The Annotated Shakespeare: The Comedies, Histories, Sonnets and Other…

3 Volumes in one, with 4200 b/w illustrations and 12 color plates.

Heh. Well, here it is. I used to own the Norton First Folio Shakespeare. It was an amazing piece of work for Shakespeare reading groups. But I eventually had to sell it (poverty sucks!). So now I have this ( which many people in the SRG I belonged to had), and it is perfectly adequate for the study of the plays. The annotations and illustrations are quite entertaining. Excellent stuff!! Now to find a Shakespeare reading group! ( )

I love Rowse. I love his eccentric and opinionated annotations. When I want Shakespeare, I go to my old copy of A.L.Rowse's "The Annotated Shakespeare". I always found Rowse’s edition to be a bit easier and more flavorful than the other annotated versions out there. Once I got deep into Shakespeare, I found that there were lots of ongoing feuds in the footnotes. I couldn’t care less. The main reason I bought this edition was not because it was “eccentric, opinionated, easier and more flavorful”, but because my first “encounter” with it was through Star Trek TNG! (you didn't expect that, did you??)

If you're into Shakespeare and Star Treak, read the rest of the review on my blog. ( )

Does it really weigh 8 pounds? I'm not going to get my scale out. It seems the lover of Shakespeare or the reluctant newcomer would be inspired by this heavily (pun intended) illustrated edition. Each Comedy, Tragedy, History, Sonnet or Poem includes an introduction.

Too large to read but it has hundreds of great old out-of-copyright illustrations, mostly from the 19th century.