Folger Collections
Written in the Margent: Frances Wolfreston Revealed
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…
A Pamphlet War in England, 1641-1643
A guest post by Brittney Washington Since my time as the 2017-2018 Nadia Sophie Seiler Rare Materials Resident is quickly approaching an end, I’ve been taking some time to look back on what I’ve learned about the amazing collection here at…
Engraved to Sell
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…
Explore promptbooks from the 1950s festival Shakespeare Under the Stars
The Folger collection contains a number of prompt books from Shakespeare Under the Stars productions, which were gifts from Arthur Lithgow.
On looking into Chapman's Homer once again
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…
In the vault with 'Saint Joan'
Today, Folger Spotlight gives you a sneak peek at what was brought out for the Saint Joan company on a special tour of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection.
Proof print from the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
As a couple of you guessed correctly last week, the June Crocodile Mystery is a proof for the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery print of Lady Macbeth illustrating Macbeth, act 1, scene 5.See the Collation post “Proof prints, part one” for more on the meaning of “proof”…
Early modern head lice remedies; or, dealing with pediculosis, Renaissance-style
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
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…
Portia in Absentia
The guesses on this month’s Crocodile Mystery definitely pointed in the right direction: the mystery image this month is indeed the monogram signature of an artist. But rather than PH, it is PA: Percy Anderson. Anderson (1851-1928) was a well-respected…
The itemized life: John Kay’s notebook
Folger X.d.446, the notebook of John Kay, combines accounts and verses. Short-term fellow Laura Kolb argues that Kay’s book is noteworthy not because it combines these things, but because it does so with both care and a kind of inventiveness,…
Sonnets by Shakespeare...'s spirit?
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…