Research Guides: Shakespeare Resources: Online Tools

Websites

Cambridge English Renaissance Electronic Service (CERES)
CERES, the Cambridge English Renaissance Electronic Service, was started in October 1996 in response to the developing importance of electronic media in literary research. Aimed at those working in the area of English Renaissance literature and its environs, it offered its members a Starter Guide.
English Books Online-Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP)
More than 25,000 manually transcribed texts from 1473-1700 that have been released into the public domain. An anticipated 40,000 additional texts are planned for release into the public domain by the end of the decade. The texts represent a significant portion of the estimated total output of English-language work published during the first two centuries of printing.
English Short Title Catalogue
The English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) lists over 460,000 items published between 1473 and 1800; these were mainly written in English, and were published primarily in the British Isles and North America.
Folger Shakespeare Library
Includes information about Shakespeare's life and works, as well as answers to the most frequently asked questions about Shakespeare and links to the best Shakespeare-related sites on the web.
Open Source Shakespeare
Search texts, characters & concordance on this site.

Shakespeare Documented
This collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, the British Library, the Shakespeare Birth Trust, and the National Archives, which was convened by the Folger Shakespeare Library, is perhaps the largest collection of primary-source materials related to William Shakespeare. The exhibit concentrates its considerable erudition on documents contemporary to Shakespeare's life and times.
Map of Early Modern London
This site "maps the streets, sites, and significant boundaries of late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century London. You will see many of the theatres and landmarks of Shakespeare's time, and learn about the history and culture of the city in which he lived and worked."