Shakespeares' works go digital

Shakespeares' works go digital
The Bodleian Library in Oxford and Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC have announced plans to reproduce all 75 editions of William Shakespeare's plays printed before 1641, online.

"There are no surviving manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays in his handwriting so the quartos are the closest we can get to what Shakespeare really wanted,"
said Bodleian spokeswoman Oana Romocea.



"Some quartos do, however, have his annotations around the printed text."


Many of the quartos are currently only available to scholars and the project is aimed to make the prints more accessible to the general public. The libraries say the downloading of the quartos will begin in April and take about a year to complete.

"We (at the Bodleian) have about 55 copies, although some of them are duplicates,"
said Romocea.

"Each quarto is different, so it's very interesting from a research perspective to compare the quartos.

"For example, some of the famous lines in 'Hamlet' exist in one quarto and in another they don't, or they are very different."


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Mar 2008 18:23
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  • 19 comments
  • Moomoo2

    Whoa. That's a lot of copies of plays...

    26.3.2008 20:39 #1

  • DXR88

    Good its better this way it ensures the legacy of Shakespeare's work will go on. One day books will no longer be needed. i beleive all Books Of old Should be aloud to keep there legacy intacked by the power of Electronic Messages and Comunication.

    26.3.2008 22:07 #2

  • windsong

    Soon everything and everyone will be online, 24/7, in one way or another. Better get your right hand prepared. :)

    26.3.2008 23:34 #3

  • varnull

    So the million monkeys with the million typewriters have done it then?

    Forsooth!.. Is this a play I see before me?

    Verily no good sir, for I put it to you that you are being deluded by the promise, nay, the enticement of entertainment which alas you will find to be sorely lacking. Stifled it shall be.. Behind layers of archaic language, pointless wandering about, gesturing, waving of arms, strange speech defects and artistic contrived posturing.

    Distracted you will be. By the thoughts of men in tights which will chase rampant through your innermost imaginings. And mightily bored you will most completely be before the conclusion, nay even the closing of act one. So I have observed, and so shall it come to pass.

    :lmao: couldn't resist..

    Damn.. I hate Shakespear (he wasn't even sure how to spell his own name.. what chance a play?). 4 years of the **** at school and now the last bastion against the torment is gone. I need chocolate, and quick!!!



    Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work....

    26.3.2008 23:42 #4

  • 7thsinger

    I grew up almost forced into reading the classics. Shakespeare being well ranked on that list. I have an appreciation for his work, his legacy, and his lure to those of his time, as well as classic literature lovers.

    With that being said, i was absolutely dying at your post Varnull.

    Quote:By the thoughts of men in tights which will chase rampant through your innermost imaginings.Lol. The original Juliet had a moustache!

    Back to the article:

    I'm actually a bit surprised they've waited this long to properly archive one of the most well known names in literature.

    Shame no handwritten manuscripts still exist.

    27.3.2008 08:33 #5

  • A_Klingon

    Can you imagine where we'd be today if Shakespeare had owned a laptop? ;)

    27.3.2008 15:25 #6

  • DVDdoug

    Shakespear - 1641... No copyright/piracy issues!

    27.3.2008 17:51 #7

  • mspurloc

    Not a very good likeness of Edward de Vere, is it?

    28.3.2008 02:01 #8

  • A_Klingon

    Some literary historians have suggested that Shakespeare never actually wrote anything; that it was, in fact, a close friend of his who did, although Shakespeare actually took all of the credit.

    28.3.2008 07:55 #9

  • 7thsinger

    I've read some of those same literary arguments Klingy. It's hard to substantiate those suspicions based on what little evidence they had. It would indeed be a shame if the wrong person was given credit for those works.








    "Sir, i would not harm thee for the world...but thou art standing where i'm about to shoot."

    28.3.2008 09:01 #10

  • Ryu77

    Originally posted by varnull: Verily no good sir, for I put it to you that you are being deluded by the promise, nay, the enticement of entertainment which alas you will find to be sorely lacking. Stifled it shall be.. Behind layers of archaic language, pointless wandering about, gesturing, waving of arms, strange speech defects and artistic contrived posturing.

    Distracted you will be. By the thoughts of men in tights which will chase rampant through your innermost imaginings. And mightily bored you will most completely be before the conclusion, nay even the closing of act one. So I have observed, and so shall it come to pass.
    I couldn't tell if that was Shakespeare or Master Yoda talking then...

