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Backstage with Katie deBuys: Part II
Folger Spotlight

Backstage with Katie deBuys: Part II

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Katie deBuys as Princess Katherine in Henry V. Photo by Scott Suchman. Earlier this week, actor Katie deBuys (currently playing Princess Katherine in Henry V at the Folger) took us behind the scenes of a Sunday evening performance. The Sunday…

An important auction
Collation

An important auction

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Author
Goran Proot

broadside advertising a 1617 auction (click to enlarge in a new window/tab) Let it be known that amongst the furniture of the late Duke of Aerschot, there are about 2000 paintings in all kinds of colors by a variety of excellent…

a Henry for her time
Collation

a Henry for her time

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Author
Sarah Werner

So the short answer to last week’s crocodile mystery is that this is a picture of Gwen Lally in the role of Henry V: Gwen Lally as Henry V How did I know that’s who this was? Well, click on…

Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part two
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Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part two

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Author
Erin Blake

The last round of book illustration myth-busting looked at how copper plates wear out (and how they don’t wear out). This time, I’d like to take a bucket of archival research and dump it on a related myth. How many…

The Folger’s Mazarinades: Libraries within Libraries
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The Folger’s Mazarinades: Libraries within Libraries

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Author
Kathryn Gucer

A guest post by Kathryn Gucer In 1652, Gabriel Naudé argued passionately for the importance of libraries and collecting books in a brief pamphlet, Advis a nosseigneurs de Parliament. Naudé repudiates a proposal by the parliament of Paris to break…

Capital News from the Low Countries
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Capital News from the Low Countries

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Author
Goran Proot

What from a distance may look like a pasture, perhaps with oddly shaped poppies or some other flowers on the foreground and two buildings in the background, is actually much less pleasant. (Click any image in this post to enlarge…

Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part one
Collation

Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part one

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Author
Erin Blake

There’s a common core of misconceptions that many readers of this blog will be accustomed to dispelling thanks to their interest in Shakespeare and Early Modern Europe. “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” doesn’t mean “Where’d you go, Romeo?!” Historic…

A letter from Queen Anne to Buckingham locked with silk embroidery floss
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A letter from Queen Anne to Buckingham locked with silk embroidery floss

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Author
Heather Wolfe

No, it’s not Lady Gaga’s hairline or the frizz on one of those creepy troll dolls. These were not real guesses from our readers, but the musings of Collation editorial staff when faced with an absence of comments to our…

A Geek-Peek at Folger "ART File" and "ART Box" Classification
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A Geek-Peek at Folger "ART File" and "ART Box" Classification

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Author
Erin Blake

One of the most fascinating books I read while working on my dissertation had nothing to do with the topic as such: It’s the 189-page “user’s guide” to the British Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings, published in 1987. In it,…

Volvelles
Collation

Volvelles

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Author
Sarah Werner

As three of you immediately identified in your comments, last week’s crocodile mystery was the fastening in the center of a volvelle, holding the various layers in place and allowing them to turn: volvelle from Cortes’s Breve compendio, leaf 37r…

A third manuscript by Thomas Trevelyon/Trevilian
Collation

A third manuscript by Thomas Trevelyon/Trevilian

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Author
Heather Wolfe

The author’s name in the Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608 (Folger MS V.b.232, fol. 264v); click image to enlarge in Luna. Many Collation readers are already familiar with the Folger’s Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608 (Folger MS V.b.232), and the fabulous Trevilian…

Winning the lottery
Collation

Winning the lottery

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Author
Goran Proot

On Saturday 4 November 1617, the archdukes of the Southern Netherlands, Albert and Isabella, granted permission to the “gentil homme Lucquois” Matthias Micheli to organize a lottery for the foundation of the “Bergen van Barmhartigheid” or “Monts de piété.” First…

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