Recover Shakespeare's signature

According to Live Science, scientists used high-tech imaging to restore the signature that could be William Shakespeare. Who is the owner of the 'Wm Shakespeare' scribbles on the title pages of Archaionomia, was published under Queen Elizabeth I.

>>>Portrait of Shakespeare through 3D technology

Gregory Heyworth, a professor of English at the University of Mississippi, said whether the signature was a signature of William Shakespeare or not, which is still unconfirmed.

The title page of Archaionomia book. (Photo: Live Science)

Heyworth and his students used new technology to restore nearly lost glyphs. This work is part of Project Lazarus, in order to revive damaged texts using a technique called multi-street photography .

This technique uses up to 12 different wavelengths of light, from ultraviolet rays to infrared, to enhance the ability to resolve images of old documents. Later, scientists will use a software to combine these images into the clearest possible image of text. In this way, they were able to reproduce the documents that were completely erased, the documents were scratched or scorched, or were damaged by water.

Last year, project Lazarus used high-tech photography to discover William Faulker's new poems from a collection that was damaged by fire. This year, Heyworth led a group of students to the Shakespeare Library in Washington to investigate a signature believed to be the Bard's.

The group has not yet begun the process of confirming whether this is Shakespeare's signature, but they have restored it. Heyworth also planned to compare this signature with Shakespeare's other handwriting, including an essay published in 1603.

If it is possible to confirm the signature on the book Archaionomia is that of the playwright, this can provide new insights in the legal approach in his plays.