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Books

Books in the Folger collections
About that frontispiece portrait of Hannah Woolley....
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About that frontispiece portrait of Hannah Woolley....

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Heather Wolfe

I was delighted by the range of responses we got for last week’s Crocodile post on the identity of the woman in the engraving: Catherine of Braganza, Cleopatra, Lady Frances Egerton, Elizabeth Nash nee Hall (Shakespeare’s grand-daughter), Hannah Woolley, and…

Under Cover: Forged Bindings on Display at the Folger
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Under Cover: Forged Bindings on Display at the Folger

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Elizabeth DeBold

Our latest exhibition, Form and Function: the Genius of the Book, provides visitors with a true visual feast. Offering a wide array of different types of bindings from the Folger collections, exhibition attendees will learn about the techniques and materials historically…

Written in the Margent: Frances Wolfreston Revealed
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Written in the Margent: Frances Wolfreston Revealed

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Sarah Lindenbaum

A guest post by Sarah Lindenbaum “And what obscured in this fair volume lies / Find written in the margent of his eyes” (Romeo and Juliet, 1.3.87–88) Recently, two Shakespeare quartos held by the Folger Shakespeare Library were determined to…

Engraved to Sell
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Engraved to Sell

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Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Printed ephemera can be exciting, especially when it reveals information that can be found nowhere else. When it is also a very rare piece with only a couple of extant copies recorded, and its design is intriguing, the discovery is…

On looking into Chapman's Homer once again
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On looking into Chapman's Homer once again

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Jessica Wolfe

A guest post by Jessica Wolfe If the name George Chapman rings a bell, it is likely because you once read John Keats’s 1816 sonnet, “On first looking into Chapman’s Homer,” which describes the Romantic poet’s experience of reading Chapman’s…

Early modern head lice remedies; or, dealing with pediculosis, Renaissance-style
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Early modern head lice remedies; or, dealing with pediculosis, Renaissance-style

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Heather Wolfe

With assistance by Beth DeBold This post is dedicated to all those parents and caregivers who have gotten the dreaded phone call while at work: “your child has lice.” You have to drop everything and retrieve your child from school,…

Hinman, Redux
Composite image of all 8 titles pages of the Folger's copies of The Fairy-Queen
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Hinman, Redux

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Andrew R. Walkling

A Guest Post by Andrew R. Walkling Over this past winter and spring I have been dodging periodic snowstorms across the Mid-Atlantic region, journeying back and forth to Washington for a project that draws upon one meaning of the word…

Sonnets by Shakespeare...'s spirit?
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Sonnets by Shakespeare...'s spirit?

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Sarah Hovde

As the common saying goes, only death and taxes are certain. However, consider the uncertainties that can accompany any tax season: missing W-2s, e-file services incompatible with your browser, shifting standards, mathematical errors… That’s enough about taxes! Let’s talk about…

Cracks in Etched Plates
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Cracks in Etched Plates

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Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Originally, I was going to do a crocodile post about the binding of this architecture book by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau: Title page of Folger NA2625 .A63 1615 Cage Photo by Caroline Duroselle-Melish But after I thought about it, it…

Book Reviews from the Royal Society
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Book Reviews from the Royal Society

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Abbie Weinberg

Book reviews are a staple of many academic journals. They are a way to learn about new books in the field and to see what your fellow scholars think of them. And they’ve been around for a really long time.…

Dryden's Virgil, Ogilby's Virgil, and Aeneas's nose job
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Dryden's Virgil, Ogilby's Virgil, and Aeneas's nose job

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Author
Erin Blake

First, a confession: this month’s Crocodile Mystery was originally going to pose a question along the lines of “What’s weird about this image?” or “What makes this picture especially interesting?” but I gave up. I couldn’t figure out how to…

Black Monday: the Great Solar Eclipse of 1652
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Black Monday: the Great Solar Eclipse of 1652

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Elizabeth DeBold

In all the excitement of yesterday’s solar eclipse, you may have learned that eclipses are common: most calendar years have four eclipses (two solar and two lunar), with a maximum of seven eclipses (though this is rare).According to Time &…

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