Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough
in his Foreword to Charlton Ogburn’s
The Mysterious William Shakespeare.
“[T]his brilliant, powerful book is a major event for everyone who cares about Shakespeare. The scholarship is surpassing—brave, original, full of surprise—and in the hands of so gifted a writer it fairly lights up the sky… Anyone who considers the Shakespeare controversy silly or a lot of old stuff is in for a particular surprise. This is scholarly detective work at its most absorbing. More, it is close analysis by a writer with a rare sense of humanity. The strange, difficult, contradictory man who emerges as the real Shakespeare, Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, is not just plausible but fascinating and wholly believable. It is hard to imagine anyone who reads the book with an open mind ever seeing Shakespeare or his works in the same way again.”
____________
For a superb introduction to the Shakespeare Authorship controversy, go to
The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship.
Our Purpose
This Sourcebook aims to provide direct and comprehensive online access to evidence and arguments related to the Shakespeare authorship controversy as it applies to Shakspere of Stratford and Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. As much as possible, this site will provide uncluttered access to original texts and documents. Oxfordians believe that open minds free to access original sources and factual evidence will be persuaded.
For my background on this issue, please read Why I Became an Oxfordian.
Shakespeare
Chronologies
Shakspere/Shakespeare Chronology
In the Oxfordian Library
25 Poems and Lyrics and Letters by Edward de Vere
Looney, J. Thomas
1920 “Shakespeare” Identified (online text)
1920 “Shakespeare” Identified (24MB PDF of 1st edition)
1921 The Poems of Edward De Vere (PDF)
Sir George Greenwood
A Brief Biography of Sir George Greenwood
1908 The Shakespeare Problem Restated (PDF)
1909 In re Shakespeare: Beeching vs Greenwood (PDF)
1911 The Vindicators of Shakespeare (PDF)
1916 Sir Sidney Lee’s New Edition of A Life of William Shakespeare (PDF)
1916 Is There a Shakespeare Problem? (PDF 40MB)
1916 Shakespeare’s Law and Latin (PDF)
1916 Shakespeare’s Law and Latin [Amazon Kindle]
1920 Shakespere’s_Handwriting (PDF)
1920 Shakespeare’s Law (PDF)
1920 Shakespeare’s Law (html)
1921 Ben Johnson and Shakespeare (PDF)
1922 Baconian Essays (Introduction and two essays) (PDF)
1922 Baconian Essays (Complete) (PDF 10MB)
1923 Life, Shakespeare and a Tertium Quid [TBD]
1924 Shakespeare’s Signature and “Sir Thomas More”
…(2nd edition of Shakspere’s Handwriting of 1920) [TBD]
1925 The Stratford Bust and the Droeshout Engraving [TBD]
Hubert H. Holland
1923 Shakespeare Through Oxford Glasses (PDF)
Clark, Eva Turner
1926 Auxiophilus, or Oxford Alias Shakespeare (PDF)
Allen, Percy
1929 Shakespeare and Chapman as Topical Dramatists (PDF 18MB)
1930 The Case for Edward De Vere 17th Earl of Oxford (to be scanned)
1931 The Oxford-Shakespeare Case Corroborated (to be scanned)
1932 The Life Story of Edward De Vere as Shakespeare (PDF 21MB)
1934 Anne Cecil, Elizabeth and Oxford (PDF 66MB)
Ward, B. M.
1928 The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford 1550-1604 (PDF 37MB)
Ogburn, Dorothy and Charlton
1952 This Star of England (online text / PDFs)
Rendall, Gerald
1930 Shakespeare Sonnets and Edward De Vere by Gerald Rendall (PDF 14MB)
1934 Personal Clues in Shakespeare’s Poems and Sonnets (PDF 12MB)
Douglas, Montagu W.
1934 Lord Oxford Was “Shakespeare” (PDF 13MB)
The Writings of Charles Wisner Barrell, 1940-1948 (online text)
The Writings of Gwynneth Bowen, 1951-1974 (online text)
Links to a Variety of 20th- and 21st-Century Oxfordian Authors
Oxfordian Essays, etc.
