The Shakespeare Quarto Archives provides online access to digitized versions of 32 early printed editions of Shakespeare's plays from the 16th and 17th centuries. It aims to furnish scholars, educators, and students with high-resolution images and fully searchable texts of these rare primary sources. The quartos are valuable because they represent some of the earliest extant copies of Shakespeare's works from his lifetime and may show what he originally wrote. The archive allows researchers to examine variations between editions located around the world and provides tools to analyze, compare, annotate, and search across the texts.
2. Scholarly Digital Libraries
Provides online access across geographical
boundaries
Open access
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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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