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crocodile mystery

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": June 2014
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": June 2014

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The Collation

For your June crocodile mystery, something to cast your eye over: I spy with my little eye, this crocodile mystery What is this, how many pertinent details can you point to, and why might it matter? Leave your guesses below and come…

Abbreviations and signatures
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Abbreviations and signatures

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Goran Proot

As Sjoerd Levelt guessed in the comments, this month’s crocodile image featured an abbreviation, rather than a letter, in the signature mark: sig. 22Here’s a longer look at what this character is and how it ended up being used in…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": May 2014
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": May 2014

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Author
The Collation

Do you see what we see? Or do you see something else? More specifically, can you tell us what the characters are on the last line of this column of text? What manner of thing is this? (click to embiggen) Leave…

Waste not, want not
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Waste not, want not

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Sarah Werner

As all three commenters worked out, this month’s crocodile image is of printer’s waste used as endleaves. You can see the end of the book on the left side of the opening below (note the “finis” marking the end of…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": April 2014
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": April 2014

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Author
The Collation

We’re a few days before the beginning of April still, but who doesn’t want to push this season ahead and get on with spring already? So here is our new crocodile mystery. Some of you will recognize immediately what category…

A print pricked for transfer
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A print pricked for transfer

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Erin Blake

So, what’s up with the crocodile mystery for March? As I said in the comments, Tom Reedy was verrrrry close with “It looks like some sort of device using punctures along a line to allow powder or ink to pass through…

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: March 2014
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“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: March 2014

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Author
The Collation

Another month, another Crocodile Mystery. What might this be? As always, please use the Comments section for wild guesses, brilliant insights, etc.

An example of early modern English writing paper
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An example of early modern English writing paper

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Heather Wolfe

The crocodile posted on Friday was correctly identified by Philip Allfrey as a watermark of Queen Elizabeth’s arms encircled by the Garter. In his comments, Mr Allfrey provided a useful account of how he identified the watermark and the letter…

“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: February 2014
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“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: February 2014

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Author
The Collation

Today’s crocodile mystery comes from the manuscript collection. What is it? What does it depict? Why might it be interesting or significant? Answers to any or all of these questions most welcome. What am I? Click to enlarge.

Back-to-back reading
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Back-to-back reading

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Sarah Werner

As commenters bruxer and Lydia Fletcher worked out,  January’s crocodile mystery showed a detail of the head of a dos-à-dos binding, with a covered board running down the middle separating two gauffred text blocks. The full picture makes it a bit…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": January 2014
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": January 2014

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Author
The Collation

A new month, a new year, a new mystery for you to enjoy! This month’s crocodile might be immediately recognizable to some of you, but perhaps not to others, and sometimes it’s fun to take a fresh look even at…

'Tis the season for almanacs
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'Tis the season for almanacs

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Sarah Werner

December crocodile As our two commenters on the last post sussed out, this month’s crocodile mystery is a detail from an almanac, the black “Swallow” overprinting the red “Dove” the names of authors of two different almanacs. Below is the full…

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