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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

The itemized life: John Kay’s notebook
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The itemized life: John Kay’s notebook

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Author
Laura Kolb

Folger X.d.446, the notebook of John Kay, combines accounts and verses. Short-term fellow Laura Kolb argues that Kay’s book is noteworthy not because it combines these things, but because it does so with both care and a kind of inventiveness,…

Sonnets by Shakespeare...'s spirit?
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Sonnets by Shakespeare...'s spirit?

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Author
Sarah Hovde

As the common saying goes, only death and taxes are certain. However, consider the uncertainties that can accompany any tax season: missing W-2s, e-file services incompatible with your browser, shifting standards, mathematical errors… That’s enough about taxes! Let’s talk about…

Discovering Early Modern Digital Resources
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Discovering Early Modern Digital Resources

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Author
Meaghan J. Brown

This post was written with the invaluable contribution of Sophie Byvik. Ever been puzzled by a date in one of our manuscripts? Want to know how much a manipulus is in your early modern recipe? How much did that early…

Drawing for photographic reproduction
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Drawing for photographic reproduction

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Author
Erin Blake

This month’s crocodile mystery asked what’s going on with the odd-looking painting technique in an original work of art, shown in a detail. Here’s a view of the whole thing: Charles Sheldon, “Ellen Terry as Hermione in ‘The Winter’s Tale’…

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: April 2018
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“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: April 2018

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Author
The Collation

The April crocodile mystery involves an original work of art, shown here in a detail. What’s going on with the odd-looking painting technique? 

Imagining an 18th century Jane Doe
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Imagining an 18th century Jane Doe

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Author
Heather Wolfe

A fake woman with fake initials and a fake seal? What is going on with these early 18th century affidavits? Curator of Manuscripts Heather Wolfe explores burials, bureaucracy, and “ritualized compliance” in this post about two recent acquisitions.

The Strange and Practical Beauty of Small-Format Herbals
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The Strange and Practical Beauty of Small-Format Herbals

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Author
Katarzyna Lecky

A guest post by Katarzyna Lecky The Folger Shakespeare Library has a wealth of pre-Linnaean English herbals (printed guides to the medicinal qualities of plants) ranging from gorgeous folios to pocket-sized reference manuals. Although the large-format botanical works boast an undeniable…

Of Counts and Causes: The Emergence of the London Bills of Mortality
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Of Counts and Causes: The Emergence of the London Bills of Mortality

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Author
Kristin Heitman

A guest post by Dr. Kristin Heitman The Folger’s rare holdings let us glimpse aspects of Renaissance and early modern practices otherwise lost to us. For example, while many European cities and towns had well-documented methods for monitoring the health…

Cracks in Etched Plates
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Cracks in Etched Plates

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Author
Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Originally, I was going to do a crocodile post about the binding of this architecture book by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau: Title page of Folger NA2625 .A63 1615 Cage Photo by Caroline Duroselle-Melish But after I thought about it, it…

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: March 2018
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“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: March 2018

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Author
The Collation

This month’s Crocodile mystery is about an engraving. What do you think are the wavy lines on this print?

A New Acquisition: from the workshop of the Naval Binder?
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A New Acquisition: from the workshop of the Naval Binder?

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Author
Elizabeth DeBold

But upon the table—oh joy! the tailor gave a shout—there, where he had left plain cuttings of silk—there lay the most beautifullest coat and embroidered satin waistcoat that ever were worn by a Mayor of Gloucester. There were roses and pansies…

Polyglot Poetics: Transnational Early Modern Literature
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Polyglot Poetics: Transnational Early Modern Literature

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Author
Nigel Smith

A guest post by Dr. Nigel Smith I am writing a transnational history of early modern European literature. Our inherited history of the different early modern vernacular languages and their literatures was fashioned through the lens of the 19th-century and…

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