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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 Charming Mr. Stoker and the Monster Within
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The Charming Mr. Stoker and the Monster Within

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Jason McElligott

A guest post by Jason McElligott Let me begin with a confession that may not endear me to many friends of the Folger: I don’t enjoy Shakespeare. To be completely honest, I find him hard work. Now, I am not…

The Journey is Underway for Before 'Farm to Table'
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The Journey is Underway for Before 'Farm to Table'

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The Collation

By now, you may have read about—or participated in—several activities linked to the project Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures. They have included food-related pop-up exhibitions at Folger public programs (the next one is for A Christmas…

The key to removing a card catalog rod (literally)
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The key to removing a card catalog rod (literally)

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Erin Blake

Thanks for all the great guesses at the identity of the December Crocodile! In fact, the mystery object is a tool for removing the rod from a particular type of card catalog drawer (see Folgerpedia’s Card catalogs article for information…

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

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The Collation

For this month’s Crocodile mystery, we ask you to identify this object: And yes, the lack of scale in the photograph is deliberate. We don’t want to make it too easy.

Spanish Book Collection at the Folger
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Spanish Book Collection at the Folger

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Andres Alvarez-Davila

Andres Alvarez-Davila was a Dumbarton-Oaks intern at the Folger Shakespeare Library in 2017-2018. One of Andres’ projects was to determine the scope of the Spanish book collection at Folger, which is, for the most part, only searchable in the card…

Coding Elizabeth’s Court: A Digital Experiment
Poster created for the event, with an image of the Sieve Portrait of Elizabeth
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Coding Elizabeth’s Court: A Digital Experiment

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Danielle Rosvally Meaghan J. Brown

With Danielle Rosvally The Dataset Gathered by Marion E. Colthorpe, The Elizabethan Court Day by Day (ECDbD) is a record of the people, places, and events of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Colthorpe consulted state papers, diaries, government records,…

What is an Aesopian fable in the Renaissance? The case of the Renaissance Catwoman
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What is an Aesopian fable in the Renaissance? The case of the Renaissance Catwoman

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Liza Blake

A guest post by Liza Blake What is an Aesopian fable in the Renaissance? This post is about where our modern Aesopian fables come from, drawing on the Folger Shakespeare Library’s incredibly rich collections of animal fables. For more detail…

De Acupunctura: Willem ten Rhijne and Bringing Eastern Medicine to Europe
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De Acupunctura: Willem ten Rhijne and Bringing Eastern Medicine to Europe

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Abbie Weinberg

I am continually in awe of the depth and breadth of knowledge that our readers possess. Y’all are truly excellent. Yes, the answer to the Crocodile Mystery is, as several people answered, a chart of the acupuncture points on the…

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

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The Collation

As October draws to a close, we bring you a new Crocodile Mystery. (If you’re new around these parts and totally confused as to why we refer to our monthly mystery post as a “Crocodile”, this post will explain it.)…

Tracing the transmission of medical recipes
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Tracing the transmission of medical recipes

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Elisabeth Chaghafi

A guest post by Elisabeth Chaghafi A lot of early modern recipe books are eclectic compilations that reflect the interests or needs of the people who compiled them. Often they do not even separate between cookery and medical recipes but…

Minding the Gaps of Early Modern Drama
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Minding the Gaps of Early Modern Drama

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Heidi Craig

A Guest Post by Heidi Craig The history of early modern drama and theatre is punctured with gaps, unknowns, and absences. Over half of the estimated 3,000 professional plays performed before the closure of the theatres in 1642 have evaporated…

Hexed
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Hexed

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Elizabeth DeBold

This month’s crocodile post asked our readers to think about some interesting designs appearing in and on our books. The first, appearing on the covers of Folger STC 11011 copy 2, are two slightly different designs with a central shape…

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