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crocodile mystery

Printer's waste or endleaf?
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Printer's waste or endleaf?

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Heather Wolfe

Last week’s crocodile mystery concerned the nature of a fragment of paper used to repair a letter from Thomas Cromwell to Nicholas Wotton written in 1539. This mystery is probably not the first, or the last, time that our answers…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": September edition
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": September edition

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The Collation

Don’t panic—it’s still August, but rather than wait until the middle of September to share the new crocodile mystery,  I’m going to share it now and Heather will discuss it next week. At initial glance, it’s pretty clear what’s illustrated…

Deciphering signature marks
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Deciphering signature marks

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Sarah Werner

So, as those of you who have spent any time working with early modern printed books probably recognized, this month’s crocodile mystery focuses on signature marks. Below is the photo I posted last week, now with the signature mark circled…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": August edition
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": August edition

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The Collation

Like last month’s crocodile mystery, this one has two levels of answers. The first, of course, is to identify what genre of thing this is. The second is to offer explanations for why this genre and this instance might be…

Armorial bindings
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Armorial bindings

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Sarah Werner

The reveal to this month’s crocodile mystery isn’t much of a reveal; both John Overholt and Philip Allfrey posted the answer in last week’s comments. It’s the stamp that George Granville Leveson-Gower, the 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833) used in…

"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": July edition
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"What manner o' thing is your crocodile?": July edition

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Author
The Collation

Okay, folks, it’s time for another crocodile mystery. It’s pretty obvious, I think, what genre of thing this is (though do go ahead and identify it anyway), so let’s take this to the next level: what specifics can you supply…

Binding clasps
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Binding clasps

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Author
Sarah Werner

Some close observation and deductive reasoning led commenters in the right direction in solving the June crocodile mystery. Here’s image that I posted last week, with a bit more context: With that bit of the surrounding context, it’s much clearer…

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

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Author
The Collation

This month’s crocodile mystery will hopefully be less mysterious than last month’s, which was a bit unclear as to what you were meant to be focusing on. Take a gander at the picture below, keeping in mind, as always, that the…

Heirloom apples and pears, anyone?
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Heirloom apples and pears, anyone?

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Author
Heather Wolfe

We’ll begin with another crocodile-style challenge in this post, from a manuscript miscellany compiled by Henry Oxinden (or Oxenden) (1609-1670) of Barham, Kent, Folger MS V.b.110. Here’s a detail from p. of the miscellany: Can anyone identify what this text…

A book's fingerprints
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A book's fingerprints

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Sarah Werner

Last week’s crocodile mystery may have been a bit too mysterious, but I hope that today’s post will inspire you to look for similar mysteries on your own. Here’s a close-up detail of what I was asking about: As with…

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

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Author
The Collation

First, my thanks to all of you who suggested new  names for this series on identifying objects in our collection. The best suggestion came from Jeremy Dibbell, on twitter, who found this perfect moment in Antony and Cleopatra: LEPIDUS: What…

Fore-edge paintings
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Fore-edge paintings

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Erin Blake

Following up on Sarah’s What’s that? post from last week, full marks to everyone who said “fore-edge painting” (also acceptable, though less to the point, “1631 x 401 pixel digital image” and “Wilton House”). Here’s the same image, not cropped…

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