Alexander, Mark
Shakespeare’s Knowledge of Law: A Journey through the History of the Argument (The Oxfordian 2001)
Shakespeare and Oxford: 25 Curious Connections (PowerPoint)
Polonius as Lord Burghley (using orthodox sources)
Brazil, Robert
“New Evidence Confirms Oxford’s Birthday”
“Gabriel Harvey’s Relationship with Oxford”
“London Theatres, and Children’s Acting Companies“ (PDF)
“Friedrich Nietzsche and the Shakespeare Authorship Controversy (PDF)
with Flues, Barboura, 2010
Glossary of Elizabethan Literature (PDF)
Complete Archive of ElizabethanAuthors.Org site:
ElizabethanAuthors1.pdf
ElizabethanAuthors2.pdf
ElizabethanAuthors3.pdf
ElizabethanAuthors4.pdf
Kennedy, Richard
Between the Lines (PDF) A brief consideration of the odd nature of the publication of SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.
“The Scudemore Cypher” (PDF) Demonstrating a cypher for De Vere’s name in a poem in A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres
Malim, Richard
“On Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit“
Showerman, Earl (On Shakespeare’s Greek)
Orestes and Hamlet, from Myth to Masterpiece (2004 PDF)
Gods and Greeks in The Winter’s Tale (2007 PDF)
Timon of Athens: Shakespeare’s Sophoclean Tragedy (2009 PDF)
The Rediscovery of Shakespeare’s Greater Greek (2015 PDF)
Werth, Andrew (On Shakespeare’s Greek)
Shakespeare’s “Lesse Greek” (2002 PDF)
Oxfordian Videos
Shakespeare Authorship Question: Why Was I Never Told This? (6 min)
Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Mark Rylance Discuss the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt (30 min)
Mark Twain’s “Is Shakespeare Dead?” with Keir Culter, PHD (44 min)
Did Shakespeare Really Write Shakespeare – Tom Regnier (90 min)
Texts Dedicated to Edward De Vere
The Histories of Trogus Pompeius by Arthur Golding, 1564 (facsimile PDF 64MB)
An Æthiopian Historie Written in Greeke by Heliodorus by Thomas Underdowne, 1569 (PDF, 1587 edition)
Pesistratus and Catanea by Edmund Elviden, 1570 (text at Early English Books Online) (facsimile PDF of dedication)
Cardanus Comforte translated by Thomas Bedingfield, 1571 (facsimile PDF 65MB) Hank Whittemore’s essay on “Hamlet’s Book” (1 of 4)
Il Cortegiano (The Courtier) translated into Latin by Bartholomew Clerke, 1571
Introduction in Latin by Edward De Vere (facsimile PDF) Hank Whittemore’s essay on Oxford’s Latin Preface
The Psalms of David translated by Arthur Golding, 1571 (seeking)
The Breviary of Britain translated by Thomas Twyne, 1573 (text at Early English Books Online)
Oleum Magistral translated by George Baker, 1574 (facsimile PDF) Hank Whittemore’s essay on Shakespeare’s Medical Knowledge (1 of 2)
The Staff of Christian Faith by John Brooke, 1577 (seeking)
The Mirrour of Mutabilitie by Anthony Munday, 1579
(text at Early English Books Online)
The Mirrour of Mutabilitie by Anthony Munday, 1579 (facsimile PDF 24MB)
Hank Whittemore’s essay on Anthony Munday
The Defence of Militarie Profession by Geoffrey Gates, 1579 (seeking) (cover/first page of dedication)
Zelauto The Fountaine of Fame by Anthony Munday, 1580 (text at Early English Books Online)
Euphues and His England by John Lyly, 1580 (PDF)
A Short Discourse upon Surgery translated by John Hester, 1580
(facsimile PDF 51MB, original is a bit rough)
Diverse Sermons of Calvin by Thomas Stocker, 1581 (seeking)
The Ekatompathia or Passionate Centurie of Loue by Thomas Watson, 1582 (facsimile PDF)
Hank Whittemore’s essay on Thomas Watson (1 of 2)
The Carde of Fancie by Robert Greene, 1584 (PDF)
Pandora The Mvsyque of the Beavtie of His Mistresse Diana by John Soowthern, 1584 (facsimile PDF)
Pandora The Mvsyque of the Beavtie of His Mistresse Diana by John Soowthern, 1584 (Ron Hess Transcription and notes)
The English Secretary by Angel Daye, 1586 (text at Early English Books Online)
Palmerin d’Oliva Part I The Mirrour of Nobilitie by Anthony Munday, 1588 (text at Early English Books Online)
Palmerin d’Oliva Part II The Mirrour of Nobilitie by Anthony Munday, 1588 “Dedication” (seeking)
The Fairie Queen by Edmund Spenser, 1590
Plainsong Diverse & Dundrie by John Farmer, 1591 (text at Early English Books Online)
Strange Newes by Thomas Nashe, 1592 (PDF)
Ecclesiastes, otherwise Called the Preacher by Henry Lok, 1597 (text at Early English Books Online) Dedication near the end. (facsimile PDF of dedication)
The First Book of English Madrigals by John Farmer, 1599 (text at Early English Books Online) Hank Whittemore’s essay on John Farmer
The English Secretary by Angel Daye, 1599 (revised edition) (facsimile PDF 21MB)
New and Old Physic by George Baker, 1599 (text at Early English Books Online)
Dedicated to the Countess of Oxeforde.
