This new edition is based on the quarto, the version closest to the original manuscript. The introduction illminates the plays' origins and practicalities of composition, its reception and influence. Detailed notes pay especial attention to language and staging, and the volume includes King Lear's first derivative, a contemporary ballad, and guides to appreciation of the play and its multiple offshoots.
Eric Rasmussen Book order
This author delves into the intricacies of Shakespearean literature with a passion for literary detection. Their work explores the fascinating world of Shakespearean scholarship and textual studies, offering readers a unique lens through which to view seminal works and their origins. As a leading authority on English Renaissance drama, they bring a profound depth of knowledge to their lectures and writings.




- 2009
- 2009
Much Ado about Nothing
- 120 pages
- 5 hours of reading
120p paperback, very good, this copy published in the year 1991 in the series entitled York Notes
- 2008
The Complete Works
- 1031 pages
- 37 hours of reading
Shakespeare requires no introduction -- he is "the Bard," the most imposing playwright and storyteller in the English language. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth as well as the moving history plays and the comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with their magical combination of humour, ribaldry and tenderness. This volume presents all the plays in chronological order in which they were written. It also includes Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as his longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. This complete and unabridged edition contains every word that Shakespeare wrote — all 37 tragedies, comedies, and histories, plus the sonnets. You'll find such classics as The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare's "Complete Works" is a must-have for anyone who loves the English language -- his writing was unparalleled, and even his lesser plays are a cut above the rest. Not only a pleasure to read, but an altogether new experience in reading!!!