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
One page, four inscriptions, three households
A guest post by Rebecca Laroche I began transcribing Folger manuscript V.a.681 because I recognized from the dealer’s description the name of a family, the Shirleys, and its house, Staunton Harold; I had previously found another book owned by another…
British Book Illustrations
Good news, picture-seekers! If you’ve ever tried to search Luna for a picture of something specific, you’ve probably noticed that relatively few digital images match one-to-one with their source descriptions. For example, although a keyword search for “dog” will bring…
The evolution of collection practices: a case study
A guest post by Lauren Liebe There is nothing quite as exciting in archival research as stumbling upon an unexpected connection between two objects. When I called up L852 copy 3 and D2292, I had not realized that they shared…
Mapping Shakespeare's plays: an experiment
A guest post by Charles Webb Friends, Romans, Countrymen: lend me your eyes For the past eight months I have split my time between working at the Folger Shakespeare Library and at Dumbarton Oaks as a Dumbarton Oaks Humanities Fellow.…
Uncancelling the cancelled: recovering obliterated owners of old books
Last week’s Crocodile showed a detail of a cancelled name on the title page of Folger STC 17132. Title page of Folger STC 17132 with Humphrey Dyson’s name deleted. Despite the parallel hatching that was used to conceal it, two…
“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: April 2019
Welcome to this month’s Crocodile Mystery. Today, we’re going to ask you to read between the lines, as it were: can you make out the the crossed-out name on this title page? Squint your eyes, tilt your head, and give…
Almanacs as Underdogs
A guest post by Katherine Walker The Folger houses many impressive texts and manuscripts. So much so, in fact, that it is easy to overlook the library’s equally vast and provocative collection of less illustrious genres. These texts will not…
SAA? FSL!
UPDATE: The Reading Room will be open from 9 am – 4:30 pm on Saturday, April 20, 2019. Please note that the docent-led public tour of the space will still take place from noon to 1pm, as usual, so researchers…
Accounting for Relationships: the Drury Lane Financial Records
A guest post by Chelsea Phillips With the cherry trees blooming (almost), the sun shining (sometimes), and tax season looming, there is no more delightful time to consider the vagaries of 18th-century theatrical accounting practice. The Folger Shakespeare Library holds…
What is the scope of the STC?
John Lancaster’s guess for March’s crocodile post is correct: This catechism, printed in Basel by Andreas Gesner, has an STC number because it follows the use of Salisbury; it therefore belongs to the group of books not in English printed…
“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: March 2019
For the Crocodile of the month, we ask you to look at the title page (ignore the beautiful ink blot by the imprint) and colophon of this book in relation to its call number STC 4811. Is there something a…
Come Hither, Actors / Physicality
A guest post by Barbara Bono, Arlynda Boyer, Eric Brinkman, Musa Gurnis, Maria S. Horne, Emily MacLeod, Deborah Payne, Melanie Rio, Joseph Roach, Kirara Sato, Katherine Schaap Williams, and Gretchen York The fourth and final part of the blog post…