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Rare Books and Manuscripts Library

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library here at the University of Illinois holds many of Shakespeare's works, including a first folio, quartos, work of his contemporaries, performance records, and more. You can view these materials in the RBML, but you must first register and then request them for use.

Need Help with Shakespeare's Language? Try the Oxford English Dictionary!

The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a historical dictionary of English, covering the language from the earliest times to the present day. It is available in print and electronic formats.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.

As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, and of the language—traced through 3 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.

The OED started life more than 150 years ago. Today, the dictionary is in the process of its first major revision. Updates revise and extend the OED at regular intervals, each time subtly adjusting our image of the English language.

The OED inlcudes:

OED Labs – Our goal is to further develop the OED’s offering to actively support the needs of academic research as they evolve in the coming years. Take a look at new ways to access OED data, including the OED Researcher API and the OED Text Visualizer.
Video guides: Take a look at our short guides to help you get the most out of your OED access.
Interactive graphic: Whether by sudden invention or unhurried evolution, words come into the English language in all manner of ways. The Oxford English Dictionary’s mission is to record all of these word stories, capturing their development as they continue to unfold.

Search the OED

To look up a word in the Oxford English Dictionary, simply type the work into the "Quick Search" bar.

OED

To perform and more comprehensive search, do an advanced search, which you can access by clicking the link of the same name. Here, you can search specifically by subject, language of origin, region, part of speech, usage, and date of entry. You can also search using quotations and definitions.

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When you search for a word, you'll see one of two pages. If the word has multiple usages, like a noun or a verb, the OED will direct you to choose which one you're specifically looking for. After that, you'll see a page that looks similar to this:

OED Result

The OED will tell you everything you want to know, from the origin of the word, its etymology, and its meanings and uses throughout history.

Ask a A Librarian

Key Resources

The Norton Shakespeare by Jean E. Howard (Editor); Katharine Eisaman Maus (Editor); Gordon McMullan (Editor); Stephen Greenblatt (General Editor); Walter Cohen (Editor); Suzanne Gossett (Editor)
ISBN: 9780393934991
Publication Date: 2015
The attractive print and digital bundle offers students a great reading experience at an affordable price in two ways-a hardcover volume for their dorm shelf and lifetime library, and a digital edition ideal for in-class use. Students can access the ebook from their computer, tablet, or smartphone via the registration code included in the print volume at no additional charge. As one instructor summed it up, "It's a long overdue step forward in the way Shakespeare is taught."
Arden Shakespeare Complete Works by Ann Thompson (Editor); William Shakespeare; David Scott Kastan (Editor); Richard Proudfoot (Editor)
ISBN: 9781408152010
Publication Date: 2011
This revised edition of the Arden Shakespeare Complete Works includes the full text of Double Falsehood, which was published in the Arden Third series to critical acclaim in 2010. The play is an eighteenth century rewrite of Shakespeare's "lost" play Cardenio and as such is a fascinating testament to the original. A short introduction outlines its complex textual history and the arguments for including it within the Shakespeare canon. The Complete Works contains the texts of all Shakespeare's plays, poems and sonnets, edited by leading Shakespeare scholars for the renowned Arden series. A general introduction gives the reader an overall view of how and why Shakespeare has become such an influential cultural icon, and how perceptions of his work have changed in the intervening four centuries. The introduction summarises the known facts about the dramatist's life, his reading and use of sources, and the nature of theatrical performance during his lifetime. Brief introductions to each play, written specially for this volume by the Arden General Editors, discuss the date and contemporary context of the play, its position within Shakespeare's oeuvre, and its subsequent performance history. An extensive glossary explains vocabulary which may be unfamiliar to modern readers.

The New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition contains new, modern spelling editions for each of Shakespeare's plays, all of which were edited from the original text. In addition, detailed introductions for each play as well as extensive on-page notes are provided for further understanding.

The New Oxford Shakespeare: Critical Reference Edition provides easy access to Shakespeare's works in their original spelling. It is made up of two volumes. The first contains Shakespeare's works published during his lifetime; the second gives access to the works published after his death.

The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion explores the question of authorship in regard to Shakespeare's works, containing essays and articles regarding collaboration between Shakespeare and other playwrights in specific texts.

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare provides a lucid, stimulating, and authoritative guide to Shakespeare's plays and poems, and their interpretation around the world over the last four centuries. Special feature entries on every play are included.

Shakespeare's Globe on Screen

Shakespeare's Globe on Screen
Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 1 (2008-2015):
21 plays recorded live on the Globe stage from leading actors including Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry, and Roger Allam’s Olivier Award-winning Falstaff in Henry IV.\
Shakespeare's Globe on Screen 2 (2016-2018)
9 landmark productions from the theatre’s most recent seasons, including two productions from Emma Rice’s tenure as Artistic Director.

Stream the Globe's Productions of Shakespeare

Print Resources

The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare by Margreta De Grazia (Editor); Stanley Wells (Editor)
Twenty-one essays provide lively and authoritative approaches to recent scholarship and criticism for readers keen to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Shakespeare.
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film by Russell Jackson (Editor)
Film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays are increasingly popular and now figure prominently in the study of his work and its reception. This lively Companion is a collection of critical and historical essays on the films adapted from, and inspired by, Shakespeare's plays.
The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare by Russ McDonald
The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare introduces you to the topics most important to the study of Shakespeare in their full historical and cultural context.
Shakespeare on Stage by Stanley Wells (Editor); Sarah Stanton (Editor)
This 2002 Companion is designed for readers interested in past and present productions of Shakespeare's plays, both in and beyond Britain. Includes chapters on early staging of Shakespeare through to the present day; textual adaptation, acting, stages, scenery or theatre management; acting; and inter- and multi-culturalism
Shakespeare's Theatre by Hugh Macrae Richmond
Coverage includes the practices of Elizabethan actors and script writers: methods of characterization; gesture, blocking and choreography, including music, dance and fighting; actors' rhetorical interaction with audiences; and use of costumes, stage props and make-up.
Shakespeare: an Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1945-2000 by Russ McDonald (Editor)
Introduces students to the variety of theoretical positions,thematic claims, methodologies, and modes of argument in Shakespeare criticism over the last 50 years.
The Penguin Shakespeare Dictionary by Sandra Clark (Editor)
Covers all the plays, sonnets, and narrative poems, including detailed plot summaries and accompanying critical discussion, information on relevant literary and historical figures, and the staging of Shakespeare's plays.