The Shakespearean Archive: Experiments in New Media from the Renaissance to Postmodernity

348 Pages·2014·3.967 MB·English

by  Alan Galey

The Shakespearean Archive
WhyisShakespearesooftenassociatedwithinformationtechnologiesand
withtheideaofarchivingitself?AlanGaleyexploresthisquestionthrough
the entwined histories of Shakespearean texts and archival technologies
over the past four centuries. In chapters dealing with the archive, the
book, photography, sound, information, and data, Galey analyzes how
Shakespearebecameprototypicalmaterialforpublishingexperimentsand
new media projects, as well as for theories of archiving and computing.
Analyzing examples of the Shakespearean archive from the seventeenth
century to today, he takes an original approach to Shakespeare and new
media that will be of interest to scholars of the digital humanities,
Shakespeare studies, archives, and media history. Rejecting the idea that
current forms of computing are the result of technical forces beyond the
scopeofhumanistinquiry,thisbookinsteadoffersacriticalprehistoryof
digitizationreadthroughtheafterlivesofShakespeare’stexts.
alan galey is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information at the
University of Toronto. His research focuses on intersections between tex-
tualscholarshipanddigitaltechnologies.Hehaspublishedinjournalssuch
as Shakespeare Quarterly and Archival Science, and his article “The
EnkindlingReciter:E-BooksintheBibliographicalImagination,”inBook
History(2012),wasawardedtheFredsonBowersPrizebytheSocietyfor
TextualScholarship.Heisalsotheco-editorofShakespeare,theBible,and
theFormoftheBook:ContestedScriptures(2011).

The Shakespearean
Archive
Experiments in New Media from
the Renaissance to Postmodernity
alan galey
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107040649
©AlanGaley2014
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2014
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Galey,Alan,1975–
TheShakespeareanarchive:experimentsinnewmediafromthe
Renaissancetopostmodernity/AlanGaley.
pages cm
ISBN978-1-107-04064-9(hardback)
1. Shakespeare,William,1564–1616–Criticismand
interpretation–History. 2. Shakespeare,William,
1564–1616–Criticism,Textual. 3. Shakespeare,
William,1564–1616–Bibliography. 4. Shakespeare,William,
1564–1616–studyandteaching–Technologicalinnovations.
5. Shakespeare,William,1564–1616–Inmassmedia.
6. Archives–Technologicalinnovations.
7. Archivalmaterials–Digitization. 8. Literatureandtechnology. I. Title.
PR2965.G35 2014
822.303–dc23 2014019406
ISBN978-1-107-04064-9(hardback)
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
ForGerryandJoanGaley
andinmemoryofEvelynGaley,1919–2006

Contents
Listoffigures pageviii
Preface xi
Listofabbreviations xv
1 Introduction:scenesfromtheprehistoryofdigitization 1
2 Leavesofbrass:Shakespeareandtheideaofthearchive 41
3 Thearchiveandthebook:informationarchitectures
fromFoliotovariorum 78
4 ThecounterfeitpresentmentsofVictorianphotography 118
5 InventingShakespeare’svoice:earlysoundtransmissionand
recording 158
6 Networksofdeepimpression:Shakespeareandthemodern
inventionofinformation 200
7 Dataandtheghostsofmateriality 236
8 Conclusion:sitesofShakespeareanmemory 271
Bibliography 281
Index 308
vii
Figures
1.1 TeenaRochfortSmith’sFour-TextHamlet(1883).
ReproducedbypermissionoftheFolgerShakespeare
Library. page24
2.1 StatueoutsidetheNationalArchivesBuilding,
WashingtonDC.Photographbytheauthor. 50
2.2 DetailofFigure2.1andquotationfromTheTempestasit
appearsinShakespeare’sFirstFolio.Reproducedby
permissionoftheFolgerShakespeareLibrary. 52
3.1 The1623FirstFolio’stitlepageandfacingpoemasthey
appearintheRoyalOrdnanceSurvey’sfacsimile(1862).
ReproducedbypermissionoftheThomasFisherRare
BookLibrary,UniversityofToronto. 85
3.2 The1623FirstFoliocataloguepagewithmanuscript
corrections.ReproducedbypermissionoftheState
LibraryofNewSouthWales. 90
3.3 HoraceHowardFurnessinhisprivatelibrary.
ReproducedbypermissionoftheHoraceHowardFurness
MemorialLibrary,UniversityofPennsylvania. 115
4.1 Hamletquotedinastereoscopeadvertisement
appearinginoneofthefirstserialpartsofCharles
Dickens’sLittleDorrit(1856).Reproducedbypermission
oftheThomasFisherRareBookLibrary,Universityof
Toronto. 123
4.2 Platetitled“ASceneinaLibrary”fromWilliamHenry
FoxTalbot,ThePencilofNature(1844–6).Reproduced
bypermissionofGeorgeEastmanHouse,International
MuseumofPhotographyandFilm. 128
4.3 Platetitled“AFac-simileofanOldPrintedPage”
fromWilliamHenryFoxTalbot,ThePencilofNature
(1844–6).ReproducedbypermissionofGeorgeEastman
House,InternationalMuseumofPhotographyandFilm. 129
viii
Listoffigures ix
4.4 Compositephotographofvariousportraitsof
Shakespeare(1885).Reproducedbypermissionofthe
FolgerShakespeareLibrary. 132
4.5 TitlepagewithJohnPayneCollier’sinscriptionfroma
copyoftheDevonshireQ1Hamletfacsimile(1858).
ReproducedbypermissionoftheFolgerShakespeare
Library. 137
4.6 DetailofFigure3.1,showingmodifiedpublisher’simprint
asitappearsintheRoyalOrdnanceSurvey’sfacsimileof
theShakespeareFirstFolio(1862).Reproducedby
permissionoftheThomasFisherRareBookLibrary,
UniversityofToronto. 150
5.1 DetailofaNationalPhonographCompanyadvertisement,
captionedwithaparaphrasefromTroilusandCressida,
fromMcClure’sMagazine,31.1(May1908). 163
5.2 LinesofHamletrenderedasVisibleSpeechinAlexander
MelvilleBell’spamphletEnglishLine-Writing:ANew,
Simple,andExactSystemofPhonetics(1886).
ReproducedbypermissionoftheNewYorkPublic
Library,Astor,Lenox,andTildenFoundations,General
ResearchDivision. 166
5.3 TwoelectricpensamplesfromEdison’snotebooks,
showingtheopeninglinesofRichardIIIandabusiness
letter.ReproducedbypermissionoftheThomasA.Edison
PapersProject,RutgersUniversity. 171
5.4 Bell’stelephonedemoinSalem,MA,withremote
participantscallinginfromBoston,ScientificAmerican
(31March1877). 179
5.5 CartoondepictingatelephonelinkbetweenBostonand
Providence,fromBell’sdemoinBostonasdepictedinthe
BostonSundayTimes(6May1877). 184
6.1 ShannonandWeaver’smathematicalmodelof
communication. 207
6.2 Theword“Inde”writteninmid-sixteenthcentury
secretaryhand,fromBodleianMSDigby145,f.91r.
ReproducedbypermissionofTheBodleianLibrary,
UniversityofOxford. 210