambridge, with fantastic memories of that NYC Thanksgiving weekend. Within the space of 3 days, I saw more treasures than that cartoon pirate hoarded, at the top of one of the Parade's floats. I also walked like a marathon and am aching in muscles I did not know existed. Roll on, Xmas!
- Reposted by Françoise BailletPunch's Pocket Book entry of the day: 'Nothing particular - Oyster dinner.' That may well be the title of my next paper. Fantastic day at the Robert D. Farber Archives and Special Collections, Brandeis University.
- Just wondering about the 'etc'...
- The great news of the day is that the New York Public Library holds W. M. Thackeray's very own Punch's Pocket Book for 1856, with ms. annotations about 'the fat of the land, claret in plenty & smoking too much.' What's not to like? Made an appointment to consult the resource next week.
- At Nottingham University, students and academics have just been informed of the possible closure of the Departement of Modern Languages. I signed this petition.
- Seen today. Fascinating connections between social and political struggles, past and present. Great exhibition.
- Boston Public Library Opens REVOLUTION! 250 Years of Art & Activism in Boston irishboston.org/2025/boston-... @bpl.boston.gov @bplmaps.bsky.social @bplpsa.bsky.social @revolution250.bsky.social @bostonglobe.com @archives.boston.gov
- Triumph of Religion, John Singer Sargent's extraordinary murals at @bpl.boston.gov Boston Public Library. Madame X nowhere to be seen.
- Many thanks to our wonderful speakers and audience, last Friday at the British Library, for our "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" event. Punch's Pocket Book Archive is now entering its second phase: keep in touch!
- Reposted by Françoise BailletWhat a surprise to find a collection of Punches, today, on the shelves of the beautiful Kenwood House!
- The V&A East Storehouse is a sort of IKEArt: you just wander between racks full of furniture, tableware and decoration until you are caught by surprise by a giant cello or a 16th century Spanish ceiling (set up without an Allen key). Extraordinary.
- Today's treat was a private 'sneak peek' of the British Library’s forthcoming special display commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Erudite and enlightening presentation by the BL curators. Enjoying that ATBL fellowship soooo much.
- ...has been treated to a wonderful private view of Sambourne House/Leighton House collections and archives: drawers full of uncatalogued letters, pull-out sliding racks replete with sketches, pictures, and diaries, stimulating conversations with experts. I feel so lucky.
- Sean Penn. C'était ma critique de Une bataille après l'autre. #OneBattleAfterAnother #PTA
- Reposted by Françoise BailletNEW ISSUE ALERT! It's a happy day when you find the latest VPR in your mailbox. This number includes the 2024 VanArsdel and Expanding the Field essays as well as articles on asylum periodicals and the bookselling trade. Treat yourself to some delightful reading: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55567 @rs4vp.org
- Reposted by Françoise BailletA really fine summary of this important aspect of the 19th-c newspaper press. Thanks, too, to the always terrific Victorian Commons for the link to this splendid clip about Dickens's experience as a Parliamentary reporter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AROf... #19thc #C19th @rs4vp.org
- Reposted by Françoise Baillet✨ It's official! We're now accepting proposals for #RSVP2026, "Movements and Migrations"! We invite scholars to examine the relationship between periodicals, migrations, and movements for our 2026 conference in Dublin. Full CFP and more details on our main website.
- Reposted by Françoise BailletOnly a few days left to register for our "Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive" study day, to be held at the #BritishLibrary on November 7. Information and registration here: pictorial-punch.sciencesconf.org/registration
- Une trame commune, trois histoires singulières et des personnages qui circulent entre les films comme ils parcourent la ville. C'est drôle, très poétique, onirique par moments. J'au beaucoup aimé. #LaTrilogiedOslo
- Et de trois ! L’amour, en 2025, n’est plus enfant de Bohème, mais natif de la capitale de la Norvège, cadre de la Trilogie d’Oslo. 😍 rebrand.ly/DesirTrilogi...
