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The Collation

“What manner o’thing is your crocodile?”: April 2017

As March draws to a close, spring has finally (mostly) sprung in Washington DC (we’ll not talk about our poor cherry blossoms). If the days are warming up where you are as well, contemplate this Crocodile Mystery while you enjoy the weather, and tell us what this image is:

As always, leave your thoughts and guesses in the comments and we’ll be back next week with the answer.

Comments

From a blind-stamped binding, possibly part of a center-piece or an armorial stamp.

David Shaw — March 28, 2017

Reply

oooo, good guess, but unfortunately incorrect (see Sarah’s response below) — but I’ll have to see if I can find a similar example in our blind-stamped bindings, because they are very visually aligned!

Abbie Weinberg — March 31, 2017

Reply

It’s a Mattioli woodblock! Unless the Folger got a new one, it’s the woodblock used to print the image of lettuce (I think?) in his 1562 commentary, which the Folger also has. The block and the print are two of the collection items I highlighted in the Printed Books page on the website. (hi, Collation friends! I wasn’t sure if it was cheating to jump right in, but I love this woodblock and was excited!)

Sarah Werner — March 28, 2017

Reply

Yes, indeed! (Hi!) I was hoping to make it a little challenging by doing a close-up, but I should have known better. 🙂 It is a fascinating piece of history, both in terms of what it is and how it got to us—more details next week!

Abbie Weinberg — March 31, 2017

Reply

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