Laura Estill

@lauraestill

Shakespeare + Early Modern English Lit. Manuscripts. Book History. Bibliography. DH. Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities & English Professor at StFX University

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Laura Estill@lauraestill· 16d

Free journal article title: "Nature versus Nurture: Fraudulent Journals and Pseudo-Academic Spam" cf. retractionwatch.com/2025/07/17/n...

Spam email text for a call for paper from the journal Nurture

Laura Estill@lauraestill· 16d

'Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.'

Cover of Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill

Laura Estill@lauraestill· 21d

Look what just arrived! Reprints and Revivals of Renaissance Drama ed. @eoinprice.bsky.social and Harry Newman Thanks to Eoin and Harry for all of their work putting together this great collection and their fantastic formative feedback. DM me if you want a copy of my chapter! 📖📚

Book cover with a drawing of a public early modern English theatre
Text: Reprints and Revivals of Renaissance Drama
edited by @eoinprice.bsky.social and Harry Newman

Picture of a book page. Text:

Chapter 12
Frames without Pictures
Shirley's Prologues and Epilogues in Poems &c (1646)
Laura Estill

"What do you call a dramatic paratexts without a play?" asks Helen Smith her review of Thomas L. Berger and Sonia Massai's important reference work, Paratexts in English Printed Drama to 1642. [text continues]

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jul 7

John Heywood out here showing us that it's never too late to have a second career, even three hundred years after you die

An image from Google books

Text on the site: The Proverbs and Epigrams of John Heywood (A. D. 1562), Part 1562

John Heywood
BiblioBazaar, 2008 - History -236 Pages

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is cuturally important, we [link: More>>]

About the author (2008)
JOHN HEYWOOD, is a Professional Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin. He has an MSc in Engineering Education, and a doctorate from the University of Dublin. He was founding editor of the International Journal of Technology and Design Education. He has published widely and won several awards for his writings in the areas of engineering, science, and technology. Since 1973 he has been a regular contributor to the ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jun 26

This image from a 2015 post about the British Council's Shakespeare Lives project is sending me www.britishcouncil.org/research-ins...

Title: Chart 15: People Associated with the UK's Contemporary Arts and Culture
Question: Can you name one example of a specific person associated with [...] contemporary UK arts and culture which you are you personally interested in?

Image: word cloud
largest word: Shakespeare
half the size of that: David Beckham
half the size of that: Beatles, Adele, JK Rowling
smaller yet: Mr Bean
smaller yet: Elton John, Chaplin
and some smaller ones I can't make out

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jun 19

This cover of Lord of the Flies is giving Ewan McGregor

Book cover. Top Text: Lord of the Flies | William Golding. Image in gold border: face of a boy (who I think looks like Ewan McGregor) with curly blonde hair peeking out through foliage tied as a crown. Bottom right: something yellow and orange (the conch?) covered in flies.

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jun 4

Today I got to talk about how we capture information about today's performances for future theatre historians, touching on the World Shakespeare Bibliography as example #inke26

Image of an entry from the World Shakespeare Bibliography

Text:

Title:
Sapnis Vasaras Naktī [A Midsummer Night's Dream]
Director:
Kairišs, Viesturs
Type:
Production
Year:
2025

Export as Text | Export as RIS

Additional Details:
Translated into Latvian by Valija Brutāne. Matīss Gricmanis, dramaturg. Jēkabs Jančevskis, composer. Sets by Kristaps Kramiņš, costumes by Baiba Litiņa, choreography by Anna Abalikhina, lighting by Reinis Zalte, video by Viktoria Martjanova.
Venue:
Produced at Dailes Theatre, Riga, Latvia. Premiered 31 January 2025. English surtitles. (2025) https://www.dailesteatris.lv/en/performances/2024-2025/a-midsummer-nights-dream?veids=5 (opens in new tab)
Annotation:
With Gints Grāvelis (Theseus, Duke of Athens), Marta Lovisa Jančevska (Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons), Lauris Subatnieks (Egeus, Hermia's father), Kārlis Arnolds Avots or Klāvs Kristaps Košins (Lysander), Niklāvs Kurpnieks (Demetrius), Madara Viļčuka (Hermia), Katrīna Griga (Helena), Arturs Krūzkops (Oberon), Ieva Segliņa (Titania), Ilze Ķuzule-Skrastiņa (Puck), Dainis Gaidelis, Meinards Liepiņš, and Kristīne Nevarauska (Fairies), Toms Veličko (Peter Quince), Kaspars Dumburs (Nick Bottom), Andris Bulis (Glitter), Mārtiņš Meiers (Flute), Imants Strads (Starveling), and Sithums Silva or Alike Biele (Indian boy).

view full entry ->

Laura Estill@lauraestill· May 28

Left: from @isolyth.dev Right: my result Google AI: "I know there's not two Ps in Google, so there must be....one?"

Google:

how many Ps are in google?

Did you you mean:
how many O's are in google?
how many 0s are in google?