- Looking forward to meeting again the lovely @rs4vp.org community in Chicago! conference.rs4vp.org
- Honoured and delighted to have been selected for an American Trust for the British Library Research Fellowship 2025-2026! I am very grateful for this opportunity to spend time working on the Punch Archive at the BL and on the extraordinary C19 collections at the Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Reposted by Françoise BailletCFP: Essays in Honor of Brian Maidment (Proposals due May 15; Essays due Nov. 1). Guest editors Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge invite proposals for a special issue of VPR. For full details, visit rs4vp.org/cfp-vpr-spec... @rs4vp.bsky.social
- Reposted by Françoise BailletMany thanks to everyone who joined us online and on campus for our seminar on Wednesday afternoon! So proud of the amazing 19C research undertaken by our staff & students. We're especially grateful to Jereon Salman from Utrecht for his fascinating plenary on European penny prints and modernist art.
- Thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a Houghton Library Visiting Fellowship, Harvard University, for 2025-2026! Very grateful for this opportunity, and looking forward to a bookworm year 📚
- Excellent news! 'Pictorial Punch - Treasures from the Archive' has received the support of the @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social Don't miss our November 7, 2025 study day at the British Library. CFP available below.
- Punch's Pocket Book Archive team is thrilled to announce that we have received a grant from the @paulmelloncentr.bsky.social for the organisation of our 'Pictorial Punch – Treasures from the Archive' study day at the britishlibrary.bsky.social CFP available here: eribia.unicaen.fr/evenement/pi...
- The Punch's Pocket Archive team is organising a study day at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social on November 7, 2025, and we would be delighted to receive a paper proposal from you! “Pictorial Punch – Treasures from the Archive” The call is available here: eribia.unicaen.fr/evenement/pi...
- What a lovely surprise, today, to learn that @universite-caen.bsky.social holds complete runs of The Yellow Book and The Savoy! The collections will now be given pride of place among our Victorian holdings. #TheYellowBook #TheSavoy
- Reposted by Françoise Bailletsimultaneously horrific and amazing www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
- Reposted by Françoise BailletWonderful findings in Punch's Pocket Book today: a child's multicoloured collage and a student's sketches (1879 & 1880). Also found: a coded message!
- Reposted by Françoise BailletSix years ago our MP of the Month for February was Charles Tilston Bright, a pioneering telegraph engineer, who laid the first Atlantic telegraph cable. He was Liberal MP for Greenwich. Find out more about him in our blog: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/m...
- Going through some absolutely wonderful boxes of preparatory sketches for Punch by Leech, Tenniel, Furniss and many others. Seeing art in the making is just fantastic (and very moving). #BritishLibrary #ArchivesandManuscripts #PunchArchive
- Reposted by Françoise BailletA Victorian take on gender terminology from Punch's Pocket Book for 1854.
- Reposted by Françoise Baillet[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Françoise BailletLewis Carroll collection given to his Oxford college in surprise US donation
- How I think I look when teaching / How I actually look
- Reposted by Françoise Baillet🚀📈 Making Victorian visual culture searchable: Introducing an open-access and AI-powered dataset of 72,000 illustrations from the Illustrated London News (1842-1890). (w. Bethany Warner, @pfyfe.bsky.social and @bcgl.bsky.social) openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....
- Reposted by Françoise BailletThe great historian of the early 19th-c. comic press, Brian Maidment, died last week. He was as deeply appreciated for his personal kindness as for his brilliant work, and I treasured his friendship. @pritijoshi.bsky.social has written a lovely tribute: rs4vp.org/in-memoriam-... #C19
- Reposted by Françoise BailletNe ratez pas l'expo consacrée aux 600 ans d’histoire de notre @universite-caen.bsky.social avec des documents d’archives, des plans de Caen (1575-2025) et de nombreuses photos. Un projet labellisé Millénaire Caen 2025 📅Du 04 au 26/02 📍 Église du Vieux St Sauveur caen.fr/evenement/hi...
- Reposted by Françoise BailletOxford University Press will be awarding as many as 10 ECRs the opportunity to publish their first book in fully open access as well as in hardback. Today the website was revised to make clear that independent/unaffiliated scholars are eligible. Deadline March 3. academic.oup.com/pages/early-...
