This Post Stinks, or, ‘I hope that the stuff will not smell too vilely’

January 19, 2021 | By Rachel B. Dankert

John Masefield has a burning question he needs answered. Literally. Writing from his home Hill Crest in Boar’s Hill, Oxford, the Poet Laureate asks theater production veteran Allan Wade a crucial question about staging his home theatrical production of Macbeth. He registers a particular anxiety about the potential for stinking up the place—and not with bad acting. Dear Wade, The basket of dresses has reached me safely; many thanks for it.… Continue Reading

Touching Tusser

January 12, 2021 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Andy Crow “As to the bindings, the plain crushed levant looks all right, but when you send me my copy, I would like it, please, in sheep—about the tint of a ripe chestnut. That is fittest for Tusser.” Rudyard Kipling, “Benediction” to Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry (London: James Tregaskis & Son, 1931) Rudyard Kipling’s request for a sheepskin-bound copy of Thomas Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry was a request for a piece of the land.… Continue Reading

Using cardboard spacers to fill gaps on the shelf

January 5, 2021 | By Erin Blake

Sometimes the simplest tools are the best. This post is a tribute to the humble hunk of folded cardboard. You know how when you take a book off the shelf, you stare at the empty space for a fraction of a second, waiting to see if the books on either side stay standing-up? You know the heart-sick feeling of having them start to schlumph before you have time to set the first book down and stick your arm back into the gap?… Continue Reading

The Art of the Prompt Book

December 22, 2020 | By Elizabeth DeBold

Most library visitors to the Folger expect us to have books in our collections. Some know that we also have art, manuscripts, and even objects. Yet, any exploration into our collections means that researchers will inevitably encounter an item that could be described as including printed, manuscript, and even artistic content, all in one. Heather Wolfe has eloquently described such “hybrid” materials as “consist[ing] of a mixture of thematically-connected printed, manuscript, and graphic material gathered from a variety of sources into a single binding.”… Continue Reading

Postcards in the (home) archive: Brenda Putnam and Puck

December 15, 2020 | By Guest Author

a guest post by Stephen Grant This post, Dear Readers, is divided into three parts: 3 Kodak AZO postcards of Puck statue 3 Meriden Gravure Co. postcards of Puck statue 1 photograph of Brenda Putnam, Puck sculptor We start with 2 cards printed on Kodak AZO paper, similar to the ones of the 9 Gregory bas-reliefs you examined before. What differences do we see between the two picture sides, Fig.… Continue Reading

A Cacique By Any Other Name

December 8, 2020 | By Guest Author

… Or, Etymologies in Translation, from the Caribbean to London A guest post by Valeria López Fadul The word “cacique”—a leader or lord among the people of the Caribbean islands—first appeared in an English book in 1555. Richard Eden’s translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria’s The Decades of the Newe World of West India introduced the island of Haiti to English-language readers.… Continue Reading

Liverpool delft transfer-printed tiles; or, theatrical tiles explain’d

December 1, 2020 | By Abbie Weinberg

Thank you for all of your guesses on last week’s Crocodile Mystery! As several folks correctly surmised, this image is pigment on ceramic! Specifically, it is on a Liverpool delft transfer-printed tile, seen here in full: And if you’re completely confused by the phrase “Liverpool delft transfer-printed tile”, well, I don’t blame you. So let’s break it down: “tile” is pretty self-evident.… Continue Reading

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

November 24, 2020 | By The Collation

Ack! Nearly December already? Wasn’t it just March? (Isn’t it still March?) Guess that means it’s time for another Crocodile Mystery. Take a look at the image below. It’s not pencil on paper. It’s not oil on canvas. What is it? As always, leave your thoughts in the comments and we’ll be back next week with more information.… Continue Reading

Creating John Gregory’s Bas Reliefs at the Folger

November 17, 2020 | By Erin Blake

Who carved the John Gregory’s bas reliefs on the facade of the Folger? Readers of last week’s Collation post will know that the apparently obvious answer—John Gregory—is incorrect. Sculptor John Gregory (1879–1958) definitely created the works of art, but professional stone cutters chiselled away the marble until it exactly matched the plaster casts of Gregory’s full-size clay models. I’ll return to this photo later.… Continue Reading

Postcards of the Folger: Richard the Third, Hamlet, First Part Henry the Fovrth

November 10, 2020 | By Guest Author

A guest post by Stephen Grant The final three bas-reliefs along the Folger’s north wall are Richard the Third, Hamlet, and Henry the Fourth, Part 1. The images shown here are from the same two sets of postcards that were discussed in the previous two posts. On Dec. 19, 1929, owner Henry Folger, sculptor John Gregory, and architects Paul Philippe Cret and Alexander B.… Continue Reading