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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

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…

All the world and half a dozen lemons
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All the world and half a dozen lemons

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Lauren Working

A guest post by Lauren Working Letter from Thomas Wood to Richard Bagot, 10 October 1576, Folger MS L.a.987 (click for zoomable version) Thomas Wood’s 1576 letter to Richard Bagot begins conventionally enough. Wood was sending some artichoke “slips” with…

Portrait of a Young African Woman
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Portrait of a Young African Woman

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Alicia Meyer

A guest post by Alicia Meyer The Folger Shakespeare Library houses three etchings of African diasporic people by Wenceslaus Hollar. While we may never know the identities of the figures in these images, Hollar’s artistic choices direct how we see…

Drawn by Hayman, etched by Gravelot, preserved in Folger ART Vol. b72
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Drawn by Hayman, etched by Gravelot, preserved in Folger ART Vol. b72

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Erin Blake

For the June 2019 “Crocodile Mystery” we asked you to spot the differences between these two pictures: Frontispiece illustration for Two Gentlemen of Verona from Thomas Hanmer’s 6-volume edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published 1743-44: original drawing (A) and published print…

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

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The Collation

Last month’s Crocodile Mystery asked you to name what the images had in common. This month we ask the opposite: what’s different? How many differences can you spot? Click the image for a larger view. Much MUCH larger versions of…

A Wild and Woolley Week
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A Wild and Woolley Week

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Before 'Farm to Table' team

A guest post by the Before ‘Farm to Table’ team This week the Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures team turned their collective attention to Hannah Woolley (or Wolley), a British woman writer who was among the…

Snakes! on a ... book?
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Snakes! on a ... book?

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Abbie Weinberg

“What is that?” someone asks, pointing to the corner of one of the books open for display. “This? Oh, it’s a book snake. Most useful object in the library!” I reply. This conversation happens once in nearly every book display…

“Run away”: a life in 78 words
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“Run away”: a life in 78 words

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Simon P. Newman

A guest post by Simon Newman His name was Quoshey , an Akan day name that tells us he was quite likely born on a Sunday on the Gold Coast of West Africa. But on Christmas Day 1700 Quashey was…

To bind: Ligatures in Aldine Type
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To bind: Ligatures in Aldine Type

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Abbie Weinberg

Yes, indeed. As many of you quickly identified, each of the images in this month’s mystery post contain at least one ligature. In fact, all of the images are from a single set of type: the Aldine italic that was…

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