Isabel Davis

A copy of "Conceiving Histories: Trying for Pregnancy, Past and Present" by Isabel Davis and illustrated by Anna Burel on an orange table.

🎉 "Conceiving Histories" has been shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards! Please join us in congratulating author @drbeldavis.bsky.social and illustrator Anna Burel on this honor: www.vam.ac.uk/info/va-illu...

Learn more about their beautiful book here: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204948...

Cover of my book 'Conceiving Histories', featuring one of Anna's illustrations of a naked lady riding a fish in front of a moon. Black and white with pink and white text.

Thrilled that Anna Burel's illustrations in my @mitpress.bsky.social book 'Conceiving Histories' are shortlisted for the @vamuseum.bsky.social Illustration Awards 2026 in the Adult Factual category.

Adults like pictures too!

Richard Fallon. Contesting Earth’s History in Transatlantic Literary Culture, 1860–1935: Believers and Visionaries on the Borderlines of Geology and Palaeontology What if humans could tell the story of Earth’s history without rocks, or at least without an over attachment to the rock record as interpreted by palaeosci

Patrick Morgan on Contesting Earth's History in the Review of English Studies: 'beautifully detailed, intricately researched, and compelling'. What more could you wish for? The review, for those with access: academic.oup.com/res/advance-...

The Womb and the Web | Los Angeles Review of Books Isabel Davis considers Amanda Hess’s new book about bringing a baby into a world of smart technology and data harvesting.

lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

Isn't it! Yes.

Screenshot of my review on the LA Review of Books' website, showing a picture of the cover of Amanda Hess's book, 'Second Life'.

My review of @amandahess.bsky.social book 'Second Life' in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social

This is a thoughtful and important book about digital pregnancy and motherhood.

Have you read it? What did you think?

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I your cat trying to read it? Maybe it likes the bit about the 🦜?

Copy of the book “Conceiving Histories” held in my left hand while a black cat rubs her face on the right edge of it. A colorful blanket backgrounds them. A cat tree is visible beyond the edge of the bed.

#caturday afternoon read in bed of “Conceiving Histories” with Annie. Congratulations to @drbeldavis.bsky.social and Anna Burel on their inventive and intriguing collaboration! @mitpress.bsky.social #booksky #histmed #blackcat

Thank you Donna! Glad you enjoyed it.

Love it!

Job Opportunity at Royal Holloway University of London: Postdoctoral Research Associate (16th-18th century focus) - Inclusive Histories Full-time, Fixed Term (12 months)Applications are invited for the post of Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Humanities.Inclusive Histories is a collaborative research and schools engage...

jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

The Year When Pregnancy Was a Fashion Statement For one strange year in the 18th century, flaunting a false pregnancy was all the rage.

For one strange year in the 18th century, flaunting a false pregnancy was all the rage.

(An excerpt from @drbeldavis.bsky.social's book "Conceiving Histories")

Yes. Amazing. Can we get an update on the Singapore wirecard-related trial? Ft gave us a mid-trial piece in Feb. But nothing on the outcome. What's happened?

Everybody medievally inclined in cent. London - Friday is a great day. Check out the Birkbeck Medieval Seminar.

Followed by:
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

Followed by the Matthews Lecture on the Medieval & Modern Fertility industry

Free, but book. See you there!

#medievalresearchseminars

Such a beautiful book JA. Who wouldn't want it in their window? They're super lucky to have a window to put it in.

I love this Grace! I should have known it was you.

Look what came in the post for me 2 beautiful books by @jackashby.bsky.social and @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social

Looking forward to reading both.

At @nhm-london.bsky.social Collections and Culture we've become a bit obsessed with finding historical 'named animals'. Here's Maurice Wilson's 1955 painting of Rota the lion, who lived at @zslofficial.bsky.social's London Zoo 1940–1955. © the copyright holder. Credit: Zoological Society of London.

Photo collage of a woman wearing a red fallopian hat, tied with a red bow under her chin, the fallopian tubes make it rather like a jester's hat. The ovaries are like bells. She holds her finger to her lips because this image illustrates a section of my book about women's secrets. The photo is black and white. The background a pistachio ice-cream green colour.

I enjoyed collaborating with the Big Fat Negative newsletter, writing a guest post on the consolations of history.

The image is one of Anna Burel's collages for our book Conceiving Histories
@mitpress.bsky.social

#consolationsofhistory

open.substack.com/pub/bigfatne...

Day 2 of #NatSCA2025 @natsca.bsky.social is up and running! I’m speaking later on behalf of @curioustravellers.bsky.social and the @nhm-london.bsky.social Thomas Pennant Collections #HistoryOfNaturalHistory #NaturalHistoryMuseums

Achene fibres such a bane though.

I think this is the coolest thing I've ever discovered... www.isabeldavis.co.uk/resources/ar...

#TudorPortraits

Thank you!

Like the moth corners.

Rethinking the Armada Portrait — Isabel Davis

I enjoyed making this resource, which shows the relationship between the famous Armada portrait of Elizabeth I and a sea chart or portolan map. www.isabeldavis.co.uk/resources/ar...

#TudorHistory

Looking forward to giving the William Matthews Lecture on 30th May 6-7.30pm at Birkbeck, University of London, Torrington Square WC1E 7JL.

I'm talking to the title:
In Vitro: The Fertility Industry Medieval and Modern.

Come!

Tickets are free but you need to book: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

I really enjoyed talking to Kyle Kellems at KUAF radio when I visited Fayetteville AR. Radio is such a cool medium. I grew up with it and still really like it.

You can catch my interview with him here: www.kuaf.com