Over 30 years ago[when?] a renowned Hamlet scholar[who?] expressed his astonishment that some 400 works a year dealing with the play were being received at the Shakespeare Quarterly.[1][2][3] The rate of Hamlet studies has increased quite considerably since then. To make any headway in the study of any aspect of Hamlet, the use of bibliographies—annotated, if at all possible—is often necessary. The most up-to-date resource is the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.; their publication, the Shakespeare Quarterly, has one issue per year devoted entirely to bibliography. As to their on-line searching, a search of the keyword "Hamlet" in Folger's web-based catalog, Hamnet[dead link] (accessed 1/25/2008) returned 2245 entries;[needs update] the result does not include the number of entries in the library's card-catalog.
In one sense textual and critical analyses of Hamlet appear in the earliest editions onwards, as they are interpreted in the performances themselves, or unearthed by subsequent scholars, performers, and directors.[4]
The following list of subsequent bibliographies is ordered chronologically:
Hamlet bibliography is flourishing online.