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 us your best guess!… Continue Reading
Posts Categorized: Crocodile-mystery
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 bit unusual here?
As always, leave your guesses in the comments and we’ll be back next week with the answer.… Continue Reading
Our Crocodile mystery last week showed some crocodile tears, but the exciting part is just below our sad reptile. This illustrated Italian ducal motto is from Symbola divina & Humana pontificum, imperatorum, regum, by Jacob Typot (Frankfurt, 1652)—and you can get up close to the image in the new Miranda platform.
Those who study early modern materials—images, books, and manuscripts—often want to get a closer look at our digital images.… Continue Reading
In February, our crocodile mystery involves a few real crocodile tears. For this month’s mystery, we ask you look at the image below and let us know if you can guess what the symbols mean for the future of this unhappy reptile.… Continue Reading
For this month’s croc post, please give us your thoughts on what’s going on in this drawing here. We’ll be back next week with the full story!… Continue Reading
Thanks for all the great guesses at the identity of the December Crocodile! In fact, the mystery object is a tool for removing the rod from a particular type of card catalog drawer (see Folgerpedia‘s Card catalogs article for information about our card catalogs and how to use them).
Ironically, Richard M. Waugaman’s tongue-in-cheek proposal that it’s a worn-out corkscrew comes closest to the actual function: this type of card catalog rod is removed by jamming the tool onto the end of the rod and pulling, just like you’d pull a cork from a bottle.… Continue Reading
For this month’s Crocodile mystery, we ask you to identify this object:
And yes, the lack of scale in the photograph is deliberate. We don’t want to make it too easy.… Continue Reading
I am continually in awe of the depth and breadth of knowledge that our readers possess. Y’all are truly excellent.
Yes, the answer to the Crocodile Mystery is, as several people answered, a chart of the acupuncture points on the head.
Here is a slightly wider shot of this part of the diagram:
And here is the diagram in full, showing the points on the back side of the body:
This diagram, along with several others, appears in a book written by the Dutch physician Willem ten Rhijne, published in London in 1683 (but more on that in a moment).… Continue Reading
As October draws to a close, we bring you a new Crocodile Mystery. (If you’re new around these parts and totally confused as to why we refer to our monthly mystery post as a “Crocodile”, this post will explain it.)
For this month’s mystery, we ask that you look at the image below and let us know what it is depicting.… Continue Reading
For this month’s mystery, we’d like your thoughts on this image: what’s going on here with the design appearing in different spots on these two books? What is it, what does it mean, why might it appear here? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
… Continue Reading
