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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

Early modern book history: it's not just for English majors
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Early modern book history: it's not just for English majors

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Author
Sarah Werner

Every seminar I teach on early modern book history, I like to start with a class asking what is book history? We read Robert Darnton’s essay, of course, along with pieces from D. F. McKenzie and Roger Chartier, along with…

Elizabeth goes to New York
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Elizabeth goes to New York

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Author
Erin Blake

On September 5, two professional art handlers from Artex Fine Art Services loaded a great big wooden crate onto their climate-controlled box truck, strapped it securely into the rear cargo area, then strapped my little suitcase next to it. The…

Detective Work: The Dutch Fingerprint (Part I)
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Detective Work: The Dutch Fingerprint (Part I)

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Author
Goran Proot

Previous Collation posts may convince even the most skeptical reader that bibliographic work often requires detective work. In some cases, this may involve bibliographers to take fingerprints. Fingerprints are regularly used by bibliographers to find out whether or not two…

Printer's waste or endleaf?
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Printer's waste or endleaf?

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Author
Heather Wolfe

Last week’s crocodile mystery concerned the nature of a fragment of paper used to repair a letter from Thomas Cromwell to Nicholas Wotton written in 1539. This mystery is probably not the first, or the last, time that our answers…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": September edition
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": September edition

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Author
The Collation

Don’t panic—it’s still August, but rather than wait until the middle of September to share the new crocodile mystery,  I’m going to share it now and Heather will discuss it next week. At initial glance, it’s pretty clear what’s illustrated…

Folger Tooltips: Digital Image URLs, part one
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Folger Tooltips: Digital Image URLs, part one

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Author
Jim Kuhn

volvelle for pinpointing the north star Hello Collation readers: Today starts a new series of posts on URL behavior in our image databases, the Folger Digital Image Collection and the Folger Bindings Image Collection. You may remember previous posts providing…

The material history of... ?
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The material history of... ?

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Author
Erin Blake

The phrase “history of the book” is commonly used as a catch-all for the history and study of the physical components and technology behind traditional printer’s-ink-on-folded-paper-in-a-binding books, whether or not the thing being studied is itself a traditional book or…

A treasure chest 6.75 meters long
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A treasure chest 6.75 meters long

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Author
Goran Proot

It is not a secret that in most libraries—and I am tempted to write “in all libraries”—treasures are slumbering and waiting for their discovery. This sort of thing may happen when you least expect it, for instance when you call…

Believe it or not: strange accidents and reports
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Believe it or not: strange accidents and reports

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Author
Heather Wolfe

“Strange Accidentes” and “Strange Reportes” from Folger MS E.a.6, fols. 84v-85r (click image to enlarge) Early modern jokes and curiosities have a way of making us feel like insiders and outsiders at the same time. We’ll encounter jokes such…

Deciphering signature marks
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Deciphering signature marks

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Author
Sarah Werner

So, as those of you who have spent any time working with early modern printed books probably recognized, this month’s crocodile mystery focuses on signature marks. Below is the photo I posted last week, now with the signature mark circled…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": August edition
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": August edition

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Author
The Collation

Like last month’s crocodile mystery, this one has two levels of answers. The first, of course, is to identify what genre of thing this is. The second is to offer explanations for why this genre and this instance might be…

Q & A: Goran Proot, Curator of Rare Books
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Q & A: Goran Proot, Curator of Rare Books

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Author
The Collation

Goran Proot On June 1st, Goran Proot became the new Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Now that he’s had a chance to settle in a bit, it’s time for us to introduce him…

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