Anagrammata, by Francis Davison, 1603 (text at Early English Books Online)
Texts Praising Edward De Vere
The Arte of English Posie 1589 (PDF)
Palladis Tamia: Wit’s Treasury by Frances Meres, 1598 (modern spelling PDF)
Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois by George Chapman, 1613 (PDF)
The Compleat Gentleman by Henry Peacham, 1622 (PDF)
Hank Whittemore’s essay on Henry Peacham
Honour in his Perfection, by Gervaise Markham, 1624 (transcript at U. Oxford)
Athenae Oxonienses and Fasti Oxonienses by Anthony Wood, 1675 (PDF 80MB)
A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England, Horace Walpole, 1758 (PDF)
Bibliographica Poetica: A Catalogue of English Poets, Joseph Ritson, 1802 (PDF)
Plays Probably Written by Edward De Vere
The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet by Arthur Brook, 1562 (PDF)
Edmund Ironside by Anonymous, c. 1587 (modern spelling PDF)
The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, Part 1 (Facsimile PDF)
The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, Part 2 (Facsimile PDF)
Arden of Feversham by Anonymous, 1592 (facsimile PDF)
Arden of Feversham by Anonymous, 1592 (modern spelling PDF)
The True Tragedy of Richard the Third by Anonymous, 1594 (modern spelling PDF)
The Taming of a Shrew, 1596 (facsimile PDF)
The Famovs Victories of Henry the Fifth, 1598 (facsimile PDF)
The Famovs Victories of Henry the Fifth, 1598 (original spelling PDF)
The True Chronicle History of King Leir, 1605 (facsimile PDF)
Other Elizabethan Texts
Arthur Golding
Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated by Arthur Golding, 1567
(online transcript)
Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated by Arthur Golding, 1567
(original spelling transcript and glossary PDF)
Ovid’s Metamorphoses translated by Arthur Golding, 1567
(PDF 10MB, edited by W.H.D. Rouse)
A Tragedie of Abraham’s Sacrifice translated by Arthur Golding, 1575
(original spelling PDF)
A Tragedie of Abraham’s Sacrifice translated by Arthur Golding, 1575
(modern spelling PDF)
The Woorke of the Excellent Philosopher Seneca translated by Arthur Golding, 1579 (facsimile PDF 47MB)
Politicke, Moral, and Martial Discourses translated by Arthur Golding, 1595 (PDF)
Arthur Golding’s Biography and List of Works
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1550s-1560s
Tottel’s Miscellany 1557 (PDF)
Tottel’s Miscellany Vol. II, Notes edited by Hyder E. Rollins, 1557 (PDF)
Old English Ballades edited by Hyder E. Rollins, 1553-1625 (PDF)
Clarke, William Painter
The Palace of Pleasure, Volume I 1566 (PDF)
The Palace of Pleasure, Volume II 1566 (PDF)
The Palace of Pleasure, Volume III 1566 (PDF)
Horestes (A Newe Enterlude of Vice) by John Pikeryng, 1567
(facsimile PDF)
Horestes (A Newe Enterlude of Vice) by John Pikeryng, 1567
(modern spelling PDF)
1570s
Damon and Pithias by Richard Edwardes, 1571 (modern English PDF)
An Homily Against Disobedience and Willful Rebellion by George North, 1571 (PDF)
A Treatise of Treasons (possibly by Oxford), 1572 (text at Early English Books Online) (modern spelling)
A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres by George Gascoigne, 1573 (PDF)
The Posies of George Gasciogne Esquire by George Gascoigne,1575 (PDF)
