Top of the Bills … Invaluable — The Guardian
The Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive contains over 3000 illustrations taken from the most significant illustrated editions of Shakespeare’s plays in the Victorian period.
The Archive has expanded recently — up to 2026 — as more editions have been added to it to make it even richer and give it more depth. These editions include the one by John Tallis, which features famous actors of the time in character; the first ever full-colour treatment of the plays in an edition, published by John Murdoch; the biggest selling illustrated Shakespeare edition in the Victorian period published by John Dicks; and Charles Knight’s Imperial Edition. The Archive now contains ten editions of Shakespeare’s plays (it originally launched with four) and is fairly comprehensive in how people experienced Shakespeare visually, in book form, in the UK in the mid to late 19th Century. There is even two colouring books users can download for free!
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Brush up your Shakespeare in a brave new illustrated world
What comes to mind when you think of Shakespeare? The latest Kenneth Branagh film, perhaps? Struggling to make sense of the language in school? Merry Englande, ruffs and a good dose of “Hey nonny nonny”? If we could somehow put this question to a Victorian, there is a good chance that they would answer: “Illustrations!”
The Victorian era was the “Golden Age” for Shakespeare illustration. Between 1839 and the end of the century thousands of illustrations were produced within many different editions of Shakespeare’s Complete Works. New printing technologies meant that books could be produced on a mass commercial scale and illustrated books, for the first time, became affordable to working and middle-class families.
What is so fascinating about these illustrated Shakespeare editions, which were hugely popular in the Victorian era, is that they form a significant part of our cultural heritage and, indeed, our construction of Shakespeare’s plays as we understand them today. Unfortunately, these illustrations are often hidden away in rare-books libraries, meaning that they are often inaccessible to the public. The Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive – available at http://www.shakespeareaillustration.org – seeks to rectify this.
It is an online, open-access resource which contains more than 3,000 of these Victorian illustrations, and it is centred on the four most significant Victorian editions and illustrators of Shakespeare’s Complete Works: Charles Knight, Kenny Meadows, John Gilbert and H.C. Selous.
The archive came about when I was exploring ideas for my PhD in English literature at Cardiff University. Initially the project was just going to be concerned with analysing how Victorian illustrators depicted Shakespeare’s plays. However, as my research progressed, it slowly became apparent that there was a remarkable under-explored and under-appreciated treasure trove of fantastic, curious, and often unnerving illustrations that deserved to be shared with both academics and the wider public.
The illustrations by the Cardigan-born Kenny Meadows, who one of his contemporaries described as an “erratic genius”, are a perfect example of the richness of material available in the archive.
Fortunately, digital technology allows us to reach audiences in a way that is unprecedented. Digital archives allow us to recover hidden histories, celebrate forgotten voices, to enhance our understanding of bygone eras and to disseminate cultural artefacts in an engaging and innovative fashion.
It was with these ideas in mind – about what can be achieved using the digital – I decided to create The Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive. This was, of course, a large undertaking. Each of these editions contain hundreds of illustrations which would require scanning into the computer, and being given the appropriate bibliographical and iconographical meta data (basically, the details about where the image came from and what the image contains), so that the illustrations would then be searchable within the archive.
Furthermore, I wanted the archive to be as user-friendly as possible and to incorporate the ability to use social media so that users could comment upon and share the images on Facebook and Twitter. After four years of working on the project, I launched the archive and the reaction it has received has been hugely positive.
The BBC, for example, have made a short video about the archive for social media, while Digital Arts magazine have credited it as being one of the top nine websites for free historical images. Many online literary magazines have also written about the archive, including Lit Hub, while UK Shakespeare Magazine has described it as a “deeply wonderful thing”. As kind and generous as these reactions have been, what I take most from them is that there is a real desire among members of the public to engage with academic work.
Ultimately, I hope the archive will be used in education to help students of all ages to better understand Shakespeare’s plays and by researchers interested in the Victorian period. However, the archive is available for anyone to use in whatever way they wish.
Moreover, I would like to inspire other people to have the confidence to make similar archives and to recognise that with curiosity, imagination and creativity we can make scholarship exciting, interesting and available to all. We now live in a world where, thanks to technology, we can begin to share our cultural history, not just with a privileged few, but everyone.
In the words of Shakespeare: “What’s past is prologue.”
Selected Media Coverage
Who Do You Think You Are? Series 18, Episode 2: Judy Dench
‘To Browse or Not to Browse? 3,000 Victorian Illustrations of Shakespeare Published Online’, Hyperallergic, September 29, 2016. Available at: https://hyperallergic.com/326101/to-browse-or-not-to-browse-3000-victorian-illustrations-of-shakespeare-published-online/
‘3,000 Illustrations of Shakespeare’s Complete Works from Victorian England, Neatly Presented in a New Digital Archive’, Open Culture, September 1, 2016. Available at: http://www.openculture.com/2016/09/3000-illustrations-of-shakespeares-complete-works-from-victorian-england.html
‘1000s of historic Shakespeare illustrations are now free to download and use’, Digital Arts, January 10, 2017. Available at: https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/illustration/1000s-of-historic-shakespeare-illustrations-are-now-free-download-use/
‘Free Old Images and Photos: 12 Best Sites for Free Vintage Photos and Artworks’, Digital Arts, January 29, 2018. Available at: https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/illustration/free-old-images-photos-12-best-sites-for-free-vintage-photos-artworks/
‘The Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive’, Fine Books Magazine, January 30, 2017. Available at: https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2017/01/the-victorian-illustrated-shakespeare-archive.phtml
‘Victorian Shakespeare illustrations now online’, Shakespeare’s Globe, January 13, 2017. Available at: https://blog.shakespearesglobe.com/post/155811510648/victorian-shakespeare-illustrations-now-online
‘Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive’, Cardiff University News, November 30, 2016. Available at: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/523007-victorian-illustrated-shakespeare-archive
‘Weird and Hilarious Illustrations from Victorian-Era Shakespeare Plays’, Lit Hub, February 2, 2017. Available at: https://lithub.com/weird-and-hilarious-illustrations-from-victorian-era-shakespeare-plays/
‘Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive’, BBC Shakespeare, October 6, 2018. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/BBCShakespeare/videos/2138039096435014/