Guides: Shakespeare Studies: General Research Guide: Manuscripts and Transcripts

Illustrations to Shakespeare: Henry IV Part I

The print shows Mortimer, Glendower, and Hotspur from Henry IV Part I (Act III, Scene I).

Object Type: Print and Book-illustration

Materials: Paper

Techniques: Etching

Production Person: Print made by Kenny Meadows, Published by William S Orr & Co

Date: 1845

Illustrations to Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well

The print shows the King of France and Helena from Act II, Scene I of Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.

Object Type: Print and Book-illustration

Materials: Paper

Techniques: Etching

Production Person: Print made by Kenny Meadows, Published by William S Orr & Co

Date: 1845

Manuscripts

Digital Image Collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library
The Digital Collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library contains images of books, theater memorabilia, manuscripts, and art related to William Shakespeare's plays and poems.
First Folio of Shakespeare at Oxford Text Archive (OTA)
"being a reproduction in facsimile of the first folio edition, 1623, from the Chatsworth copy in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, K.G." You will have to provide your email address; a link with the file (a zip file) will be sent to you.
Rare Book Room: The Quartos of William Shakespeare
The Rare Book Room provides digital images of early quarto editions of William Shakespeare’s plays and poems.
The Shakespeare Quartos Archive
"The Shakespeare Quartos Archive is a digital collection of pre-1642 editions of William Shakespeare's plays." This archive is a partnership among the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) of the University of Maryland, British Library, University of Edinburgh Library, Huntington Library, National Library of Scotland, and Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham.
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Right now The Shakespeare Quartos Archive has 32 editions of Hamlet which you can compare side by side!

Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
The EEBO contains the full text of 100,000 early English works from 1470-1700. The subject areas include: English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics, and science

Internet Archive
Internet Archive, an Internet library which provides permanent access to all kinds of literature and formats, has numerous editions of William Shakespeare's works (16th century to 20th century). These works are available in multiple formats such as PDF (images of the actual work), read online, and full text.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Provides access to unique primary source materials that document political reform and revolution, nationalism and nation building, the expansion of empire and colonialism, growing literacy and education, and the flowering of both popular and high culture and consists of four parts: Children's Literature and Childhood; Women and Transnational Networks; Religion, Reform, and Society; Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture.
See also Gale Primary Sources and Archives Unbound

Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image: Horace Howard Furness Shakespeare Libray
The Horace Howard Furness Shakespeare Library scanned books in its collection which are available online. One way to find Shakespeare's plays and poems (from the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries) is to
1. select "Browse Furness" tab
2. select "Browse Authors"
3. select "Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616".
Shakespearean Prompt-Books of the Seventeenth Century (Edited by G. Blakemore Evans)
All eight volumes of Shakespearean Prompt-Books of the Seventeenth Century are available online. The prompt-books are presented as facsimiles. The online version contains the introduction, collations, and acts as found in the print version. It is possible to perform a search within the prompt-books. Mullen Library also has Volumes 3, 5, 6, and 8 in Stacks Folios (PR2757 .E8).
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The eight volumes are Volume I (General Introduction and Macbeth), Volume II (Measure for Measure and The Winter's Tale), Volume III (The Comedy of Errors and Midsummer Night's Dream), Volume IV (Hamlet), Volume V (Macbeth), Volume VI (Othello), Volume VII (Midsummer Night's Dream), Volume VIII (King Lear, Henry VIII, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, and The Winter's Tale).

Transcriptions

Most of the texts listed on these sites are in the public domain.

William Shakespeare's texts at ebooks@Adelaide
ebooks@Adelaide provides a short bibliography for William Shakespeare, full text to his works in categories (comedies romances, histories, tragedies, and poetry), and other links. The University of Adelaide in Australia maintains this website.
Project Gutenberg - Online Book Catalog
Project Gutenberg (invented in 1971) is an online book catalog which allows browsing by author, title, language, categories, or recently added and searching by author or title. This website is " the first and largest single collection of free electronic books". Project Gutenberg has numerous editions of Shakespeare's works in English and in other languages such as German and Finnish.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare contains full texts for Shakespeare's works (comedy, history, tragedy, and poetry). Jeremy Hylton is an alum of MIT maintains this website.
The Plays of William Shakespeare
Electronic Literature Foundation (ELF) maintains The Plays of William Shakespeare. ELF has the full text of all of Shakespeare's plays (tragedies, histories, and comedies). "Each play has its own search engine, concordance, quotes, and other information."
Etext Center: The Modern English Collection
The Modern English Collection of the Electronic Text Center provides access to material (in full text) from 1500 to the present. You can browse by the last name of an author such as Shakespeare or by area of interest.
Open Source Shakespeare
George Mason University maintains the Open Source Shakespeare which is the result of a M.A. thesis. This website has the full text of Shakespeare's plays, sonnets, and poems and allows you to perform a search for a word in the text, concordance, and character. The layout of Open Source Shakespeare is based on power, flexibility, friendliness, and openness.