The Shakespeare Collection“Much Ado about Much”

ShakespeareShakespeare …As You Like ItRich, relevant, convenient …elegant!

Merging the flexibility and ease-of-use of a database with the rich, complex content of academic research sources, Gale,™ part of Cengage Learning offers the latest innovation in Shakespearean research, The Shakespeare Collection.

This global, online environment for scholarly research brings entirely new possibilities to the study of Shakespeare and his works.

The Shakespeare Collection is the most comprehensive and authoritative online database of its kind, bringing together general reference data, full-text scholarly periodicals, reprinted criticism, primary source material and the full-text annotated works from The Arden Shakespeare, the world’s most recognized scholarly edition.

“‘Tis time to look about; the powers of the kingdom approach apace.” King Lear - Act 4, sc 7

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The Taming of the WebGale — a world leader in innovative online reference — is bringing new vitality to high-level academic resources.

The Shakespeare Collection offers unprecedented access to global resources that once were out of reach to all but a select few scholars.

Add to this immediate access to the latest thought and literary dialogue offered in dozens of scholarly journals, searched individually or collectively.

The dream of Shakespeare scholars is realized in The Shakespeare Collection, where a basic search yields results from multiple authoritative sources.

Enter a keyword, a title, a name or phrase to search within the entire collection, or limit your search by content set. You can also selectively search specific Shakespearean works from the uncommonly simple Basic Search page

“ I have dreamed tonight; I’ll tell you my dream. Here, here, here be my keys: ascend my chambers; search, seek, find out.”

The Merry Wives of Windsor - Act 3, Sc 3

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“Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.” Henry VI, Part 2 – Act 3, Sc 1

Depth is the hallmark of The Shakespeare Collection, but not at the expense of efficiency. Powerful search functionality gives you nearly limitless options for conducting advanced research.

Use the Advanced Search to zero-in on a specific content type; string together search terms according to a host of criteria; limit your results by publication, title, date or a range of dates; specify only full-text or peer-reviewed articles

“ We the globe can compass soon, swifter than the wandering moon.”

Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act IV, Sc I

Results are delivered swiftly, arranged under tabs according to content type, so you won’t waste precious minutes finding the results you seek. You can additionally sort your results by author, date or relevance

“ Knowing that I loved my books, he furnished me, from mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom.”

The Tempest - Act 1, Sc. 2

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You don’t have to travel great distances to gain the intimacy and historical context that prompt books or the handwritten diaries of Gordon Crosse offer researchers. They’re on your desktop to study at your own pace

View full-text documents from The Arden Shakespeare scholarly edition alongside relevant notes. Students won’t waste time shuttling between pages or separate volumes to gain understanding of key passages

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All’s Well that Begins WellWe consulted scholars from universities in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Americas to shape the content in The Shakespeare Collection and determine which functionality would best meet the needs of both students and instructors.

Advisory Board:

• Prof. Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame (Head of Board) • Prof. Michael Best, University of Victoria (Canada) • Prof. David Bevington, The University of Chicago • Dr. Charles Edelman, Edith Cowan University (Australia) • Prof. Barbara Hodgdon, University of Michigan • Prof. Andreas Höfele, University of Munich (Germany) • Prof. Jean Howard, Columbia University • Prof. Russell Jackson, The University of Birmingham • Prof. Tetsuo Kishi, Kyoto University (Japan)• Prof. Steven Mullaney, University of Michigan • Prof. Michael Neill, The University of Auckland (New Zealand)• Dr. Carol Chillington Rutter, The University of Warwick (UK)

“ Faith there’s a dozen of ‘em, with delicate fine hats and most courteous feathers, which bow the head and nod at every man.”

All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, Scene 5

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The Arden fully annotated scholarly editions of the complete works of ShakespeareThe Arden Shakespeare, the established scholarly edition of Shakespeare’s plays, offers the best in contemporary scholarship. Since the First Series was launched in 1899, Arden has maintained the goal of addressing the changing needs of educators, students, scholars and general readers

who want a richer understanding of Shakespeare’s works.

Each fully searchable edition provides:

• A clear and authoritative text, edited to the highest standards of scholarship

• Detailed notes and commentary alongside the text

• A full introduction to the play’s historical, cultural and performance contexts

• An in-depth survey of critical approaches to the play

Full-text criticism on Shakespeare and his works, and performances of his works Online access to full-text coverage from Gale’s acclaimed series Shakespearean Criticism - Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare’s Plays & Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations, which includes:

• Critical overviews of each play and criticism from the 17th century to the present

• The history of Shakespeare's plays on the stage and in important film adaptations

• Criticism published since 1960 to provide a thematic approach to Shakespeare's works

• Essays representing a survey of Shakespearean scholarship

Full-text journals Access to full-text scholarly journals focusing on a range of literary and interdisciplinary topics, such as the Renaissance, Elizabethan studies, Early Modern English studies, film studies and more.

