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Erin Blake

is currently the Senior Cataloger responsible for art and manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library. From 2000 to 2014, Erin served as the Folger's Curator of Art and Special Collections. In 2014, she became Head of Collection Information Services. After a four-year tour of duty in senior management, she happily returned to working hands-on with the collection in 2018. In addition to her Folger work, Erin teaches The History of Printed Book Illustration in the West at Rare Book School, and is a member of the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee.
What's in a playbill?
Collation

What's in a playbill?

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Erin Blake

The Folger collection includes approximately 250,000 playbills, the single-sheet precursors of today’s multi-page theater programs.Many theater programs in the United States have a striking yellow banner with PLAYBILL in black letters on the front cover. These aren’t playbills, they’re free…

A briefing on brevigraphs, those strange shapes in early printed texts
th[us] passy[n]g [the] tyme
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A briefing on brevigraphs, those strange shapes in early printed texts

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Erin Blake

Most people reading this will know that “&” and “and” mean the same thing. Some will also know that the ampersand’s “&” shape originated from the handwritten word “et” (Latin for “and”). The  “e” and the “t” are combined into…

Expurgation with decoration: type ornaments as replacement text
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Expurgation with decoration: type ornaments as replacement text

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Erin Blake

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…

Documenting mistakes in our documentation
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Documenting mistakes in our documentation

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Erin Blake

If someone points out a typo in an online Finding Aid or a Hamnet catalog record, we gratefully say thank-you, fix it, and (usually) move on.For more on the differences between Finding aids and Hamnet records, see Manuscripts in libraries: catalog…

Why the Folger has two sculptures of Puck
Shakespeare and Beyond

Why the Folger has two sculptures of Puck

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Erin Blake

Erin Blake tells the story of how there came to be two Puck sculptures at the Folger, after the original marble sculpture was damaged.

Lord what fools these mortals be: The story behind Brenda Putnam's statue of Puck
Shakespeare and Beyond

Lord what fools these mortals be: The story behind Brenda Putnam's statue of Puck

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Author
Erin Blake

How did the Folger Shakespeare Library’s “Puck” sculpture by Brenda Putnam (1890–1975) come to be? There is a story to tell…..

24,000 “preliminary” catalog records are better than nothing!
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24,000 “preliminary” catalog records are better than nothing!

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Erin Blake

At least, we hope the approximately 24,000 “preliminary records” added to the Folger’s online catalog yesterday are better than nothing, which is what Hamnet had for most of these books since going live in 1997. Today’s Collation post explains where…

Using cardboard spacers to fill gaps on the shelf
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Using cardboard spacers to fill gaps on the shelf

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Erin Blake

Sometimes the simplest tools are the best. This post is a tribute to the humble hunk of folded cardboard.1 Cardboard spacer filling the gap on the shelf while two large volumes are in use. All photos are by me, Erin…

Creating John Gregory’s Bas Reliefs at the Folger
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Creating John Gregory’s Bas Reliefs at the Folger

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Erin Blake

Who carved the John Gregory’s bas reliefs on the facade of the Folger? Readers of last week’s Collation post will know that the apparently obvious answer—John Gregory—is incorrect. Sculptor John Gregory (1879–1958) definitely created the works of art, but professional…

Re-discovering three-cornered notes
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Re-discovering three-cornered notes

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Erin Blake

A couple of years ago, when I had Saturday Duty in the Reading Room, a group of early-19th-century letters came across the desk. I noticed right away that one of them had unusual diagonal fold lines: Folger Y.d.23 (82x), a…

The “Quartermaster’s Map” of England and Wales
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The “Quartermaster’s Map” of England and Wales

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Erin Blake

Thanks for the excellent guesses on the identity of the August Crocodile Mystery! If you’ll permit me to indulge myself, I’ll prolong the suspense a little longer by showing some examples of what it might have been, but isn’t (and…

Words with pictures, or, What's in a name?
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Words with pictures, or, What's in a name?

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Author
Erin Blake

One of the points I like to make when I teach the History of Printed Book Illustration at Rare Book School is that images and words affect each other. The course deliberately focuses on illustrations—that is, on pictures and text…

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