Comparing digitised First Folios: how new image viewer technology in Quartex is creating unprecedented research opportunities

Award-winning primary source publisher, AM, recently published its first open access collection to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, otherwise known as the First Folio.

The First Folios Compared portal brings together around 50 digitised copies of the First Folio, generously contributed by libraries and archives from around the world. Central to its concept is the creation of new ways in which to examine and compare these digital materials, given that it is highly unlikely that these texts would ever be brought together physically.

These new ways include the ability to compare any two selected editions of the First Folio side by side in-platform, using a unique split-screen viewer, and to compare editions with others that may be digitally available elsewhere, using a IIIF-compatible image viewer.

The research possibilities presented by these new image viewer options are powerful and exciting, and full of potential for making new discoveries from seminal or classic resources.

In this session, we'll introduce the development of these capabilities and demonstrate their use in First Folios Compared.

And we'll explore some of the ways in which enhanced image viewer capabilities can support your research communities in making new discoveries and interpretations from familiar - or unfamiliar - resources.

Watch on-demand