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

July 28, 2020 | By The Collation

Some types of publication have fairly standard proportions. For example, you can be pretty sure this oblong volume isn’t a Bible or a play text: Front cover of The pen’s excellencie, or, The secretaries delighte / Written by Martin Billingsley. [London] : Are to be solde by Io: Sudbury & George Humble in Popeshead alley, [1618?]. Call number: Folger STC 3062.3 If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably a Berlemont-style international phrase book or a penmanship manual.… Continue Reading

2020-2021 Folger Research Fellows

July 23, 2020 | By Leah Thomas

The Folger Institute is pleased to announce our 2020-2021 cohort of Folger Institute Research Fellows. From the outset, we knew this year would be different. The Folger Institute marks its fiftieth anniversary this year, and the Folger Shakespeare Library is embarking on its major building project. While our Reading Room is closed, the Folger Institute remains committed to building community and supporting collections-based research, and to providing scholars with the resources they need to pursue and advance their work away from the Folger.… Continue Reading

Emily Jordan Folger and Joseph Quincy Adams

July 21, 2020 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Stephen Grant “The Hall was demolished in 1928,” Joan Harrison writes in Glen Cove, Images of America (2008), “for the building of Morgan Park,” named after financier J. P. Morgan. Emily Folger would have known when she sent this postcard in 1932 that the renowned hotel on the North Shore of Long Island was no longer. … Continue Reading

Getting Dressed with the Hermaphrodites

July 14, 2020 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Kathleen Long (Editor’s Note: You can read Kathleen’s previous post, Dining with the Hermaphrodites, for a discussion of another aspect the novel.) The inhabitants of the island depicted in the 1605 French novel, The Island of Hermaphrodites, live in a decidedly material world. They do not believe in anything truly spiritual, including the immortal soul, heaven or hell, or divinity in any celestial rather than earthly form.… Continue Reading

Heraldic Colors

July 7, 2020 | By Abbie Weinberg

Yes, indeed. The letters in this month’s mystery image are B, O, and G, and they represent what is missing from the image: color! The mystery image is a detail of a coat of arms in Folger MS V.b.256, which is a compilation of coats of arms granted by Robert Cooke (Clarenceux King of Arms) and Richard Lee (a later Clarenceux King of Arms), and others, between about 1570 and 1600, when the manuscript was written.… Continue Reading

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

June 30, 2020 | By The Collation

Welcome back for another Crocodile Mystery! As you enjoy this first week of July (really? really? Who said the calendar could do that?), spare some thoughts for this mystery image. What’s going on in this image? What are those letters and what might be missing from this image? As always, if you’re so inclined, leave your guesses here in the comments and we’ll be back next week with more information!… Continue Reading