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Title: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works (The Oxford Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare, Stanley Wells, Gary Taylor, John Jowet, William Montgomery ISBN: 0-19-871190-5 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (29 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Pelican Complete is best "portable" Shakespeare
Comment: Pretty much any edition of Shakespeare deserves 5 stars for content. I think the question most people must have is "Which edition?"
I purchased "The Complete Pelican Shakespeare" because I wanted a relatively portable, high-quality book featuring text that benefits from modern scholarship (including brief notes and glossary). I wanted an edition to read and to treasure.
I should say that I didn't need extensive commentary with the text (as in the Arden paperbacks). That bulks it up considerably, can be had in other places, and can be left behind once one has read a play once or twice.
While I'm no Shakespearean scholar myself, this edition seems to meet the editorial criteria quite well. The text appears to benefit from modern, authoritative editorship, the introductions are brief but useful, and archaic terms and phrases are defined on the page where they occur.
The binding is high quality, as is the paper.
This is the most portable of the modern hard-cover editions I've found, with the possible exception of the Oxford edition, which is thicker, but smaller in the other two dimensions. I decided against the Oxford because the binding is of lesser quality and Oxford has a relatively idiosyncratic editorial policy with which I don't entirely agree.
Sadly, this is still a pretty big book, just small enough for a good-sized person to hold up and read in bed, and too much for an airplane or trip to the park. I wish someone would make a truly portable version! There is no reason that the entire thing couldn't be compressed into the space of a smallish bible (for those with the eyes for it!).
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding Classic Updated With Great Introductions
Comment: What is so great about this book is that the complete works of William Shakespeare are not only written, but also given extraordinary introductions to each play that are brilliantly written by Stanley Wells. The plays are presented in chronological order, and the introductions give newcomers to Shakespeare's work an understanding of what each play is all about, as well as the history behind it. "King Lear" is included both as it was originally written, as well as Shakespeare's revision of it years later.
There is an in-depth glossary at the back of the book that will help the new reader of this work understand many of the words that were written in the plays at that point of time. Another wonderful addition is an index to the first line of sonnets, and the page that sonnet can be found on.
This revised book will bring readers of Shakespeare's work closer to their original meaning thanks to the painstaking updating, while keeping the original titles in tact. I highly recommend this book for its wisdom, revisions, and the new understanding you will gain from the brilliance of centuries long gone, that have stood the test of time.
Barbara Rose, author of, 'Individual Power' and 'If God Was Like Man'
Rating: 1
Summary: Willy deserves better treatment
Comment: Useless.
Those willing to sit by a desk straining their eyes whilst porring over tiny text in a heavy tome will perhaps go one step further. Do a google search for any Shakespeare text and watch as the relays mount. The texts themselves are searchable and one can look up references quickly and at the speed of your fingertips.
Compendium editons are jade's stale nourishment for the drab and the indolent. The print is small, the book is heavy. Get thee to a second-hand bookshop and bargain for single play editions that take hold your fancy. (Arden, Norton, Cambridge, Folger, Signet Classics, respectively)
The marginalia by previous owners often provide more substantial insight, references and wit than a wilderness of professional editors could in a millennium of their scribbling. Have your wealthy spinster auntie procure the Norton Facsimile for your birthday and reade him, therefore; and againe, and againe.
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Title: The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells ISBN: 0198117353 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: November, 2001 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
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Title: A Dictionary of Who, What, and Where in Shakespeare by Sandra Clark ISBN: 0844257575 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 11 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Complete Pelican Shakespeare by William Shakespeare, Stephen Orgel, A. R. Braunmuller ISBN: 0141000589 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
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Title: Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion by David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Stanley Wells ISBN: 0140291172 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary: A Complete Dictionary of All the English Words, Phrases, and Constructions in the Works of the Poet (Volume I) by Alexander Schmidt ISBN: 048622726X Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1971 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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