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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

Book Stamps
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Book Stamps

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Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Many thanks for your guesses. Folger Shakespeare Library, 218- 045q (photo by Caroline Duroselle-Melish) What you see in this picture is the verso of a title page leaf. The stamp at the top of the picture is indeed the one…

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: September 2019
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“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: September 2019

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The Collation

We’re back! For this month’s Crocodile Mystery, we ask a classic question: what’s going on with this image? What is the purpose or function of the image shown? As always, leave your thoughts in the comments below, and we’ll be…

Summer Retrospective: Deciphering Signature Marks
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Summer Retrospective: Deciphering Signature Marks

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The Collation

It seems appropriate to finish up our summer retrospective series with one of the earliest (and perennially most popular) posts. Whether it’s a back-to-basics refresher for you or an answer to the question you’ve been asking yourself, Deciphering Signature Marks…

Summer Retrospective: Uncut, unopened, untrimmed, uh-oh
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Summer Retrospective: Uncut, unopened, untrimmed, uh-oh

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The Collation

It seems fitting that with last week’s retrospective post being all about paper, this week we should turn to the age-old question: just what do you call it when a book still has pages joined together (aside from “difficult to…

Launching Global Environmental History: Dr. Thomas Short on Air and Diseases in 1749
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Launching Global Environmental History: Dr. Thomas Short on Air and Diseases in 1749

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Ruma Chopra

A guest post by Ruma Chopra It took the English doctor Thomas Short eighteen years to publish his nearly 1000-page assessment of the relationship between climates and diseases. Published in 1749, his two-volume history, A general chronological history of the…

Summer Retrospective: All About Paper
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Summer Retrospective: All About Paper

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The Collation

One of the most important physical aspects of our collection is the very paper on which the books, manuscripts, and drawings were created. Unsurprisingly, we’ve had quite a few posts on this topic! This week, we invite you to take…

Postcards in the Folger Archives: The 1879 Hyde Prize in Oratory at Amherst College
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Postcards in the Folger Archives: The 1879 Hyde Prize in Oratory at Amherst College

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Stephen H. Grant

A guest post by Stephen Grant My first descent into the underground vault took place in 2007 during a short-term Folger fellowship. Since a Summer Retrospective is the order of the day with The Collation, I should like to acknowledge…

Summer Retrospective: Early modern eyebrow interpretation
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Summer Retrospective: Early modern eyebrow interpretation

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The Collation

Eyebrow shaping has been a thing for a long time. Including in the early modern period. Another one of our favorite posts from the past comes from the time when Heather Wolfe found a whole section on eyebrows in one…

Summer Retrospective: Woodcut, engraving, or what?
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Summer Retrospective: Woodcut, engraving, or what?

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The Collation

If you’ve ever been confused by the differences between woodcuts, engravings, and etchings, clearly you’re not alone! This post by Erin Blake, from 2012, is perennially one of our most popular. So in case you missed it the first time…

Summer Retrospective
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Summer Retrospective

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The Collation

Happy summer, everyone! (Or happy winter, if you’re in the southern hemisphere!) From now until the end of August, we’re going to be doing a summer retrospective here on The Collation, highlighting some of our past posts. This blog has…

"What's in a Name?" or, Going Sideways
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"What's in a Name?" or, Going Sideways

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Elizabeth DeBold

When, in Act 2 of William Shakespeare’s famous teen suicide play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet muses “hat’s in a name? That which we call a rose / y any other word would smell as sweet,”Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston,…

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: July 2019
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“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: July 2019

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The Collation

Tell us what you think is going on here! If you have correctly answered a crocodile post in the last 6 months, please consider giving it a couple days for others to have a guess, and no checking Hamnet, either…

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