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SOAR Home Page
Library
Resources
SOAR Catalog: :
SOAR (Shakespeare Online Authorship Resources) is a specialized catalog with 10,160 entries for articles, book chapters, essays and news items published in Oxfordian journals, newsletters, magzines, and books over the past 100 years, and also
in numerous non-Oxfordian publications from around the world.
SOAR also includes articles and essays presented at conferences and/or published on the web, plus a selection of documents (e.g. letters, diaries, wills, etc) related to the authorship debate.
Any materials available online are noted in the records, with direct links to individual articles themselves or to the complete issues of the newsletters or journals in which they were published.
Articles not available online but owned by NESOL can be requested in scanned PDF format by SOAR subscribers.
NESOL
Catalog :
A catalog of the library's holdings in books, journals, and miscellaneous items related to Shakespeare studies and the authorship debate, Elizabethan history and politics.
Presently there are 750 books cataloged, with an additional 1,500 in storage. In the past year we have acquired the collection of Prof. Daniel L. Wright (who passed in October 2018) and several other Oxfordians who are retiring and downsizing their living space. All books in storage are now in the process of being cataloged, and we expect that project to be completed by the end of 2024.
We can provide borrowing of the cataloged books to anyone living in the Boston area (or even lend by mail) for library members only. We can also copy contents from any book we own for library members.
While in recent years most of our efforts have gone into developing SOAR, with the addition of so many new books we do plan to bring the NESOL catalog up to date, and make these books available to the Oxfordian community.
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All the entries in SOAR can also be ordered in book form: An Index to Oxfordian Publications (5th Edition, 2023). Check out the searchable preview copy available at amazon.com.
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Donations | Membership | Bookstore
Welcome . . .
. . . to the New England Shakespeare Oxford Library (NESOL), a special 501(c)(3) non-profit library located in Somerville, Mass., dedicated to the study of Shakespearean literature and history and especially to the study
of the Oxfordian theory of the Shakespeare Authorship Question. The Library is comprised
of both a permanent collection of books and journals, listed in its NESOL Catalog, and an online database (the SOAR Catalog) of journal and newsletter articles published about the Oxfordian theory of the Shakespeare authorship over the past 100 years. While most of our book collection is presently in storage, books can be provided to library subscribers upon request. Most materials listed in SOAR can be accessed directly online or else provided to subscribers upon request.
In recent years the library's major activity has been, in fact, building and maintaining the SOAR Catalog (Shakespeare Online Authorship Resources), which as of Spring 2022 contains 8,400 entries, ranging from research articles and book chapters, to authorship debate news, conference reports, book reviews, and letters to the editors, all published in both Oxfordian newsletters, journals and books, and numerous other publications, over the past century. The SOAR entries are also available in book form in An Index to Oxfordian Publications (4th Edition, 2017), which is currently available at amazon.com.
The library also publishes books on the Shakespeare authorship question through its Forever Press imprint. Forever Press books are available for order on amazon.com, and also are available in amazon's Kindle store (see the list of current books available on this page). Our FP books, along with many other Shakespeare authorship question books, can also be found at the Bookshop.org site, in a list of 240+ titles compiled by Driftless Books and Music.
While the library
is operated by individuals who accept the Oxfordian
theory of the authorship of the Shakespeare canon (and the
authorship portion of our collection concentrates on this theory),
we welcome all who are interested in general Shakespeare studies.
Indeed, it is our conviction that knowing the true author of
the canon and the circumstances under which he wrote will greatly
increase one's understanding and appreciation of the plays and
poems.
Our
Catalogs
Our cataloged books are presently in storage, but anyone may consult our holdings by searching the NESOL
Catalog, and library members/subscribers can request a book loan (if circulating) by mail. We also maintain a separate database/catalog of
articles and essays (from newsletters, journals, magazines and
books) published over the past 100-plus years on the authorship
debate and the Oxfordian theory. This database/catalog, SOAR (Shakespeare Online Authorship Resources), is available to the general public. However, some of the article links are to licensed materials that are available only to NESOL library members/subscribers. Anyone
may become a library member for an
annual fee. Members can also gain physical access to the Library's
book collection, the services of a reference librarian who specializes
in Shakespeare studies and the Shakespeare Authorship question,
photocopying / delivery services for materials (i.e. journal and
newsletter articles) not available on the Web, and borrowing
privileges. Members may borrow materials by visiting the library
in person, or via a mail service with prior agreement with the library.
Catalog records in
both NESOL and SOAR will provide links to material
anywhere it is available on the Internet (i.e. other Shakespeare
authorship and/or Shakespeare websites, publisher websites,
JSTOR, archival websites such as the Internet Archive or HathiTrust Digital Library, Google books, etc.). Links may be to freely
available material or to sites (such as mainstream magazines
or licensed databases) where the material is available only
by subscription (our copying service for members will be only
for those materials not available on the web).
Our
Collection
A long-time Shakespearean
researcher and writer began our collection with a generous donation
of books collected over a lifetime. Since then we have also been adding
publications to this collection with donations from several
other local researchers, and purchasing a selection of newly
published books to provide patrons with up-to-date materials
on many subjects related to Shakespeare studies and the Renaissance
in general, its culture, philosophy, history, literature, politics,
and music, with a particular interest in the life and reign
of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Shakespeare Authorship question.
We shall make available to our members research and publications
related to all Shakespeare Authorship theories, with emphasis
on the Oxfordian theory that Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl
of Oxford (1550-1604), was the true author of the Shakespeare
canon. Our goal is to provide a useful core collection of publications
and research materials for study.
