Shakespeare Quarto Archives
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Shakespeare Quarto Archives
description
This is a presentation for a class in digital libraries. I wanted to present a DL intended for scholarly use and electronic tools for notation.
Transcript of Shakespeare Quarto Archives
Scholarly Digital Libraries
Provides online access across geographical
boundaries
Open access of freely available
Furnishes materials held in various locations
Supplies primary sources for a scholar, educator,
student
Images – captured in high resolution
Text – transcribed and fully searchable
Video – may be primary sources or tutorial
Shakespeare Quartos Archive
Intended audience
Literary scholars
Theatre professionals – actors, directors, playwrights
University students
Educators
Value of Quartos
No manuscripts survive
Quartos are earliest extant copies from
Shakespeare’s lifetime (1567-1616)
They show what Shakespeare probably wrote
About half of Shakespeare’s plays printed as
quartos
Quarto refers to the format or paper folding and
leaves
Formats include: folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo
Uses of Shakespeare Archive
Quartos are dispersed throughout the world
Archive provides central point of accessing 32
quartos
Scholars and researchers need to examine different
editions for variations in text
Archive provides electronic tools to analyze text
Scholars need annotations and marginalia
Tools Enable
Comparison between two or more texts
Images of pages can be cropped and resized for
study
Search feature allows users to search across all
editions
Cue lines rendered in blue for staging prompts
Site provides tools for notes, labels, and exhibitions
Examples of Functionality
Select a library
Multiple Editions, Locations
1603 Edition, British Library
Multiple Editions, Locations
1637 Edition, National Library of
Scotland
Compare Editions, Copies
British Library, 1603 and Huntington Library, 1603
Compare Editions, Copies
British Library, 1603; Huntington, 1603; Folger,
1604
Textual Comparison
British Library, 1603 and British Library, 1605 Highlight indicates difference in
text
Zoom and Details
British Library, 1603 -- Zoom and Bleeding
Ink
Zoom and Notes
British Library, 1603 and Annotations
Search Across Texts
Huntington, 1604; Search Across All
Texts
Cue Lines -- Actors, Directors
British Library, 1603; Cue Lines
Notation Features
Bodleian Library 1622, Note with Label
Annotation, Print View
Example of notes about possible printer’s errors as reason for
variation
Digitization, Administrative Data
Location of encoding – British Library and Folger Library
Thank you!
Florence Paisey, Spring 2012
