Product Description

The World of Shakespeare: The Complete Plays and Sonnets of William Shakespeare (38 Volume Library) By William Shakespeare Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmiller, General Editors

Amazon.com Exclusive

The Pelican Shakespeare is available in hardcover for the first time in one complete collection only at Amazon.com.

For anyone with an abiding love of the Bard and his to all of Shakepeares singular contributiOn to English literature, this complete library combines enduring beauty with the scholarship and authority demanded by modern readers. Easier to read and enjoy than massive, single-volume editions, these individual volumes feature authori tative text, essays on how the plays would have been performed in Shakespeare's day, and notes valuable for general readers, teachers, students, and theater professionals. Here, in 38 truly stunning heirloom volumes, are William Shakespeare's classic plays and sonnets in the only complete, individually-bound set of Shakespeare's works currently available. The tragedies, comedies, histories, and poetry, so beloved by millions of readers and theater-goers, are reproduced here in luxurious, linen-bound hardcovers, enhanced by silver stamping on the covers and spines, and sewn-in, satin ribbon markers.

The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare editions have sold five million copies. Since the series debuted more than forty years ago, developments in scholarship have revolutionized our understanding of William Shakespeare, his time, and his works. The general editors of the Pelican Shakespeare, Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmiller of UCLA, have assembled a team of six eminent scholars who, along with the general editors themselves, have prepared new introductions and note * Authoritative and meticulously researched texts * Illuminating new introductions and notes by distinguished authors * Essays on Shakespeare's life, the theatrical world of his time, and the selection of texts * A handsome new design inside and out * Deluxe packaging, including a full-linen case with silver stamping, ribbon marker, printed endpapers, and acid-free paper * Line numbers marking every tenth line and footnote references * Both glossorial and explanatory notes appearing conveniently at the foot of the page

Included are:

Tragedies

Antony and Cleopatra

Coriolanus

Hamlet

Julius Caesar

King Lear

Macbeth

Othello

Romeo and Juliet

Timon of Athens

Titus Andronicus

Histories

Henry IV, Part I

Henry IV, Part II

Henry V

Henry VI, Part I

Henry VI, Part II

Henry VI, Part III

Henry VIII

King John

Richard II

Richard III

Comedies

All's Well That Ends Well

As You Like It

The Comedy of Errors

Cymbeline

Love's Labor's Lost

Measure for Measure

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merchant of Venice

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Much Ado About Nothing

Pericles

The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

Troilus and Cressida

Twelfth Night

Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Winter's Tale

Poetry

The Sonnets

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #205961 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

Great way to enjoy the Pelican Edition in small volumes....
As someone who reads Shakespeare compulsively (2-3 plays per month on a rotating basis clear through the 37 extant works), I have been in the market for some time for an easily-manipulated and easy-to-read edition of Complete Works that can be taken in a backpack to work or to the beach. In this 38-Volume work I have found it!

Previously I was forced to lug around one of the complete editions (my favorite being the well-anotated one-volume Pelican), which meant carrying a bulky, expensive, and weighty 7 pound book with me. With this very handy, beautiful, and well-constructed Pelican edition I am able to carry one or two plays along with me on vacation and still have plenty of room to pack other books or items.

The Pelican apparatus is great (introductions and footnotes)--editors Orgel and Braunmuller have a fine eye for problems modern readers may encounter with 400 year old texts. However, the exclusion of "Venus and Adonis" and "Rape of the Lucrece" in a separate (39th) tome is odd and inexplicable. These poems, after all, are the only works that Shakespeare himself seems to have expressly authorized for publication.

This caveat aside: rush don't walk to get these books into your library. Then, like me, you'll be ready to settle down some lazy summer afternoon (or rainy October evening) to many "sweet sessions of silent thought" while reading through the greatest canon of dramatic and poetic writing in all of human history!

I needn't have worried (Updated Jan 31 2007)
After reading previous reviews of this magnificent set here at Amazon, I was in one sense `sold' but with some remaining concerns. Now that I have received the set I see that it is all that others have said and more, and so I will address my previous worries here in the event that there may be some with similar questions. In short, let not your heart be troubled.

Although the astonishingly low price of $94.99 made the set a deal that I simply couldn't refuse, I have always been one to believe that you generally get what you pay for, and so this low price also caused me some concern. Having seen the publishing world being inundated with cheap Chinese printings of Western canon classics over the past few years, often stacked high at the `big box' stores and varying wildly in physical quality, I was of course worried that this would be of a similar caliber. I was delighted to find that the set is printed in the United States and the quality of the books is beyond reproach. The paper is bright and the text is crisp and clear, set in an easily legible and pleasing Garamond font at what appears to be approximately 12 point. Each volume has a bookmark ribbon bound into the spine and extending approximately three inches below the bottom of the book.

Each volume measures 8 ½ inches high and 5 5/8 inches deep. You will need a minimum of 26 ½ inches of linear shelf space for them all and UPS states the shipping weight as being 29 pounds.

Even at what must be an overwhelming time for Amazon's shipping and packing departments, the set arrived in three days despite my opting for the free `super saver' shipping (Ordered late December 26, arrived December 29). The books are first packed in the publisher's heavyweight original carton which is customized to the dimensions of the set and so it fits perfectly with the books in two rows separated by a corrugated cardboard divider. This carton was in turn placed in a much larger box by Amazon, with the voids well-filled with bubble wrap. If the outer box had been severely damaged in transit (which it wasn't) the inner box would still have had more than a fighting chance to retain its full protective integrity. My set arrived in perfect condition and I have nothing but compliments to Amazon for their fine efforts in this matter.

Thank you for giving your time to my thoughts, and I hope that these as well as the comments from others here might sway you toward bringing this marvelous collection into your home.

You won't be disappointed.

January 31, 2007 Update

To all readers,

I see that Amazon has raised the price of this set back up to $200.00, and I'm terribly sorry if my review, which was based in large measure upon the previous price of $94.99, has seemed confusing to you as a result. If the raised price is of a concern to you (which it would certainly be to me!) may I suggest that you bookmark this page and check back regularly? Prior to the $94.99 price the set was also in the neighborhood of $200. if my memory serves, and Amazon lowered the price sometime around December. This may be something that they do as a matter of marketing / policy and so it MAY be that if you are careful to check back regularly you may find that they have lowered the price again to coincide with a Holiday. I have no way of knowing this as a certainty of course, and so you must use your own judgement in this matter.

Best wishes and good luck to all value-minded Shakespeare fans,

Tony

Cheaper than buying the individual paperbacks
The individual paperbacks are priced at $5.00 and $6.00 each. The full set (in hardbound) averages $3.94 a book. The text appears to be identical to the revised paperback edition. Having the plays in single volumes makes it easier to read them (see Al Pacino discussing this issue in Looking for Richard). This is a great deal for a great set.