Among them:

• Shakespeare Studies• Shakespeare Bulletin• Shakespeare Newsletter• Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900• Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England• Early Modern Literary Studies

The Shakespeare Collection offers content in infinite variety:

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Selections from Primary Source Media™ — Four Centuries of Shakespeare, The Prompt Book collectionsShakespeare scholars, theater historians, performers and production specialists discover the working texts of stage managers and company prompters, actors’ study books and notes on staging and role interpretation from four important collections:

The Folger Shakespeare Library Collection – Washington D.C. This collection represents the world’s largest assemblage of prompt books. From the 17th to the 20th centuries, the collection covers American Shakespearean productions fully, with details of plays performed in Boston, Chicago, New York and other cities.

Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College LibraryPrompt books in this collection vividly recreate British and American Shakespearean productions of the 19th century, an age of outstanding achievement by the great actor-managers.

By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

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The Shakespeare Library Collection – Birmingham Public Library, England Covering a great range of productions in England between 1811 and 1929, this part of the collection offers insights into both touring London plays and the Birmingham Theatre Royal’s own productions.

The Shakespeare Centre Library Collection – Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon The primary archive for all the records of the Stratford theatres is the Shakespeare Centre. It contains prompt books, dating from the early 18th century to 1975.

The Gordon Crosse Theatrical Diaries – a rare eyewitness account of Shakespeare productionsBorn in 1874, Gordon Crosse was a Shakespeare enthusiast of almost unequalled ardor. He attended more than 500 Shakespeare performances during his lifetime, witnessing performances of nearly every major Shakespearean actor and practically every major U.K. Shakespeare production from 1890 to 1953. He documented each performance in remarkable detail in the Diaries.

Because Crosse was an exceptionally knowledgeable playgoer, the Diaries are a vivid and valuable record for Shakespearean scholars. His familiarity with the text enabled him to note and comment on cuts or alterations to the language in a way that few reviewers could duplicate. For anyone who wishes to know what performances by the great Shakespearean actors during this time period were actually like, the Diaries are required reading.

Works from Shakespeare’s timeThese include complete digital copies of The First Folio and 29 of the Quartos, provided by agreement with Octavo, as well as editions and adaptations of Shakespeare’s works from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The Collection also includes facsimile copies of more than 80 works by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, like Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy and Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, and works Shakespeare is thought to have been familiar with, such as Plutarch’s Lives and Timothy Bright’s Treatise of Melancholy.

All the World Wide Web’s a stage!

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Reference related to Shakespeare’s life, time and worksTo provide social and historical context relevant to the study of these works and more, we’ve included the full text of:

Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (Charles Scribner’s Sons)

“ This six-volume reference work will prove to be an indispensable resource on any topic imaginable (from cooking methods to midwifery) in Renaissance studies... This reference will serve lay readers, students, and scholars. Highly recommended...”

— Library Journal

William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence (Charles Scribner’s Sons)

This multi-volume reference was a labor of love extensively researched by 60 Shakespeare specialists and edited by John F. Andrews, founder and CEO of The Shakespeare Guild. Its articles provide introductions to personalities, settings, literary terms and events that serve as backdrop to Shakespeare’s works.

“This and much more, much more than twice all this…” King Richard II, Act 3, Scene 1

• Photographs, line drawings, maps and other illustrations covering performance, theater and life and times

• Biocritical narrative essays on Shakespearean actors, actresses and directors

• Facsimile texts of possible sources and works by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, such as Plutarch’s “Lives” and Thomas Kyd’s “The Spanish Tragedy”

“Come, and take choice of all my library, and so beguile thy sorrow.”

Titus Andronicus – Act IV, sc I

Sign up for your free trial“I’ll see their trial first. Bring in the evidence.” King Lear – Act 3, Sc 4

As any student or devotee of Shakespeare will attest, nothing brings a greater appreciation for a work than to witness a live performance.

The same holds true for The Shakespeare Collection. We encourage you to sign up for a free trial and then go online and explore this groundbreaking resource from curtain to curtain.

Please visit www.gale.com/shakespeareFor more information, contact your Gale Representative. In the U.S. and Canada call: 1-800-877-GALE or visit www.gale.com. Outside the U.S. and Canada: visit www.gale.com/world for a list of Distributors and Sales Offices.

“The clock gives me my cue, and my assurance bids me search.” The Merry Wives of Windsor - Act 3, Sc 2

Measure for Measure, the most complete online resource for

the study of Shakespeare

“Now we go in content to liberty…” As You Like It (Act I, scene III)

Banish the demons that imperil your research – the scarcity of time, distances untraveled, the library underfunded.

You are free to research or study to your heart’s content.

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