Expurgation with decoration: type ornaments as replacement text

July 6, 2021 | By Erin Blake

Thanks for the great comments on last week’s Crocodile Mystery. Everyone scores ten points, with full marks going to the two commenters who correctly identified the publication. It is, in fact, a block of nonsense that replaces an expurgated paragraph of text. I wish I could show you the whole page of the Folger copy, but unfortunately, the visual note-to-self shown here is all I’ve got until the Folger re-opens after major renovations.… Continue Reading

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: July 2021

June 29, 2021 | By The Collation

This month’s Crocodile Mystery comes from a 17th-century publication: What’s going on in this photo? Please speculate, elucidate, and/or procrastinate in the “Comments” section. Also, in case you, like I, had misremembered the source of the catchphrase we use for our monthly WTF (“What-the-Folger”) post, “What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?” is a line from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, act 2, scene 7.… Continue Reading

New Acquisition: Photographs of an early 20th-century production of Hamlet in Japan

June 22, 2021 | By Elizabeth DeBold

Welcome to a new regular series here on The Collation! Curatorial staff will be writing short pieces focusing on new acquisitions, hopefully giving our readers a glimpse into how we’re building our collections. Today, I’m excited to share a small set of photographs documenting a production of Hamlet that was performed in Japan in 1933. We acquired these photographs from Rose Counsell at Hozuki Books, whose apt description provides the basis for this short post.… Continue Reading

Folger-Penn Press interview and excerpt: Megan Heffernan, Making the Miscellany

June 15, 2021 | By The Collation

In 2015, The Folger Shakespeare Library and the University of Pennsylvania Press established a cooperative agreement to publish volumes emerging from work substantially shaped by engagement with the Folger collections, often under the aegis of Folger Institute funding. Authors published under the agreement address topics and methodological approaches as broad as those of the collections and research activities of the Folger itself.… Continue Reading

Postcards in the (home) archive: Folger postcards, 1935

June 8, 2021 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Stephen Grant Editor’s Note: Stephen’s previous post covers postcards of the Folger from 1934. Printed on picture side: Statue of Puck Folger Shakespeare Library Printed on address side: FIGURE OF PUCK, BY BRENDA PUTNAM FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D.C. ©RIDEOUT STUDIO POST CARD CORRESPONDENCE Written message: “Perhaps with a magnifying glass you can read what Puck is saying.… Continue Reading

Malicious teaseling: or how a simple reference question got complicated

June 2, 2021 | By Heather Wolfe

We had seven excellent answers to the Crocodile, which included an image titled “Malice,” but not the text below it. The general consensus was that the cowering man was winding thread or wool off of a drop spindle. One of the great things about being a curator is that you get to meet all kinds of people doing all kinds of interesting research in areas that you know little about.… Continue Reading