A Complete and Systematic Concordance to the Works of Shakespeare: A concordance to the Complete works, SEVERITY-ZWAGGER'D, and Appendices

Published between 1968 and 1980, this monumental nine-volume work by Marvin Spevack remains a cornerstone of Shakespearean scholarship. Conceived at a time when computational linguistics was in its infancy, the project sought to provide a comprehensive and precise index of every word used in the Shakespearean canon. The endeavor was fueled by the need for a standardized, modern reference that could account for the nuances of Elizabethan English, moving beyond the limitations of earlier, less systematic concordances.

Spevack, an American scholar based at the University of Münster, utilized early computer technology to process the text, effectively bridging the gap between traditional philology and the emerging field of digital humanities. The design is stark and utilitarian, prioritizing readability and systematic accessibility for researchers. Upon its completion, the work was widely lauded by the academic community for its accuracy and its transformative impact on literary analysis, setting the gold standard for concordances for decades to come.