- Reposted by Françoise BailletRIP David Lynch. Dang. This is devastating.
- Reposted by Françoise Baillet[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Françoise BailletHow did developments in adult education from 1823 shape Birkbeck, and how has the college adapted to survive over time? Read Laurel Brake's fantastic article, followed by Robyn Jakeman's timeline, at 19.bbk.ac.uk
- Reposted by Françoise Baillet🤓 Rdv le 31 janvier prochain à Nanterre pour la JE spéciale agrég « Mouvements protestataires, contestations politiques et luttes sociales en Grande-Bretagne (1811-1914) » ! Infos et abstracts ➡️ oabrit.hypotheses.org/category/col... et sur le site du CREA crea.parisnanterre.fr/colloques-et...
- Dear colleagues and friends, ERIBIA (Équipe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur la Grande-Bretagne, l'Irlande et l'Amérique du Nord) wishes you all a successful and fulfilling New Year 2025. (All pictures were taken on campus last winter)
- Good news for the 19th c. press scholarly community: digital versions of several trade union periodicals - including The Printer and the Typographical Circular - are available through the Modern Records Centre's platforms.
- From the "Liberty" Press to the guillotine, Manchester's James Salmon had all the cutting edge printing technology in 1874 These Victorian adverts are from the Typographical Societies' Monthly Circular, one of many early trade union journals online at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib... #PrintingHistory
- Reposted by Françoise BailletHappy New Year's Eve 🎆🎇🎆🎇 This woodblock print showing fireworks at Ryōgoku bridge was created by Utagawa Hiroshige I in 1858. It features as part of the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo series.
- Insane waiting lines - un monde fou - for the Figures du fou exhibition at the museelouvre.bsky.social, yesterday. N'empêche: those of us who did not lose limbs to frostbite while waiting finally discovered a somptuous display of folie furieuse, from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century.
- Have just booked myself a nice reading week at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social in February. Will be looking at the BL's amazing Punch Archive for a forthcoming piece on Punch's Pocket Books. Well chuffed and all.
- Reposted by Françoise BailletThe beautiful Pictorial Times is this week's #MastheadMonday. Founded in 1843 by Henry Vizetelly & Andrew Spottiswoode, in reaction to the success of the ILN, in 1848 it merged with the Lady's Newspaper. Digitised by the BL & free-to-view here: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/picto...
- Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Joseph Cooper: Went surfing for an hour on Miller's Planet.
- I am learning a lot from - and really enjoying -@markcrail.bsky.social's Chartist #AdventCalendar thread. Also very useful to our students of Agrégation d'Anglais 2025.
- Day 20 of the #Chartism themed #AdventCalendar🎄 Richard Oastler, King of the Factory Children www.chartistancestors.co.uk/richard-oast... A Chartist a day till Christmas
- Reposted by Françoise Baillet
- Reposted by Françoise BailletThe Research Society for Victorian Periodicals' generous travel-and-research grant, the Curran Fellowship, is accepting proposals (closing date Jan 15). Take a break from grading & envision the research possibilities! Details: rs4vp.org/awards/curra...
- Excellente pioche pour mon premier @parisfantastic.bsky.social de l'année: Strange Darling, un polar troussé en six chapitres, où Willa Fitzgerald et Kyle Gallner crèvent l'écran (et deux ou trois autres trucs). C'est à la fois drôle et terrifiant, haletant et mesuré et surtout, très très bien joué.
- Thrilled to learn that my paper proposal for the 2025 conference of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals has been accepted! I'm going to Chicago next July! <3 <3
- Post the LAST SENTENCE of your last article "Within the trade press, the celebration of facts and useful knowledge turned out to encourage artistic self-expression."
- Reposted by Françoise BailletJohn Singer Sargent showed his talent early. Here are watercolour sketches he made during his family’s trip to Switzerland, when he was only 14
- Reposted by Françoise BailletGreat to see a plaque to the Northern Star in Leeds at last
- Equally delighted to confirm that @digivictorian.bsky.social's keynote is also available for viewing on the conference website: we-are-amused.sciencesconf.org/resource/pag...
