The DEx bibliography lists the play editions we consulted in order to create DEx. When we choose play editions, we prefer online, open access, modern-spelling texts with line numbers. We also prefer to use larger editions that include a number of works. As these are not always available, we sometimes use older editions that are freely available from sources like The Internet Archive or HathiTrust.
We use edited plays with normalized spelling and line numbers in order to create the metadata for each extract. Likewise, we use these editions when we show how an early manuscript compiler might have changed or paraphrased the text; however, we do not claim that these modern playtexts represent the sources used by compilers. We do not, however, trace each extract to a print source (see “Normalized Results” for more information).
As we know, early modern playtexts could vary from edition to edition. When the extracts in DEx are clearly taken from a non-standard edition, we indicate that in the list of plays. We know, for instance, that some extracts were taken from the 1600 quarto of Henry V (sometimes called the “bad quarto,” image below) rather than the folio because the text differs markedly in these early versions.
To see which editions were consulted in general, visit the DEx bibliography.
Title page of Henry V quarto (1600). STC 22289. Courtesy of Shakespeare Documented. License and full-page image: https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/file/details/3221