@inscriptionjournal
Inscription: the Journal of Material Text - Theory, Practice, History eds Gill Partington, Adam Smyth, Simon Morris email: inscriptionthejournal@gmail.com purchase at https://inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/
Our next event!
Sarah Cusk and Sophie Floate, Printed books from the libraries of some Oxford humanists
Thursday 12th March, 5:15pm, Lower Lecture Theatre, Berrow Foundation Building, @lincoln.ox.ac.uk
With a small exhibition!
In-person only: book via email secretary@oxbibsoc.org.uk.
OBS / Lincoln College research associate position!
We invite early career / grad scholars to apply to our new 2-week research associate position @lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Any interesting projects that will benefit from 2 weeks at Lincoln -- £500, accommodation and meals. Deadline 27th March
Call for papers!
INSCRIPTION 7 (out 2027) will be all about BLANKS. It will be (as ever) a BEAUTIFUL and MAXIMAL object.
Send us your ideas!
Historical / theoretical / creative / creative-critical -- or some strange blend.
First step: 400-word proposal + brief CV by 1 April 2026.
CFP attached.
magnificent.
Kabe Wilson, ‘Copywrong: an interview with Dennis Duncan'
Pre-order at inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/
Sally O’Reilly, ‘Birth, Accident and Death: A Narratological Probing of Die-Cut Holes’
Eric Robertson, ‘Tearing Up: Artists’ Radical Uses of Paper’
Rosetta (Anneleen Masschelein, Eva Moulaert & Willem Styfhals), ‘Tears-of-Grief: Widows, Orphans and Hyphenation’ ...
Essays in issue 6:
Eleanor Baker, ‘Cut, Pasted, and Pocketed: J. L. Carr’s Chaucer Pocketbook’
Reanna Brooks, ‘Cut and Paste: Virginia Woolf’s Bookcraft’
Yu Hao Chen, ‘Table of Phonetic Wounds’
Fraser Muggeridge, ‘Cuts and Tears as justified and unjustified typesetting: From Bayer to the Kindle’
Abigail Reynolds, The Universal Now: St Paul's 1983 | 1950 (2016)
Thomas Rodgers & Patrick Wildgust, Reading Raymond Queneau’s A hundred thousand billion poems, 1961
Buzz Spector, Wake, 2026
Carolyn Thompson, Tearjerker, 2026
Nick Thurston, Rips and Floods, 2026
Steven Zultanski, Agony 1 ...
Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept Waiting, 1960, © Fondazione Lucio Fontana
Jo Hamill, Gutter Words, 2020
Simon Morris, The aleatory moment, Royal Road to the Unconscious, 2003 ...
Inscription 6 on TEARS & RIPS will be out in early summer.
Pre-order now at inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy
Artists in issue 6:
Bas Jan Ader, I'm too sad to tell you, 1970, © MoMA / Scala
Dave Beech, When News Hit Shore, 2023
Stephen Emmerson, Holes, 7" vinyl record, 2026...
Grants!
We are offering small grants (maximum £500 each) to support projects in book history & bibliography. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections.
Application is brief; deadline is 27th February 2026.
Details at oxbibsoc.org.uk/grants/
What are the best 2nd-hand bookshops in the UK -- if by 'best' I mean shops that tend towards (1) interestingly curated stock (2) atmosphere (bit messy, bit tumbled down -- but a place you want to be in) (3) knowledgeable staff who add something (4) inspiring. Trying to make a list!
"Abandoned and failed projects, ca. 1998-2025: an incomplete, chronological list" -- worth your time, from Adam Smyth, who lists all the stuff he dropped or which didn't work adamsmyth.substack.com/p/abandoned-...
Plain brown cover with 13 March 1911 by Adam Smyth.
Inside the book, extract of newspaper.
Wonderful surprise in the post from @adamwithbooks.bsky.social , his gorgeous book of, about and around a single date. Fascinating and beautiful thing.
Delighted to see INSCRIPTION given a prominent place at Bookmorphs - terrific new exhibition on artists' books @hellenicentre
helleniccentre.org/event/bookmo...
INSCRIPTION 1, 2, + 3 are sold out & out of print. A few copies of 4 and 5 are left - snap them up via inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/
Delighted to see INSCRIPTION given a prominent place at Bookmorphs - terrific new exhibition on artists' books @hellenicentre
helleniccentre.org/event/bookmo...
INSCRIPTION 1, 2, + 3 are sold out & out of print. A few copies of 4 and 5 are left - snap them up via inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/
BOOKMORPHS: Artists' Books from Greece & the UK
14 October - 28 November
@joedevlin.bsky.social
@sarahbodman.bsky.social
@inscriptionjournal.bsky.social
The Hellenic Centre
16 - 18 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London W1U 5AS
Curated by Fiona Mouzakitis & Despina Stavrou,Christina Mitrentse
Get reading! All the texts from issue 5 of INSCRIPTION: THE JOURNAL OF MATERIAL TEXT are online and downloadable for free at inscriptionjournal.com
We are a double-blind peer reviewed, green open access journal. Published by Information as Material in a partnership with Leeds Beckett University
A reminder that THIS is coming up next month. A week-long deep dive into the artists' book, with some amazing guest speakers and visits to key collections. Places still available so PLEASE SHARE!!!
16-20th June, London Rare Books School
Book here: ies.sas.ac.uk/london-rare-...
Hooray! We are launched!
LAST CHANCE to sign up for this, on 23rd May! A hands-on study day in UCL special collections, exploring their most experimental magazines, from the Modernist avant-garde to the mimeo revolution.
ies.sas.ac.uk/events/magaz...
INSCRIPTION 5 launch!
If AT LEAST 2 of the following apply to you, do drop by.
(a) you like odd, experimental books (b) you are enthusiastic about the concept of containers (c) you like articles on material texts with holes in (d) you are around London on May 14 May (e) you fancy a glass of wine.
Attention friends and supporters of Inscription Journal: Issue 5 on 'containers' is HERE. We will be celebrating in fine style amid the marble pillars of Senate House, Bloomsbury. Please come and join us. 14th May. Dress code: casual/cardboard box. Register here: tinyurl.com/Inscriptionlaunch
Come and get your fingers inky. Just a few days left to register for this study day at UCL special collections. We'll be getting hands on with mimeo, lo-fi and DIY mags from the 60s and 70s. Please pass on the word! ies.sas.ac.uk/events/magaz...
Inscription issue 5 out RIGHT NOW for purchase: inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/
Here it is: all 55 beautiful metres of it, in scroll format.
vimeo.com/1081870144?s...
A lightning flick through some of the amazing experimental magazines we'll be exploring in this one day course, coming up THIS MONTH on 23rd May: ies.sas.ac.uk/events/magaz... Places still available but booking ends soon so be quick.
Inscription issue 5 has landed! It's all about CONTAINERS, and it has articles, artworks, and STUFF.
Snap up a copy before they are all gone ...
inscriptionjournal.com/how-to-buy/
THIS THIS THIS!
It’s 13 March day! If you’d like a free copy of my collage-of-one-day-from-the-past, let me know and I’ll post you 13 MARCH 1911 (unless I am besieged).
www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...
books-on-books.com/2020/11/12/b...
... so happy to co-sign with Marie Radepont @crc-recherche.bsky.social and Étienne Anheim @crhehess.bsky.social an essay which is part of this issue @inscriptionjournal.bsky.social. Printed in a limited number of copies... don't wait if you want to have one!
