1/ The Oxfordian cause is in total disarray. In 1987, Justice John Paul Stevens admonished Oxfordians over the lack of a unified and logical framework for Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare's works.

"Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule." Mr. Jaggers, Great Expectations.

A new, improved version of our prima facie case for Shakespeare's authorship is available! prezi.com/view/AUiVej2...

The Prima Facie Case for Shakespeare

1. Identity Shakespeare's First Folio 3. Folio Links 2. Theatrical Ties How the Evidence Converges Central Conclusion: William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon is the Author of the First Folio Works...

prezi.com

IF you want to annoy an Oxfordian, pronounce the name of the man who invented the theory the way he pronounced it. Thomas Looney (LU-nee).

Coverage of the recent Shakespeare authorship denial conference in New Haven. E. Winkler could learn a lot from this journalist! yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/09...

Shakespeare authorship doubts come home to New Haven

A conference of doubters has descended on New Haven to share theories about Shakespeare’s authorship rooted in the work of a 19th-century New Havener.

yaledailynews.com

We asked ChatGPT to restate our PFC. Here's its response: 1/ Prima Facie Case for Shakespeare’s Authorship The First Folio identifies the author as “William Shakespeare.” Multiple paratexts (dedications, prefaces, title pages) consistently attribute the works to “Shakespeare.”

Hall's Croft www.instagram.com/reel/DM-ZC0M...

422 years ago, Hamlet was entered in the Stationers Register by printer James Roberts.

1/ In his book, Historians' Fallacies, David Hackett Fischer describes a form of argument frequently used by Shakespeare authorship deniers as "the fallacy of the negative proof." Almost the entire case for Shakespeare authorship denial rests on this logical fallacy. archive.org/details/Hist...

Historians Fallacies Toward A Logic Of Historical Thought : David Hackett Fischer : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Historian's Fallacies : Toward A Logic of Historical Thought

archive.org

1/ It's common that people in high positions in society, politics, entertainment and business hire professional writers. Ghost-writers are plentiful. It's far more likely that the Earl of Oxford took credit for plays and poems written by his "secretaries" John Lyly and Anthony Munday . . .

Oxfordians have never given a plausible explanation for why Oxford wouldn't have taken credit for plays and poems he wrote. He had a number of published poems in the 1570s; why would he have concocted a pseudonym or allonym to publish Venus and Adonis, a poem of much greater merit than his others?

1/ One of the many Shakespeare authorship doubter works we read (in this case, a Marlovian) gives a good example of the kind of thinking that believing in these elaborate conspiracy theories requires.

Ten years ago today, Dr. Ian Mortimer delivered a lecture on Shakespeare authorship in the Chapter House of Exeter Cathedral, that was published as an e-book on Amazon. It's worth a read. www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-...

The Shakespeare Authorship Debate and Historical Responsibility

The Shakespeare Authorship Debate and Historical Responsibility - Kindle edition by Mortimer, Ian. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Shakespeare Authorship Debate and Historical Responsibility.

amazon.com

Here's an excellent short video on Shakespeare authorship doubt by Sir Jonathan Bate. Worth watching! youtu.be/JXUg0cbEzaE?...

The Shakespeare Authorship Question

YouTube video by Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

youtu.be

Tariffs xkcd.com/3073

1/ About 7 years ago, a lecturer in creative writing who is also a Shakespeare authorship doubter (SAD) came up with a MOOC to indoctrinate budding SADs in the mysteries of the Shakespeare authorship cult. Many of the members of our little group of history and lit buffs decided to join.

The recent response to our post by Professor Roger Stritmatter from Coppin State U reveals what we at Oxfraud have known for a long time: the hard-core Shakespeare authorship deniers (SADs) read our posts and website and they're worried about our impact on their cult.

#OTD in history, in 1619, the world lost a man who'd played a major part in Elizabeth I's Golden Age of theatre: actor Richard Burbage, who'd brought Shakespeare's plays to life... www.tudorsociety.com/richard-burb...

Richard Burbage, the Elizabethan actor - The Tudor Society

On this day in history, 13th March 1619, the stage lost one of its greatest stars. Richard Burbage, Shakespeare’s leading man, the original Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear, breathed his last at the age...

tudorsociety.com

Here's an excellent review of Elizabeth Winkler's book of a couple years ago, all about the backlash against her notorious Atlantic article about Shakespeare authorship denial. orbnews.substack.com/p/shakespear...

SHAKESPEARE WAS A WOMAN and Other Grifts

Elizabeth Winkler's calculated her-esy

orbnews.substack.com

1/ The first Oxfordian was J.Thomas Looney (pronounced Lew-knee, just like it's spelt). He came up with a list of characteristics he thought the author of Shakespeare's works would have, and set out to find someone who matched his imaginary criteria. He was like Sherlock Holmes (or maybe Clouseau.)

Here's an excellent article from a few years ago. Shakespeare authorship denial is a conspiracy theory and its adherents are endlessly inventive. They don't acknowledge when their theories are refuted, and they're always coming up with new ones. www.thetimes.com/article/wher...

Where there’s a Will, there’s a wacky conspiracy theory

A few weeks ago a woman wrote to me from the US about a remarkable discovery she’d made. The writings attributed to Shakespeare are, she believes, the work of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, who

thetimes.com

People who make generalizations that if Shakespeare wrote the works, there *must* be extant letters or manuscripts in his hand. But as usual they have no idea of the context of the time, or the likelihood of survival of paper documents.

Daniel Bellingradt@dbellingradt.bsky.social · 2y ago

An exclusively designed paper packet leaning against a clay pipe. This 1671 painting from Hubert v. Ravesteijn tells a story of #earlymodern #tobacco and #paper. In order to sell small units of tobacco, paper was needed: used papers and blank papers alike. A smokin' thread for #skystorians. 1/

Just wanted to post this clip of Shakespeare scholar Sir Jonathan Bate recommending our site, Oxfraud.com, for historical evidence that the works were written by William Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon. Thank you, sir Jonathan, we're honored. youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7D3...

1/ The Shakespeare authorship doubters (SADs) think "Shakspere" and "Shakespeare" were pronounced entirely differently. For many, this is a cornerstone of their theory that the man from Stratford and the author weren't the same person. But they're not taking into account the Great Vowel Shift.

Professor Emeritus Alan Nelson of UC Berkley is a leading Shakespeare scholar, and biographer of the Earl of Oxford, disproving Oxfordianism. He posted primary documents on his webpage at Berkley that was deleted after his retirement. Oxfraud preserved a mirror of his site. socrates.oxfraud.com

1/3 Handwriting has, I think, been the true downfall of Shakespeare Deniers, be it the entry of Hand D into the canon, adding Oxford's handwritten corpus into CQP, the analysis which identified his fenland accent, or the madness their own graphology, which always supports their own candidate.

1/ Another trick used by Shakespeare authorship deniers (SADs) based on translations from Latin is treating their translations into English of Latin texts without giving the original context of the texts.

1/ A favorite technique of Shakespeare authorship deniers (SADs) is to mistranslate a Latin phrase to appear to support their candidate. (It's not clear whether this is intentional of just a poor understanding of Latin.) There are several examples of this:

Eight years ago, on a YouTube comment thread, the Shakespearean Authorship Trust acknowledged the main points of our prima facie case for Shakespeare's authorship: Heminges and Condell knew Shakespeare and believed he wrote the works. Who would know better than they?