Insight into how the Victorians visualised the Shakespeare world

February 11, 2017 9:45 AM

Featuring over 3000 illustrations from four Victorian-era editions of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, the Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive allows you to browse images not only by specific plays or characters, but also by motif (like dogs). "By being able to visualize Shakespeare's plays in this way," says creator Michael John Goodman, "we can appreciate how the plays are like a hall of mirrors — they reflect certain ideas back to each other."
posted by mixedmetaphors (3 comments total)

These are great! And I can totally see where Charles Vess gets a lot of his illustration style from.
posted by Kitteh at 9:47 AM on February 11, 2017

This is amazing! I love Clowns and Jesters: thought there'd be more three-pointed hats but they don't seem to be s Victorian stereotype, single or double seem more popular. Can't see any Hamlets though.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:41 PM on February 11, 2017

The last part I played in a Shakespeare play was, "Court Musician," so I'm really digging the "Musicians and Music" tag.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:23 PM on February 11, 2017