AI overview
There are 2 "P"s in the word "Google".
*Google (0) -> Goople (1) -> propeller (2)

Google
question in search bar: how many ps are in google

[response]:
AI overview
There is exactly one "p" in the word Google (spelled G-o-o-g-l-e).

However, you might be asking this because Google's own AI recently became famous for confidently stating that there were two. This happens because of how transformer AI models work: they "read" text by breaking words down into chunks (or tokens) instead of letter-by-letter.

If there is anything else you need to verify or calculate, let me know!

Laura Estill@lauraestill· May 6

@teiconsortium.bsky.social TEI2026 late-breaking poster call Deadline 27 May 2026 tei2026.tei-c.org

TEI2026 website text Save the date! August 10-14, Vancouver, BC, Canada
ImportantCall for Late-Breaking Posters (Deadline: May 27th, 2026)
Missed the deadline to submit a proposal for TEI 2026? Now is your chance! We are pleased to announce an extended call for late-breaking posters for TEI 2026: Creating Connections, Unsettling Practices.

Late-breaking poster submissions are expected to report on early-stage work, introduce new work, projects, or software, or present experimental ideas for community feedback. A “poster slam” session will be dedicated to presentations of 1 minute each. Poster presenters will have the chance to tell interested parties more about their project during the poster exhibition, where the audience can browse freely. Proposals should not exceed 300 words and should be submitted via ConfTool.

We particularly encourage undergraduate, graduate, early-career, and marginalized scholars to apply as well for one of two needs-based Travel Assistance awards. You may apply for a travel award while your poster proposal is under adjudication.

All late-breaking poster proposals are due May 27, 2026 and will be reviewed by June 5, 2026.

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Apr 23

My copy arrived today! Happy Shakespeare's (probable) birthday to me! #openaccess here: doi.org/10.1017/9781... Or you can get this beautifully printed book Both awesome choices!

An opening of the book showing lovely images from Justin Winsor's "Shakespearian Bibliography" (handwritten title page and facing note)

A hand holding a book

Text on cover:

Cambridge Elements
Shakespeare and Text

Collaboration, Technologies, and the History of Shakespearean Bibliography

Heidi Craig, Laura Estill, Kris L. May, and Dorothy Todd

The image below the text is if a row of books, including Jaggard's Shakespeare Bibliography

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Apr 23

Some beautiful typography

Text:
bibliography
Shakespeare: Annotated
World Bibliography for 1981
Edited by
HARRISON T. MESEROLE
JOHN B. SMITH
The Pennsylvania State University

Bibliography has a beautiful flourish on the capital B, written in a handsome serifed italic font

Text:
Bibliography
Shakespeare: Annotated
World Bibliography for 1989
Edited by
HARRISON T. MESEROLE* and JAMES L. HARNER**, Texas A&M Univer-
sity
Technical Processing by PRISCILLA J. LETTERMAN, Texas A&M University, assisted
by YANWING LEUNG, Texas A&M University, using programs developed by JOHN B.
SMITH, University of North Carolina.

Bibliography is written in a lovely font that has double lines for the vertical strokes

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Apr 21

Seems to me like you should already know if I'm going to submit, spam journal solicitation Also this spelling/pronunciation makes me imagine the priest from the Princess Bride

Screencap from an email client

Yesterday

From: Ominiscisent Editorial...
Following up: R...
You don't often get email fr...

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Apr 13

This facsimile of Samuel Johnson's "Plays of William Shakespeare" (1765) really makes that forehead shine from @archive.org archive.org/details/bim_...

A poor-quality black-and-white facsimile of Samuel Johnson's "The Plays of William Shakespeare" frontispiece and title page.
the image of Shakespeare on the frontispiece is barely visible except for his white forehead. the rest of the page is mostly black.
The title page is legible but not great.

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Apr 12

Arthur's friend Buster has a King Lear lunchbox and I have.... questions

A cartoon bunny, Buster, carries an orange lunch box that says King Lear and has a man with a crown on it, his hand extended.

I am not conveying how cartoonish this is. It's a kid's book.

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Mar 16

Obsessed with this bookplate in the 1936 Kittredge Complete Works of Shakespeare archive.org/details/comp...

A bookplate of a naked woman, facing away, rising from the opening of a book, with clouds parting and rays of light shining towards her. The book his held open by a hand. Below the image the (typewritten?) text reads "Louise Guinn"

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Mar 12

Gather round, children, while I tell you a tale. In the olden days, university and academic presses used to have professional copyeditors...

cropped text from a book:

analyses several screen adaptattions of Henry V
by Lawrence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh, as

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Mar 11

The Internet Archive digitization of the "Shakespeare Book of Lists" by Michael LoMonico has a delightful authorial inscription "I hope this book gives you as much pleasure in reading as I had in writing it." archive.org/details/shak...

