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!
- Make a Bond film academic Student Loans are Forever.
- Excellent news indeed.
- [Not loaded yet]
- Ah merci David, pour l'idée cadeau originale!
- 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...
- I try not to talk about this much, but in case someone else needs to hear it… Being a carer to a loved one is incredibly hard physically and mentally and unbearable sometimes. Doing paid work on top of that can sometimes feel impossible no matter how much of a privilege it is to have the option.
- Your son looks so happy on all the pictures. You are a wonderful mum, no doubt about it.
- 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!
- Just wondering about the 'etc'...
- [Not loaded yet]
- That dial-up sound has already become a Proust madeleine-modem.
- 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!
- 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
- 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
- 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 📚
- Congratulations Françoise!
- Thanks Helena!
- 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...
- [Not loaded yet]
- A lovely, erudite, and extremely generous scholar, from whom I learnt so much. Brian will be greatly missed.
- 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
- love these complementary Regency print illustrations ('The Choice of a Husband' and 'The Choice of a Wife') www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o... www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
- [Not loaded yet]
- Yes, and the men follow the show live on their phones, visible on the table. Those Regency Tinder kids...
- 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
- How I think I look when teaching / How I actually look
- 🚀📈 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....
- Impressive!
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- [Not loaded yet]
- Turning cat-holic, are you David? 🐱 (Nice Nativity scene!)
- [Not loaded yet]
- Hi Mercedes, is this the article you're after?
- 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.
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- Another item celebrating printing in The Compositors' Chronicle is ‘The Typographical Song' (March 1841). The song weaves technical printing terms into a story in which ‘a fair slender female of paragon face’ and ‘nonpareil figure’ makes an ‘impression’ on a ‘tramp’ who seduces and ‘hotpresses’ her
- 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."
- Thanks Françoise for the invitation. It was a wonderful event and I learned a great deal. Apologies again for the downbeat theme of my talk!
- Delighted to confirm that, following our international conference on the theme "We are Amused. Victorian Humour and the Digital," Professor @jimmussell.bsky.social's keynote speech is now available for viewing on the event website: we-are-amused.sciencesconf.org/resource/pag...
- Impressive talk, as ever, Jim. We were all very grateful to you for sharing your knowledge of the digital C19 press: you taught us to 'look beyond' and think on how to build a sustainable DH project. Many thanks for everything.
- 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...
