British Library's 'digital wallpaper' brings Shakespeare to the smartphone

The British Library has enlisted Vodafone to help mark the 400^th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death on 23 April 2016 by enabling students and the general public to download free digital facsimiles of first edition plays.

Shakespeare’s plays began to be printed towards the end of the 16^th century in pamphlets known as quartos – pocket-sized and competitively priced for the time. Many such pamphlets have survived to the present day and constitute the earliest printed record of much of Shakespeare’s work.

The plays will be made available using specially designed "digital wallpaper", in effect a virtual bookshelf at which users can point their smartphones to scan QR codes and activate their downloads.

This digital library will be touring the UK this year – starting in Trafalgar Square on 23 April 2016 – but the British Library will also be making 400 "rolls" of wallpaper available to young people through schools and scout groups.

“The look of the digital library is inspired by the shelving of the iconic King’s Library Tower, a tall glass structure at the heart of the British Library building,” said Adrian Edwards, head of printed heritage collections at the British Library.

“The quartos were designed to be read by the broadest possible audience, so it is extremely fitting to share them digitally on the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death via the Digital Library Tour.”

The British Library has been a keen adopter of digital technology for some time.

Six years ago it launched its 2020 Vision strategy, ramping up its activity around digital in recognition of the need to safeguard Britain’s literary heritage, preserving fragile printed material and widening access to researchers, students and the general public.

In 2011, it made 250,000 out-of-copyright titles available to read for free through Google Books.