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Donations
While we have on
hand a good starting collection of both Oxfordian and general
authorship materials, basic Shakespeare texts and criticism,
and Elizabethan/Jacobean history and biographies, new material
is published continually and there is much older material which
we would love to acquire. Therefore, in order for the library
to be a dynamic organization in the New England region we will
need ---like any good library--- to purchase books and to subscribe
to journals and newsletters on an on-going basis. So, we welcome your donations of books, journals (or
subscriptions to journals), or other related items. If you wish
to help us financially, consider making a donation,
or becoming a sustaining member
for $100.00. See below for details, under "Membership."
We would also be
most grateful for any in-kind (i.e. books or subscriptions)
donations you may be able to give to help us build the Library.
For more information, please contact librarian@shakespeareoxfordlibrary.org
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Membership
Even as we continue
building our catalog, we can now offer those in the Boston area
the ability to borrow books from our collection by becoming
subscribing members for just $35.00 per year. Members from anywhere
in the US are eligible to request from us copies of essays in
journals, newsletters or books and have them sent to them via
fax or email attachment (see Member Services). We expect later this year to announce
how members may borrow books by mail. Books eligible for loan-by-mail
will be noted in the catalog. Sustaining memberships are available
for those who wish to help underwrite the costs of building
and maintaining our catalog, housing the collection, and acquiring
new materials.
Contact membership@shakespeareoxfordlibrary.org
with any questions about membership.
Subscribing member ($50.00, one year):
Sustaining member ($100.00, one year):
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Web
site and all contents ©Copyright 2024
New England Shakespeare
Oxford Library
All rights reserved
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Forever Press Home Page
Forever Press Books
 "Whittemore strongly champions the Oxfordian argument in this tour de force defense while remaining a highly entertaining writer. A breezy but very intelligent tone is maintained throughout the book; the reader is neither patronized nor boggled by minutiae and jargon. Instead, there is a magnetic sense of history, art, politics, and human nature injected into a smooth and eminently readable storytelling style."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
100 Reasons Shake-speare was the Earl of Oxford by Hank Whittemore (2nd edition, GMJ Global Media) is available on amazon.com for $21.50 .
 The Shake-speare Fraud constructs a fascinating and absorbing story of an author quite different from the Stratford man, showing, from cradle to grave, how and why Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, became Shakespeare. It’s a backstage story of dynastic political intrigue at the highest levels of Queen Elizabeth’s government, which drastically revises the involvement of the glove maker’s son from Stratford.
The Shakespeare Fraud by Ted Story is available on amazon.com for $12.95.
 A Poet's Rage is a collection of essays focused on under-standing Shakespeare through the prism of the Oxfordian theory of authorship (i.e., that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the man behind the Shakespeare mask), with a strong emphasis on the politics behind much of what Oxford wrote. The collection includes essays from some of the most prominent Oxfordian scholars writing over the past 25 years (e.g., Charles Beauclerk, Hank Whittemore, Prof. Daniel Wright, William Plumer Fowler).
A Poet's Rage (edited by William Boyle) is available on amazon.com for $14.95.
This book consists of essays on Shakespeare’s plays and related matters written from an Oxfordian viewpoint. There are reviews of video and film versions of the plays (particularly the 1978-82 BBC series), the possible awareness of Oxford’s authorship by Sir Walter Scott and Herman Melville, and detailed analyses of Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Winters's Tale, and Cymbeline.
"Dr. Berney has a way with words that never fails to surprise and delight as he brings a keen intellect and an unusual perspective to the Oxfordian subjects he addresses. Who else would have thought to call Sir Walter Scott a 'Paleo-Oxfordian?' Or find in Cymbeline Shakespeare’s 'missing' Henry VII play?" -- James Warren
Shakespeare Confidential by C.V. Berney is available at amazon.com for $16.95
.jpg) In the second edition of Another Hamlet(2013) Charles Boyle has expanded upon his original thesis that Leslie Howard's fate was bound up with both his apparent conversion to the Oxfordian thesis of the authorship of Shakespeare (as depicted in his 1941 WWII propaganda film Pimpernel Smith, in which he tells his German antagonists, more than once, "Oxford was Shakespeare"), and his clear involvement in England's WWII efforts not just as an artist and a propagandist who infuriated Joseph Goebbels, but -- perhaps also -- a spy.
Another Hamlet by Charles Boyle is available on amazon.com for $12.95.
 Twelve Years in the Life of Shakespeare is a compilation of columns ("A Year in the Life of Shakespeare") originally written by Hank Whittemore for the newsletter Shakespeare Matters from 2001-2005. Written from the Oxfordian point of view (i.e., that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true Shakespeare), each column concentrated on just one year and discussed the known events in the author's life in conjunction with the recorded history and literature of that year, and the ways in which the plays and poems in the Shakespeare canon may reflect and/or comment on these connections.
Twelve Years in the Life of Shakespeare by Hank Whittemore is available on amazon.com for $12.95.
 In Joshua Gray's The Life and Death of King Edward the sonnet story is brought to life, first in a series of short poems that fill in a proposed back story spanning from 1548 into the 1590s, finally leading up to Shake-speares Sonnets, printed in 1609. Gray then presents the sonnet verses in a compressed form of four lines each, within the chapter-by-chapter structure of the underlying story hiding in plain sight.
The Life and Death of King Edward by Joshua Gray is available on amazon.com for $12.95.
 thumbnail.png) An Index to Oxfordian Publications (Fourth Edition) is a complete index of all the newsletter and journal articles, commentary, letters and reviews published by Oxfordians since J. Thomas Looney's Shakespeare Identified transformed the Shakespeare authorship debate in 1920.
"A superb resource. Any serious researcher on the Shakespeare authorship question or Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, must own this book." -- Dr. Roger Stritmatter, Chopin State University.
An Index to Oxfordian Publications (Fourth Edition, edited by James Warren) is available at amazon.com for $27.95
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