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
I have sent you a Privy Seal...
The answer to last week’s crocodile mystery? As Jan Kellett correctly pointed out in her comment to the October Crocodile Mystery, the red-orange concentric circles in this image are an “offset mark made by a seal.” The mark was made…
"What manner o'thing is your crocodile?": October 2016
A new crocodile mystery for a new month! Can you tell us what this is? As always, please comment with your thoughts and guesses about our mystery image, and we’ll be back next week with the answer!
Faire Europe: Ortelius, Mercator, and the continents
Maps, today, are ubiquitous. We have them in our phones, on our public transit, on walls and signs everywhere you turn. Many people learn to read and interpret them from an early age. Conventions that we don’t even know are…
A Recipe’s Place is in the Classroom
The Folger Shakespeare Library is many things: an internationally-renowned research library, a museum, a performance space, a center for innovative digital initiatives, and home to some of the best air conditioning on Capitol Hill (not something to be overlooked during…
"To benefit the suffering Belgians"
As several readers quickly guessed, last week’s crocodile image was a photograph of a Russian edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets. The “ghost” type in the image is due to a glassine (translucent paper) jacket around the volume, which obscures the printed…
“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: September 2016
Ready for September? We are, with a new crocodile mystery for you to take a stab at! What’s going on with this book? Why does some of the text on the cover appear to be faded?
Uncut, unopened, untrimmed, uh-oh
Do you despair when when you hear “decimate” used to describe a reduction of more than ten percent? Does seeing the caption “Big Ben” on a souvenir postcard showing a London clock tower rather than the largest bell within it make you cringe? If so, heed this warning: never use the phrase…
Introducing A Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama
You know your Shakespeare, but who else was writing for the early modern stage? What did drama look like between 1576 to 1642? How long did plays take to reach print? What playing companies appeared on the title page? Who…
Q & A: Amanda Herbert, Assistant Director for Fellowships Program, Folger Institute
Amanda Herbert recently became an Assistant Director at the Folger Institute, where she directs each aspect of the Folger fellowships program, from managing the applications process to fostering a sense of scholarly community. As part of the Folger Institute team,…
Honing transcriptions with algorithms and acumen
A question I often hear from paleographers who contribute transcriptions to Early Modern Manuscripts Online (or EMMO) is: What are you going to do with all these transcriptions? It’s a good question—central to the whole project, actually—but it’s also a complicated one. The…
Don Quixote on an Early Paper Cover
The Folger Shakespeare Library recently acquired a copybook with an intriguing pictorial paper cover, and it is, of course, the subject of the crocodile mystery we posted last week. This cover is made of thick paper (thicker than regular paper…
“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?” August 2016
As July rapidly draws to a close, we have a pretty new puzzle for readers to ponder. This month’s mystery is about the picture on this paper cover: what is the image about and why is it on this cover?…