    28.3.2008 09:29 #11

  • A_Klingon

    Originally posted by 7thsinger: I've read some of those same literary arguments Klingy. It's hard to substantiate those suspicions based on what little evidence they had. It would indeed be a shame if the wrong person was given credit for those works.Yeah ..... and didn't they discover a here-to-fore UnDiscovered, oh-so-ultra-rare, only-one-on-planet-earth oil portrait of the Great One a few years back? They were trying, I think, to determine if it was a self-portrait, a commissioned portrait, or an outright fake.

    They had forensic scientists carbon-dating the thing, and art professionals trying to unravel it's origins, but in the end I believe (with profound sadness) they determined it was bogus.

    28.3.2008 09:51 #12

  • A_Klingon

    Originally posted by Ryu77: I couldn't tell if that was Shakespeare or Master Yoda talking then...



    Oouuuuuu......not....go.....the...dark side..... to.....ryu77 ....
    <hee-hee> :-P

    28.3.2008 09:55 #13

  • duckNrun

    Quote:Lol. The original Juliet had a moustache!Sounds like she could have had Cushing's Disease, a polycystic ovarian disease or possibly just a case of hirtuism.

    So if any of you know a woman with hair growing in places typical only of men then I stongly suggest they quit going for electolysis and instead make an appointment with their doctor for some simple lab work to be done.

    It may be a sign of a more serious underlying condition...


    -- who knew AD could improve some poor hairy woman's life eh?

    :-O

    29.3.2008 11:56 #14

  • mspurloc

    Originally posted by A_Klingon: Originally posted by 7thsinger: I've read some of those same literary arguments Klingy. It's hard to substantiate those suspicions based on what little evidence they had. It would indeed be a shame if the wrong person was given credit for those works.Yeah ..... and didn't they discover a here-to-fore UnDiscovered, oh-so-ultra-rare, only-one-on-planet-earth oil portrait of the Great One a few years back? They were trying, I think, to determine if it was a self-portrait, a commissioned portrait, or an outright fake.

    They had forensic scientists carbon-dating the thing, and art professionals trying to unravel it's origins, but in the end I believe (with profound sadness) they determined it was bogus.
    Yeah, it was found under a woman's bed in Canada, which I'm sure the real writer of Shakespeare would have found gut-bustingly funny. It was supposedly a family heirloom dating back to the family's original trip from England. Nothing was ever substantiated. If you want to see how much proof there is against the Stratford Man being the author, read Charlton Ogburn's "The Mysterious William Shakespeare." It's thousands of pages long, but you will either come away from it believing the Earl of Oxford wrote the plays, or at least knowing that the current, quaint elementary school legend of the illiterate glovemaker's son who could barely scrawl his name has holes in it you could drive a Mack truck through.

    29.3.2008 14:24 #15

  • escalante

    Quote:Sounds like she could have had Cushing's Disease, a polycystic ovarian disease or possibly just a case of hirtuism.

    So if any of you know a woman with hair growing in places typical only of men then I stongly suggest they quit going for electolysis and instead make an appointment with their doctor for some simple lab work to be done.

    It may be a sign of a more serious underlying condition...


    -- who knew AD could improve some poor hairy woman's life eh?

    :-O

    Actually, back then, women weren't allowed to be in plays, so men did the whole thing. Female parts included.

    29.3.2008 17:22 #16

  • DXR88

    Hey My Mom has got a Super Mustashe. she also is 400 pounds and will break your skull with the almighty Backhand power Slap.

    if you every see my Mom, run far away. its your only chance

    29.3.2008 19:04 #17

  • duckNrun

    @ escalante: ;-) Sorry I was trying out medical humor. Maybe I shouldn't have tried the medical marijuwana before trying the humor ppfftt. :-)

    Originally posted by DXR88: Hey My Mom has got a Super Mustashe. she also is 400 pounds and will break your skull with the almighty Backhand power Slap.

    if you every see my Mom, run far away. its your only chance
    Well with my back problems I can't run very fast so I'll just start carrying a couple twinkies, ho-ho's or snickers bars to throw the other way to confuse her!

    On a more serious note: I know this place just over the border from Laredo Texas where two guys could make some serious money with a woman like that! ROFLMAO


    edit:

    AND in case you were serious about your mom.... sorry.

    29.3.2008 23:19 #18

  • DXR88

    No Not My Mum. but i was serios about my mom.

    All the Twinky's ho-ho's and snickers in the world cant stop her ogre rampage. but i do love my mom.

    30.3.2008 15:16 #19

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