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The Collation

The Collation

Research and Exploration at the Folger

The Collation is a gathering of useful information and observations from Folger staff and researchers. Read more about this blog

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: November 2020
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“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: November 2020

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The Collation

It’s time to puzzle over another Crocodile post! This month try to figure out what the object is—and bonus points to anyone who can guess who the figure might be! As always, leave your thoughts in the comments below, and…

Postcards of the Folger: Macbeth, Ivlivs Caesar, King Lear
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Postcards of the Folger: Macbeth, Ivlivs Caesar, King Lear

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Stephen H. Grant

A guest post by Stephen Grant The next three bas-reliefs along the Folger’s north wall are Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and King Lear. The images shown here are from the same two sets of postcards that were discussed in the previous…

Introducing the Folger Reference Image Collection
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Introducing the Folger Reference Image Collection

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Author
Julie Swierczek

Sometimes when people contact the Folger to ask questions about items in our collections, the easiest way to provide an answer is to take a quick photo of a particular detail. This has resulted in a growing collection of smartphone…

An Unfinished Title Page Border?
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An Unfinished Title Page Border?

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Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Many thanks for your answers to last week’s post. They convey the puzzling nature of this title page border: Is it an unfinished work? Was it intended to be completed by readers of the book? Does it look different in…

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: October 2020
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“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: October 2020

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Author
The Collation

Welcome to another Crocodile Mystery! This month we ask you to look at the image below and tell us what you think might be going on? What sort of questions does this image generate? As always, leave your thoughts in…

Who was a refugee in early modern England? The “Poor Palatines” of 1709
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Who was a refugee in early modern England? The “Poor Palatines” of 1709

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Jeremy Fradkin

A guest post by Jeremy Fradkin Today’s Collation post is a little bit different. It showcases materials held in archival collections at the British Library and the National Archives, both in the United Kingdom. It is the product of an…

Re-discovering three-cornered notes
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Re-discovering three-cornered notes

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Erin Blake

A couple of years ago, when I had Saturday Duty in the Reading Room, a group of early-19th-century letters came across the desk. I noticed right away that one of them had unusual diagonal fold lines: Folger Y.d.23 (82x), a…

Postcards of the Folger: Midsommer, Romeo and Ivliet, Merchant of Venice
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Postcards of the Folger: Midsommer, Romeo and Ivliet, Merchant of Venice

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Stephen H. Grant

A guest post by Stephen Grant It is my pleasure to show you two early sets of picture postcards of the Folger’s bas-reliefs by John Gregory. On the left you have photographic cards printed on Kodak (AZO) Paper. I’m hoping…

A guided tour of an incunabulum from 1478
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A guided tour of an incunabulum from 1478

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Sujata Iyengar

A guest post by Sujata Iyengar Typography—the design of individual printed letter-shapes—makes printed books easier to read, and it can also shape our understanding and experience of the text and the content that an individual book contains. At first, early…

Thoroughly Modern Helena
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Thoroughly Modern Helena

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Abbie Weinberg

What do Robert Browning, Anna Maria Hall, Geraldine Jewsbury, John Ruskin, and Anna Swanwick, have in common? Quite a bit, actually. But in the Folger’s collection, they were the five “recipients” of Helena Faucit’s essays that formed the volume On…

Birdbrained
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Birdbrained

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Elizabeth DeBold

Thanks to everyone who took a guess on this month’s Crocodile Mystery! As several of you pointed out, the teaser image is of some breed of cockatoo or cockatiel. Although I usually know a hawk from a handsaw, I will…

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: September 2020
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“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: September 2020

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Author
The Collation

Welcome back for another Crocodile post! As you face the new challenges Fall brings to us, take a few moments to breathe out, and take a look at this month’s mystery. What’s going on in this image? Where is it…

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