Acquiring the Vincent First Folio: A Bibliophilic Drama in Two Parts (Part 2)
Part 2 of the thrilling story about how Henry Folger acquired the Vincent-Sibthrop copy of the First Folio.
Acquiring the Vincent First Folio: A Bibliophilic Drama in Two Parts (Part 1)
Did you ever wonder how Henry Folger acquired the copy of the First Folio that he considered “the most precious book in the world”? Wonder no more. Join Folger Archivist Sara Schliep on a two-part saga spanning over a decade and an ocean, both literal and figurative. Here is part 1 of the tale.
Venice paper, bacon, and quiet luxury
Why is there a picture of cooking bacon on this blog? Read on to find out what Heather Wolfe learned about Venice paper, early modern experimentation, and bacon.
Experiences of Captivity in the Books of John Smith
Folger Fellow Adrian Finucane explores issues of captivity in John Smith’s writing.
"What’s in a name?" That which we call [primitive] by any other word...
Artist Eva Rocha’s multimedia work investigates processes of dehumanization and in this post she looks at early colonial depictions of “Original Peoples”.
A Master Tailor’s Manual
The art of dying
a guest post by Eileen Sperry For early modern English Christians, dying was an art form. The bestseller list of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, had there been one, would have been topped by some of the period’s many…
Caught Inky Handed: Fingerprints of Practitioners
Thank you for your suggestions regarding these fingerprints. They are, indeed, the marks of two different fingers with different patterns. I tend to think, like Elizabeth, that they are the marks of a middle finger and an index or a…
A Blessing to Booksellers
In her 1616 mother’s advice book, The Mothers Blessing, Puritan author Dorothy Leigh exhorts her readers: “Teach a childe in his youth the trade of his life, and he will not forget it, not depart from it when he is…
Romeo and...
Thanks for our many eagle-eyed readers and your attention to this month’s Crocodile Post. As several folks guessed, this is a French parody of Romeo and Juliet called Roméo et Paquette, published in 1773. This item is a new acquisition, purchased in…
A Conservation Intern’s Observations on STC 2608
A guest post by Kevin Cilurzo (with particular thanks to Adrienne Bell) For a conservator, to disbind and rebind a book is a rare chance to study and understand its binding structure. With broken sewing and loose detached leaves, Folger…
Expurgation with decoration: type ornaments as replacement text
Thanks for the great comments on last week’s Crocodile Mystery. Everyone scores ten points, with full marks going to the two commenters who correctly identified the publication.Plus a happy-face sticker on Philip’s comment for the tongue-in-cheek description of the apparent…