A Paradise of Dainty Devices edited by Hyder E. Rollins, 1576 (PDF)
The Shoole of Abuse by Stephan Gosson, 1579 (PDF)
1580s
Evphves, The Anatomy of Wit and Evphves and His England by John Lyly, editions of 1579, 1580, 1581, 1583, (PDF)
The Ekatompathia or Passionate Centurie of Loue by Thomas Watson, 1582
(facsimile PDF)
The Hekatompathia or Passionate Centurie of Love by Thomas Watson, 1582
(modern spelling PDF)
Sapho and Phao by John Lyly, 1584 (modern spelling PDF)
Leycesters Common-wealth (possibly by Oxford) 1584 (facsimile PDF of 1641 edition, modern spelling) Also, A Letter of Estate (modern spelling by Nina Green)
A Handefull of Pleasant Delites by Clement Robinson, 1584 (facsimile PDF)
A Choice of Emblemes and Other Devises by Geoffry Whitney, 1586 (PDF 50MB)
A Discourse of English Poetrie, by William Webbe, 1586 (PDF)
The Lamentations of Amyntas by Thomas Watson (1585), translated by Abraham Fraunce, 1575 (text at Early English Books Online)
Newes both from_Heauen and Hell by Robert Greene, 1588 (PDF, modern spelling)
Pandosto by Robert Greene, 1588 (Text)
The Arte of English Posie, by George Puttenham, 1589 (PDF)
Pasqvili’s Countercuffe to Martin Junior by Anonymous 1589 (modern spelling PDF)
1590s
His Trauailes by Edward Webbe, 1590 (edited by Edward Arber, PDF)
His Trauailes by Edward Webbe, 1590 (edited by Edmund Goldsmid, PDF)
Endimion – The Man in the Moone by John Lyly, 1591 (modern spelling PDF)
Kind-Hartes Dream, by Henrie Chettle, 1592 (PDF)
Strange Newes: Epistle Dedicatorie by Thomas Nashe, 1592 (Text)
The Phoenix Nest by R.S., 1593 (PDF 20MB)
Willobie His Avisa 1594 (facsimile PDF)
The Spanish Tragedy attributed to Thomas Kyd, 1582 (1615 modern spelling PDF)
The Spanish Tragedy attributed to Thomas Kyd, 1594-1602 editions
(PDF with Barboura Flues glossary and appendices)
Oenone and Paris by T. H., 1594 (PDF)
The Scourge of Villainie and The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image by John Marston, 1598 (facsimile PDF)
Eight Ballets and Madrigals by Thomas Weelkes, 1598 (PDF)
The Comicall Historie of Alphonsus, King of Aragon by Robert Greene, 1599 (modern spelling PDF)
The Tragedy of Soliman and Perseda attributed to Thomas Kyd, 1599 (modern spelling PDF)
1600s
Summers Last Will and Testament by Thomas Nashe, 1600 (modern spelling PDF)
The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll by Anonymous, 1600
(facsimile PDF)
The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll by Anonymous, 1600
(original spelling PDF)
England’s Parnassus, 1600 (PDF)
Leicesters Ghost (possibly by Oxford), 1603 (modern spelling by Nina Green)
Bussy D’Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois by George Chapman, 1603, 1609 (PDF)
Eastward Hoe by George Chapman, 1605 (PDF)
King Leir and His Three Daughters by Anonymous, 1605 (modern spelling PDF)
No-Body and Some-Body by Anonymous, 1606 (modern spelling PDF)
Monsieur D’Olive by George Chapman, 1606 (modern spelling PDF)
The Retvrne of Parnassvs, 1606 (PDF)
Airs and Fantastic Spiritsby Thomas Weelkes, 1608 (PDF)
Minerva Brittana by Henry Peacham, 1612 (facsimile PDF 23MB)
The Two Noble Kinsmen by Fletcher and Shakespeare, 1634 (modern spelling PDF)
Complete Works Edited by Alexander Grosart et al.
