a guest post by Stephen Grant
Printed on picture side:
THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 39686
Printed on address side:
Published by B. S. Reynolds Co., Washington, D.C. 39686
THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY The Folger Library was bequeathed to the Trustees of Amherst College by Henry Clay Folger of the Amherst class of 1879, and has a $10,000,000 endowment fund.… Continue Reading
a guest post by Yann Ryan
As well as its terrible consequences for health and mortality, plague in early modern England had a major impact on the communication and circulation of information. Movement was restricted, towns with suspected cases were put on severe lockdowns, and ships from places known to be ‘hot’ with the plague were held in ports for up to forty days (quarantined).… Continue Reading
Today’s post is about a woman, Margaret Cotton, who allegedly stole a book in 1602. The book might have been a Bible, or it might have been Girolamo Ruscelli’s Secrets of Alexis, or it might have been a cheap sixpence pamphlet.
A quick introduction to the characters and narrative of this small drama: Margaret Cotton lived on Market Hill in Cambridge, with her husband, Henry, a pewterer.… Continue Reading
For our final Crocodile Mystery of the year, here’s a paleographical challenge. What’s going on here, and why might the Crocodile find it interesting? (Disclaimer: This is not a Folger manuscript).
Leave your thoughts, guesses, and attempts at transcriptions in the comments below and we’ll be back next week with more info!… Continue Reading
a guest post by Jennie Youssef
When the term of my Folger fellowship began, I had made some headway in my research for a dissertation chapter on the foodway of strawberries. The strawberry’s symbolic significance in medieval art and early modern literary and dramatic texts has been extensively analyzed. To cite well-known dramatic examples from Shakespeare’s England—in Othello (first staged in 1604), Desdemona’s handkerchief, embroidered with strawberries, serves as a nod to the popularity of a domestic pastime and has also been read as symbolic of her virginity.… Continue Reading
a guest post by Ray Schrire
It is time for an unofficial Crocodile Mystery.
Humphrey Walcot’s grocery bill. Folger, L.f.196
These are a few of my favorite items from the merchant Humphrey Walcot’s shopping list of May 8, 1601 (a bill I picked up semi-randomly from the Folger’s digital image collection):
One pound and a quarter cherries 3 shillings 4 pence
2 pounds three quarters damsons 7 shillings 4 pence
One pound and a half gooseberries 4 shillings
One pound barberies 2 shillings 8 pence
2 pounds and a quarter pear plums 6 shillings
4 pounds paste of plums 16 shillings
4 pounds candied spices 24 shillings
5 pounds and a half marmalade [yummy!]… Continue Reading
The Folger collection includes approximately 250,000 playbills, the single-sheet precursors of today’s multi-page theater programs. By the 1750s, London playbills had developed the standard layout you see in this blog post. They presented an evening’s entertainment as a sort of theatrical equivalent to a modern restaurant posting their daily bill of fare, where a repertoire of various dishes for each course appears in a different combination every night.… Continue Reading
a guest post by Stephen Grant
Printed on picture side:
FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 60063
Printed on address side:
THE WASHINGTON NEWS COMPANY
FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY. East Capitol and 2nd Streets. This important addition to the cultural wealth of the nation was the gift of the late Henry C. Folger. The collection includes more than 70,000 volumes, as well as pictures and other relics of the great poet’s life and work.… Continue Reading
with many thanks to Sara Schliep, Bob Tallaksen, Emily Wahl, Nicole Winard, and Heather Wolfe for their generous and careful assistance with this post. They are just a few of the folks who have been working on this project.
Thank you for your thoughts on the Crocodile Mystery post last week—as several of you noted, there is both Greek and Latin text on the page.… Continue Reading
What is going on in this image? Does something look a little odd to you? Is it all Gr— well now, that would be giving it away. Leave your thoughts in the comments and we’ll be back next week with more info!… Continue Reading
