The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

Hailed by The Washington Post as "a definitive synthesis of the best editions" and by The Times of London as "a monument to Shakespearean scholarship," The Oxford Shakespeare is the ultimate anthology of the Bard's work: the most authoritative edition of the plays and poems ever published.

Now, almost two decades after the original volume, Oxford is proud to announce a thoroughly updated second edition, including for the first time the texts of The Reign of Edward III and Sir Thomas More, recognizing these two plays officially as authentic works by Shakespeare. This beautiful collection is the product of years of full-time research by a team of British and American scholars and represents the most thorough examination ever undertaken of the nature and authority of Shakespeare's work. The editors reconsidered every detail of the text in the light of modern scholarship and they thoroughly re-examined the earliest printed versions of the plays, firmly establishing the canon and chronological order of composition. All stage directions have been reconsidered in light of original staging, and many new directions for essential action have been added. This superb volume also features a brief introduction to each work as well as an illuminating General Introduction. Finally, the editors have added a wealth of secondary material, including an essay on language, a list of contemporary allusions to Shakespeare, an index of Shakespearean characters, a glossary, a consolidated bibliography, and an index of first lines of the Sonnets.

Compiled by the world's leading authorities, packed with information, and attractively designed, The Oxford Shakespeare is the gold standard of Shakespearean anthologies.

Here are all of Shakespeare's plays and poems in a compact edition that fits nearly onto your bookshelf or comfortably in your lap. And, as if all of the Bard were not enough, this reissue of an Oxford Classic offers something more: editions of the plays in their theatrical versions, as they were originally performed on the Elizabethan stage. This edition also features a brief introduction to each work, as well as an illuminating General Introduction; reconsiders every detail of the text and presentation of Shakespeare's complete works in the light of modern scholarship; re-examines the nature and authority of the early documents, and freshly establishes the canon and chronological order of composition; and modernizes spelling and punctuation to make the works more accessible to modern readers, without ever altering their original language or meter.

The Times Higher Education Supplement called William Shakespeare: The Complete Works "the most ambitious edition of the works ever attempted," and The Times (London) hailed it as "a monument to Shakespearean scholarship." For scholars and general readers alike, this is a must-have collection for your home library.

Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham, the Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Vice-Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Gary Taylor is Professor in the English Department at the University of Alabama. John Jowett is Associate General Editor of the Oxford Collected Works of Thomas Middleton and co-author of Shakespeare Reshaped 1606-23. William Montgomery works for the Guardian newspaper.

Introduction

Contemporary Allusions to Shakespeare

Commendatory Poems and Prefaces (1599-1640)

1. The Two Gentlemen of Verona

2. The Taming of the Shrew

3. The First Part of the Contention of the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (2 Henry VI)

4. The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York and the Good King Henry the Sixth (3 Henry VI)

5. The First Part of Henry the Sixth

6. The Most Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus

7. The Tragedy of King Richard the Third

8. Venus and Adonis

9. The Rape of Lucrece

10. The Reign of King Edward the Third

11. The Comedy of Errors

12. Love's Labour's Lost

13. Love's Labour's Won: A Brief Account

14. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second

15. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

16. A Midsummer Night's Dream

17. The Life and Death of King John

18. The Comical History of The Merchant of Venice, or Otherwise Called the Jew of Venice

19. The History of Henry the Fourth (1 Henry IV)

20. The Merry Wives of Windsor

21. The Second Part of Henry the Fourth (2 Henry IV)

22. Much Ado About Nothing

23. The Life of Henry the Fifth

24. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

25. As You Like It

26. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

27. Twelfth Night, or What You Will

28. Troilus and Cressida

29. Sonnets and 'A Lover's Complaint'

30. Various Poems

31. Sir Thomas More

32. Measure for Measure

33. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

34. The Life of Timon of Athens

35. The History of King Lear: The Quarto Text

36. The Tragedy of Macbeth

37. The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

38. All's Well That Ends Well

39. Pericles, Prince of Tyre: A Reconstructed Text

40. The Tragedy of Coriolanus

41. The Winter's Tale

42. The Tragedy of King Lear: The Folio Text

43. Cymbeline, King of Britain

44. The Tempest

45. Cardenio: A Brief Account

46. All Is True (Henry VIII)

47. The Two Noble Kinsmen

Select Glossary