The Riverside Shakespeare

By William Shakespeare

Book Overview

The Second Edition of this complete collection of Shakespeare's plays and poems features two essays on recent criticism and productions, fully updated textual notes, a photographic insert of recent... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395044022
• ISBN13: 9780395044025
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 1927 Pages
• Weight: 5.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 2.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, pure and simple.

This book does not contain long-winded dissertations or explanations. We have no distractions, no annotations, and no footnotes; nothing to distract us from the pure Shakespeare experience. This book naturally has all the advantages of a physical book, which I will not go into. Among other advantages, this volume makes a great reference. Although I find myself reading for fun and not just as a reference. I do, of course, have individual copies of my favorites (some with pictures). I also have Kindle versions for better or worse. Yet you cannot have too many versions, and this is a keeper. Just a note, the version I read had each page with a vertical line down the center, so it is like two pages. I am not sure of the purpose or the advantage. And do not expect a lot of illustrations, they are more like black-and-white pictures of old paintings. A Midsummer Night's Dream All's Well That Ends Well As You Like It Love’s Labour’s Lost Measure for Measure Much Ado About Nothing The Comedy of Errors The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor The Taming of the Shrew The Two Gentlemen of Verona Twelfth Night; or, What you will The Romances of William Shakespeare Cymbeline Pericles, Prince of Tyre The Tempest The Winter's Tale The Tragedies of William Shakespeare King Lear Romeo and Juliet The History of Troilus and Cressida The Life and Death of Julius Caesar The Life of Timon of Athens The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra The Tragedy of C-o-r-i-o-l-a-n-u-s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice Titus Andronicus The Histories of William Shakespeare The Life and Death of King John The Life and Death of King Richard the Second The Tragedy of King Richard the Third The first part of King Henry the Fourth The second part of King Henry the Fourth The Life of King Henry V The first part of King Henry the Sixth The second part of King Henry the Sixth The third part of King Henry the Sixth The Life of King Henry the Eighth The Poetical Works of William Shakespeare The Sonnets Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music A Lover's Complaint The Rape of Lucrece Venus and Adonis The Phoenix and the Turtle The Passionate Pilgrim There are hundreds of variations of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.” Look closely before purchasing.

The perfect gift for the linguist

For anyone who, like me, has a love of language and a love of Shakespeare that has endured beyond school days, this is absolutely essential. Of the many editions there are of Shakespeare's complete canon, The Riverside Shakespeare has the most to offer readers of all backgrounds, be they students, hobbyists or scholars. Of the few editions that provide explanatory glossaries/footnotes along with the text, those of the Riverside Shakespeare are the most complete, making the Bard's sometimes impenetrable text much more accessible. In addition, there is a wealth of appendix and background reading material, providing information on the England of Shakespeare's time and also on the various interpretations of his work, all beautifully illustrated with colour photographs. The Riverside Shakespeare is worth shelling out a little extra money for, and will be cherished for a lifetime.

The authoritive Shakespeare resource

As an actor, director, and scholar, I must say that The Riverside Shakespeare is the most complete Shakespeare collection on the market. It is an excellent buy for anyone who will be studying the plays in depth, since it gives background in the introduction as well as extensive notes to the text. This text clarifies some tricky questions about the Bard's works. Its value lies in the careful attention to detail, but this does mean that the reader looking for specific elements will have to sort through a wealth of information -- not necessarily a bad thing, yes? I highly recommend this to anyone serious about Shakespeare.

The most complete edition of the Bard and a superb companion

This one-volume edition of Shakespeare's works is the most complete I found on the market: it includes "The Two Noble Kinsmen", Shakespeare's addition to "Sir Thomas More" (with photographical reproduction of the pages believed to be in his handwrite), the currently hot debated poem "A Funeral Elegy by W. S." and, above all, "The Reign of King Edward III", a new play recently accepted in the canon by many authoritative editors (Arden, Cambridge, Oxford). The text of each work is carefully edited and accompanied by helpful glossarial notes, a textual discussion with short bibliography, and an impressive collation which allows the reader to find variant readings and emendations. An exhaustive critical introduction precedes each play and poem, dealing with authorship, date, sources, textual differences between quarto and folio texts, and of course the principal thematic issues. What makes this a superb edition - and indeed a real "companion" to Shakespeare studies! - is the great amount of subsidiary material, including a general introduction - focusing on Shakespeare's life, art, language, style, and on the Elizabethan historical and theatrical background - and a series of useful essays on various themes: critical approaches to the plays and poems, philological issues, history of the plays on the stage, television and cinema. There are also many interesting documents, synoptic tables, glossaries, indexes, illustrated tables (both coloured and b & w) , the reproduction of the introductory pages of the First Folio of 1623, and a rich bibliography. I personally consider this book a must have for every teacher, scholar, or simply amateur of the greatest of all poets. Buy it!