The Early Modern Commons

Of Pilcrows: Lessons on Books & Teaching

Recent Posts

PREMIERE: "Making Shakespeare: The First Folio" on PBS Great Performances

7 November 2023

The story of how we came to know that the copy of the Shakespeare First Folio now in the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia was once owned and annotated by John...

OUT NOW! The Case for John Milton as the Reader of the Free Library First Folio

8 February 2023

The “2d stanza” of the song sung to Mariana in Measure for Measure, added by hand on the last page of the play in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s copy of the First Folio (RBD...

VIDEO: Early Modern Typography / Race / Gender (Bibliographical Society of America)

17 June 2022

In 2021, the Bibliographical Society of America graciously hosted a conversation about the intersection of typography (specifically, how typography was/is described, discussed, and...

VIDEO: Wing Foundation Lecture on the History of the Book (Newberry Library)

16 June 2022

I was honored to deliver the Wing Foundation Lecture on the History of the Book at the Newberry Library on March 3, 2022. The event took place in person after two years of virtual events....