The Folger Shakespeare Library has copies of every play, from the earliest printings to modern editions, and we offer carefully edited print and digital texts. Follow the links below for more information, including plot synopses, brief textual histories, and selected images from our collection.
Shakespeare Documented is an "authoritative collection of primary-source materials documenting the life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), bringing together all known manuscript and print references to Shakespeare, his works, and additional references to his family, in his lifetime and shortly thereafter. Nearly 500 references, found in roughly 400 print and manuscript documents, provide a rich portrait of Shakespeare as a professional playwright, actor, poet, business man, and family man who lived in both London and Stratford-upon-Avon."
The UMD Libraries have multiple print copies of Shakespeare's plays and poetry. The following search string in Worldcat will retrieve many of the Cambridge editions of his works along with their call numbers in McKeldin Library:
se: new cambridge shakespeare
You can also locate Arden editions of specific plays by searching in Worldcat. For example, the search terms : richard III arden will retrieve the Arden edition of Richard III. You can also search for all individual editions by using the following search terms: se:arden shakespeare
Bedford and Norton editions of specific plays are also excellent and contain a lot of historical and contextual information. They can be found in Worldcat. For example, the search terns : romeo and juliet bedford will retrieve editions of the play, Romeo and Juliet, published by Bedford. You can also search for all individual editions by using the following search terms: se: bedford shakespeare series. Norton editions can be found by searching the title of the play and the phrase norton critical edition: richard iii norton critical edition.
There are many adaptations of William Shakespeare's works which can be found by searching in Worldcat. For example, the following search will yield both print and film adaptations of the play Romeo and Juliet: ti:romeo juliet AND su:adaptations. Use this same convention for adaptations of other plays ti: title of play AND su:adaptations.
