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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

Filing, seventeenth-century style
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Filing, seventeenth-century style

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Author
Heather Wolfe

When we think of filing today, we think of digital files and folders, and manilla folders, hanging files, and filing cabinets. But what did filing look like in early modern England? How did people deal with all their receipts and…

Opening Ornamental Initials
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Opening Ornamental Initials

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Author
Goran Proot

During the last couple of months at the Folger, we have come across a number of exceptional ornamental initials in Flemish imprints, as we are processing these systematically together with two interns. Bettie Payne and Amanda Daxon were trained to make…

Peeking behind the locked door
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Peeking behind the locked door

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Author
Kathleen Lynch

Another sede vacante has come and gone. With the wall-to-wall coverage of contemporary media, this one made witnesses of us all. Or at least, the coverage let us witness the events outside the conclave and to share our speculation about…

A Perfect Ten
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A Perfect Ten

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Author
Erin Blake

American theater manager and playwright Augustin Daly (1838–1899) had a unique way of commemorating his productions. He collected illustrations, letters, and ephemera connected with the his staging, connected with historic productions of the play, and connected with the story of…

The seven ages of man, rendered movingly
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The seven ages of man, rendered movingly

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Author
Sarah Werner

In my last post, I described this month’s crocodile mystery as more of a rhetorical device than a question to be answered: what does this box prompt us to imagine what might be? All images in this post can be…

A manuscript misattribution?
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A manuscript misattribution?

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Author
Heather Wolfe

This post was originally going to be titled “Murder in the Archives” and was going to be about an account in William Westby’s 1688 diary (Folger MS V.a.469) of the discovery of a dismembered body found scattered on a dung…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": March 2013
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": March 2013

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Author
The Collation

I’m a bit early with the March crocodile, but sometimes it’s hard not to wish February done. And so here’s another variation on our crocodile mystery theme, this time asking you not what an item is, but what it might…

An important auction
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An important auction

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Author
Goran Proot

broadside advertising a 1617 auction (click to enlarge in a new window/tab) Let it be known that amongst the furniture of the late Duke of Aerschot, there are about 2000 paintings in all kinds of colors by a variety of excellent…

a Henry for her time
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a Henry for her time

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Author
Sarah Werner

So the short answer to last week’s crocodile mystery is that this is a picture of Gwen Lally in the role of Henry V: Gwen Lally as Henry V How did I know that’s who this was? Well, click on…

Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part two
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Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part two

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Author
Erin Blake

The last round of book illustration myth-busting looked at how copper plates wear out (and how they don’t wear out). This time, I’d like to take a bucket of archival research and dump it on a related myth. How many…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": February 2013
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": February 2013

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Author
The Collation

Something a little bit different with this month’s crocodile mystery: this is an object that I both know and don’t know what it is. At one level, it’s not hard to figure out what is being depicted. But who and…

The Folger’s Mazarinades: Libraries within Libraries
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The Folger’s Mazarinades: Libraries within Libraries

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Author
Kathryn Gucer

A guest post by Kathryn Gucer In 1652, Gabriel Naudé argued passionately for the importance of libraries and collecting books in a brief pamphlet, Advis a nosseigneurs de Parliament. Naudé repudiates a proposal by the parliament of Paris to break…

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