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Abbie Weinberg

was the managing editor of The Collation from 2015-2023. As a reference librarian and archivist, she spends a lot of her time assisting others with their research. When she has a few moments for her own, she can be found exploring book history, theatre history, the history of science, and the interesting ways those crash together sometimes.
De Acupunctura: Willem ten Rhijne and Bringing Eastern Medicine to Europe
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De Acupunctura: Willem ten Rhijne and Bringing Eastern Medicine to Europe

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Abbie Weinberg

I am continually in awe of the depth and breadth of knowledge that our readers possess. Y’all are truly excellent. Yes, the answer to the Crocodile Mystery is, as several people answered, a chart of the acupuncture points on the…

Happy 500th Birthday!
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Happy 500th Birthday!

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Abbie Weinberg

On a recent tour, I was showing a book published in 1518, and mentioned that clearly we were celebrating its 500th birthday by showing it off to a group of very appreciative folks. But that got me thinking—what other books…

Shakespeare's Heroines (some of them, anyway)
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's Heroines (some of them, anyway)

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Abbie Weinberg

Explore a set of early 19th-century watercolor portraits of Shakespearean heroines in the Folger collection.

Portia in Absentia
Letter from Percy Anderson including the phrase
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Portia in Absentia

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Abbie Weinberg

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…

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.…

News, News, News
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News, News, News

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Abbie Weinberg

How do you get your news today? TV? Radio? Printed newspapers? Online news sites? Social media? Today we seem to be inundated by the news 24/7 and it sometimes takes a conscious effort to step away from the barrage. News…

"Whose least part crackt, the whole does fly": early views on Prince Rupert's Drops
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"Whose least part crackt, the whole does fly": early views on Prince Rupert's Drops

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Abbie Weinberg

Honor is like that glassy Bubble That finds Philosophers such trouble, Whose least part crackt, the whole does fly, And Wits are crack’d to find out why. Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part II, Canto II, lines 385-89. In the second part…

Happy Birthday, Elias Ashmole!
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Happy Birthday, Elias Ashmole!

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Abbie Weinberg

Today is the 400th anniversary of the birth of Elias Ashmole. Perhaps best known today for giving his name (and the founding collection of antiquities and “curiosities”) to the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, this 17th-century antiquarian had…

Pietro Mattioli and the Everlasting Woodblocks
left: detail of woodcut, right: same detail of print
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Pietro Mattioli and the Everlasting Woodblocks

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Abbie Weinberg

Yes, last week’s Crocodile Mystery was a close-up image of a woodblock. This woodblock, in particular: Folger 245- 324f woodblock 1 And in fact, it is the woodblock that was used to print this image: “Lactuca florescens,” a variety of…

Spirit rapping and other things that go bump in the night
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Spirit rapping and other things that go bump in the night

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Abbie Weinberg

This month’s Crocodile Mystery was a bit of a trick, rather than a treat (although hopefully this post will fulfill the treat aspect)—as far as I know, it really is just a fancy, decorated letter A. This is one of…

The Other First Folio
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The Other First Folio

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Abbie Weinberg Elizabeth DeBold

Although many people talk about Shakespeare’s First Folio, we often forget another, perhaps equally important, First Folio that arrived slightly earlier, in 1616. While most of the attention this year has been on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, this other…

Faire Europe: Ortelius, Mercator, and the continents
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Faire Europe: Ortelius, Mercator, and the continents

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Abbie Weinberg

Maps, today, are ubiquitous. We have them in our phones, on our public transit, on walls and signs everywhere you turn. Many people learn to read and interpret them from an early age. Conventions that we don’t even know are…

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