Holdings

At the core of the Library is its systematic collection of publications on William Shakespeare and his age, including English drama from the beginnings to 1642. There is also a representative range of criticism and scholarship on other aspects of the early modern period: poetry and prose, history and politics, theology, law, and the arts. This is supplemented by sections on literary theory (with an emphasis on drama) and theatre history, especially English and European.

The Library owns facsimiles of Shakespeare quartos and folios as well as of many non-Shakespearean texts from the early modern period. Our holdings additionally include reprints of most major Shakespeare editions from the eighteenth and the ninetenth century. There is also a growing collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Shakespeare texts and criticism in original editions.

We have substantial holdings on Shakespeare’s reception both within and beyond Britain, with the reception of Shakespeare in Germany being a natural area of interest. German Shakespeare translations from the eighteenth century to contemporary stage versions and adaptations are among the highlights of the Library’s holdings. They are complemented by an extensive collection of secondary literature on various aspects of translating Shakespeare into German.

Our theatre archive currently holds around 30,000 reviews of both established and experimental Shakespeare productions in the German-speaking countries, going back to the 1960s (some material covers earlier parts of the twentieth century). The archive also includes programmes, photographs, and posters provided by theatres themselves.

The Library also owns more than 14,000 scholarly essays and articles (photocopies and printoffs), manuscripts, typescripts, theatre scripts, and other material. This material is not listed in the University Library’s electronic catalogue but can be freely accessed on site.

The vast majority of our printed holdings are searchable through the University Library's electronic catalogue (OPAC). For all other holdings, our card catalogue continues to be updated. This catalogue also documents the detailed system of cross-references that was established at the Library upon its foundation in 1964.