Complete Works of Edmund Spenser
IN-complete Works of Anthony Munday
Complete Works of Gabriel Harvey
Complete Works of Thomas Nashe
Complete Works of Robert Greene
Complete Works of Philip Sidney
Complete Works of Thomas Lodge
Complete Works of Beaumont and Fletcher
Complete Works of Fulke Greville
Complete Works of Samuel Daniel
Complete Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker
Complete Non-Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker
Complete Works of George Chapman
Complete Works of Roger Ascham
Complete Works of Nicholas Breton, Richard Barnfield, John Davies, and Giles Fletcher
Other Post-Stratfordian Works
November Boughs by Walt Whitman, 1888 (PDF)
Is Shakespeare Dead? by Mark Twain, 1909 (PDF)
The Man Shakespeare and His Tragic Life Story, 1909 (PDF)
The Sir George Greenwood Portal (1908-1923)
Letters of Henry James 1920 (PDF 33MB, see book page 424)
“The Ghost of Shakespeare” Harper’s Magazine, 1999 (PDF)
Shakespeare and the Law
Shakespeare’s Knowledge of Law: A Journey through the History of the Argument by Mark Alexander (Texts below are cited in this article.)
The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship’s Shakespeare and the Law
____________
Shakespeare a Lawyer by William Lowes Rushton, 1858 (PDF)
Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims by William Lowes Rushton, 1859 (PDF)
Shakespeare’s Testamentary Language by William Lowes Rushton, 1869 (PDF)
Shakespeare’s Legal Acquirement, by John Lord Campbell, 1859 (PDF)
Shakespeare, from an American Point of View by George Wilkes, 1882 (PDF)
Shakespeare as a Lawyer by Franklin Fiske Heard, 1883 (PDF)
The Law in Shakespeare by Cushman K. Davis, 1884 (PDF)
Ecclesiastical Law in Hamlet: The Burial of Ophelia by R. A. Guernsey, 1885 (PDF)
Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson and Greene by Edward James Castle, 1897 (PDF)
In Re: Shakespeare’s “Legal Acquirements” by William C. Devecmon Esq., 1899 (PDF)
Notes on the Bacon-Shakespeare Question by Charles Allen, 1900 (PDF)
The Mystery of William Shakespeare by Judge Webb, 1902 (PDF)
“Shakespeare’s Alleged Blunders in Legal Terminology” by Homer B. Sprague, Yale Law Journal, 1902 (PDF)
Studies in Shakespeare by J. Churton Collins, 1904 (PDF)
Did Shakespeare Write “Titus Andronicus”? by J. M. Robertson, 1905 (PDF)
for the chapter “Alleged Shakespearean Legal Allusions”
Commentaries on the Law in Shakespeare by Edward J. White, 1911 (PDF)
The Baconian Heresy: A Confutation by J. M. Robertson, 1913 (PDF)
“Recent Developments in the Case for Oxford as Shakespeare” by Peter R. Moore, 1996 (PDF)
Also check out The Sir George Greenwood Portal for more texts from the 1908-1923 debate.
Early Orthodox Works
Shakespeare’s England: an Account of Life and Manners of His Age, Vol. I
(1916 64MB)
Shakespeare’s England: an Account of Life and Manners of His Age, Vol. II
(1916 44MB)
Works by E. K. Chambers: The Mediaeval Stage, The Elizabethan Stage, William Shakespeare
John Lyly by John Dover Wilson, 1905 (html)
Shakspere Allusion Book from 1591-1700, Volume I (PDF)
Shakspere Allusion Book from 1591-1700, Volume II (PDF)
The Life of Henry, Third Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare’s Patron
by Charlotte Stopes, 1922 (PDF)
Shakespeare’s Industry by Charlotte Stopes, 1916 (PDF)
Other Interesting Links
Lilian Winstanley’s Kindle edition of Hamlet and the Scottish Succession
The Declaration of Reasonable Doubt
Michael York Reading the Declaration (audio)
Mark Anderson’s Shakespeare By Another Name
Roger Stritmatter’s Shake-speare’s Bible.com
Hank Whittemore’s Shakespeare Blog
Nina Green’s The Oxford Authorship Site
Peter R. Moore’s Oxfordian Archive
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Note: For the sake of clarity, these are the naming conventions used in much of the Commentary throughout this site:
“Shakspere” is used when referring to the man of Stratford-upon-Avon who is generally regarded as the author of the Shakespeare poems and plays. This form appears on both his baptism record and his will.
“Shakespeare” is used to refer to the author of the Shakespeare poems and plays without reference to either candidate. This form is most frequently found on the quartos and folios of the poems and plays.
“The Actor” is used on occasion to refer to the “Shakespeare” noted in some documents as a player or as associated with known players. This distinction may prove to be useful since there seems to some contention about exactly who is “Shakespeare” the actor.
____________
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