IT and Culture: William Shakespeare’s First Folio released for mobile devices

The British Library's remarkable eBook Treasures series allows users to explore some of the British Library's most treasured manuscripts in detail, together with text, video and audio interpretation. Developed with Armadillo Systems, our eBook Treasures are viewable in full-screen high-definition, with realistic page-turning capabilities and, once downloaded, can be read offline. They can be read on the iPad, iPhone (3GS and 4) and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th generations).

The British Library has recently released an exact facsimile reproduction of the large and handsome book known simply as the “First Folio”, the earliest collected edition of Shakespeare’s “Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies”. It was printed in 1623, seven years after his death. This eBookTreasures edition is taken from an exceptional copy held at the British Library. This enhanced edition includes audio extracts from the plays, with the 17th century pronunciation Shakespeare would have heard. For students of Shakespeare, going back to these earliest printed editions of the plays provides an incredible insight in to the language used at the time of the plays’ performance and is an essential part of a more complete understanding of Shakespeare’s work.

At present the eBooks series of the British Library includes Gerardus Mercator's Atlas of Europe, Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Arundel, William Tyndale’s The New Testament, Jane Austen’s History of England, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground with illustrations by Lewis Carroll and other masterpieces. Seventy-five titles will be available over the next two years, either in their entirety or as a selection of highlights, giving access to some of the British Library’s most precious manuscripts and rare books. Forthcoming titles include: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, Handel's Messiah (1741) and Beethoven's Pastoral Sketchbook (1808).