An image of a title page

Printed: "The Shakespeare Book of Lists"
Handwritten: "September 2001
To Joe + Elaine,
I hope this book gives you as much pleasure in reading as I had in writing it.
All the best,
Mike"

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Mar 2

How do you feel about Premier Houston's budgetary cuts? Come to the Antigonish Rally for Arts and Culture outside Minister Thompson's office to have your voice be heard! 4-5:30 Weds 4 March, 325 Main Street

Poster Text: Antigonish Rally for Arts & Culture
4:00-5:30 Wednesday March 4th, 325 Main St. MLA Office

For those of us who cannot make it to Halifax, Join this satellite rally in solidarity of speaking out against the proposed budget cuts that will devastate arts & culture programs that bring inclusion, community, & quality of life to so many

Image: line drawings of two protesting people on the right, one holding a sign that says "act now" and the other holding a megaphone

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Feb 24

My mom found this pamphlet on the history of the one-room schoolhouse in Kintore, ON from 1835-1937. Decades later, my Grandma was secretary-treasurer

Scanned pamphlet cover, ecru paper with black text. A wiggly border on all four sides.
Title, in all caps: A HISTORY OF S. S. No. 6 KINTORE ONTARIO
with a printer's ornament of fleurons in an downward pointing triangle
Bottom right: 1835-1937

First page of "A History of S. S. No. 6, Kintore, East Nissouri, Oxford County, Ontario, Founded in 1835"
Image on page recto of a long, rectangular, log-built one-room schoolhouse with caption "Date of erection of Log School 1835"

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Feb 23

Why does the Nova Scotia government want to cost universities hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars? Why have they spent almost half a million dollars on an American consulting firm? Find out more tonight! Online town hall (zoom link on linked page below) cocogov.org/blog/townhall/

Image with purple text in a white box on yellow background
Text:
Townhall: Protecting Post Secondary Education in Nova Scotia
A Conversation about Provincially Mandated Program Reviews and Bill 12

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Feb 19

Look what just arrived! Congratulations @wrightkailin.bsky.social and Don Moore! I'm very proud to have a chapter in this fantastic volume. Full table of contents: utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....

A beautiful hardcover book, with the title "Slings & Arrows: Adapting Shakespeare in Theatre and Television," with a picture on the dust jacket of William Hutt on stage; the bottom of the cover is a gorgeous red damask. Edited by @wrightkailin.bsky.social and Don Moore From @uoftpress.bsky.social

The top of a page with text:

6
Chapter title: Actors, Names, and the Cultural Inheritance of Slings & Arrows

Author: Laura Estill

Epigraph: "When I say 'to be or not to be,' the audience will be hearing every, *every* great actor who ever spoke those words. They'll hear Olivier, Burton, and you." - Jack Crew to Geoffrey Tenant, Slings & Arrows

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Feb 10

A former student made and printed this meme for me after coming to a talk I gave this week I'm cackling--it's perfect! (Shared with permission)

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Feb 5

similar vibes

email with text: Hi,

I was checking out your website www.stfx.ca and really liked the design. One thing I noticed is that it isn’t ranking well yet for key Google searches.

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jan 14

Coming soon! "Collaboration, Technologies, and the History of Shakespearean Bibliography" a minigraph from the Cambridge Elements Shakespeare and Text series (ed @roaringgirle.bsky.social and @loughnrv.bsky.social ) by me, Heidi Craig, Kris L. May, and Dorothy Todd ANNNNND it will be open access!

Book cover with a row of old books about Shakespeare at the bottom
Black background and white text: Cambridge Elements Shakespeare and Text
Collaboration, Technologies, and the History of Shakespearean Bibliography
Heidi Craig, Laura Estill, Kris L. May, and Dorothy Todd

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jan 12

An inlet of the Antigonish landing --an estuary of the harbour

The Antigonish landing at fall: tall grasses in the foreground, evergreens in the background

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jan 7

@cobblehillpuzzles.bsky.social Cobble Hill, you are my favourite puzzle company. Please stop using artificial intelligence for your images. I am so disappointed.

The edge of a Cobble Hill puzzle box indicating that AI was used to help create the image of the puzzle

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Jan 5

Classes start tomorrow! I have the most important part done: choosing the image for the course website (Moodle) Source: www.weplayers.org/news/2020/4/...

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Dec 18

Just found what might be a photocopy of a Rorschach test in a used copy of Marlowe's Tamburlaine Make of that what you will

The front cover of the new mermaids edition of Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine, Ed J. W. Harper

A photocopy of what might be a Rorschach test

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Dec 15

For @sharonhoward.bsky.social --and everyone I present: Phoenix in our tree

The world's most beautiful (ok, maybe I'm biased) calico cat, Phoenix, looking mischievous in our tree

Laura Estill@lauraestill· Nov 19

Out now! The Routledge Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Constance Crompton, @raysiemens.bsky.social , Richard J. Lane, and myself And better yet? It's #openaccess! www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edi... Order hard copies here: www.routledge.com/The-Companio... Thanks to all contributors! 🎉