Customer Reviews

The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works Annotated

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I am loathe to waste *any* time reviewing this volume, except that I cannot bear that the names of "The Globe" and "Shakespeare" are suffering by being used here. Additionally, I would save unsuspecting buyers some money.
Note first that Howard Staunton, the editor of "The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare" died in 1874. That is how current this edition is. Unfortunately modern corporations continue to reprint this woefully out-dated version of Shakespeare (the long-deceased editor requiring no royalty payments) and assign a "publication date" that makes this reprint sound contemporary. [Publisher names associated with this uncritical approach to reproducing Shakespeare may vary. This "Globe Illustrated" printing has come out under publisher names "Gramercy", "Random House VALUE", and (in 1983) "Greenwich House".] Caveat, caveat, caveat emptor!
Do not assume that "Shakespeare is Shakespeare". This version may be great "for your collection" but you will not find yourself wanting to dip into the Bard's momental works here. It is NOT accurate. Scholarship has advanced so far in the past century that those in the know LAUGH at many of the editorial decisions that were passed along in Staunton's day.
Rather than repeat here my thoughts about better editions, please see the discussion in the review of one of the Gramercy printings ( ISBN 0517053616 ) for REWARDING editions of Shakespeare [ e.g., those published by Arden/Routledge, Oxford, Addison-Wesley (ed.: David Bevington), Penguin ].
Do your love of Shakespeare some justice and do not support this attractive *looking* offer.
PS: The illustrations are quaint Victorian fantasies - obscuring rather than illustrating what the Elizabethan master achieved. For an appreciation of how we may finally reach back to the original Shakespearean intent (without Victorian filters), please see Fintan O'Toole's recently re-released "Shakespeare is Hard, but So Is Life" (search for Amz ISBN 186207528X ).

This is NOT where you want to spend your money. There are many good editions. Try Arden or Oxford. This one is NO help. Believe the negative reviews.

Saw this book on in a friends library and picked it up because it was so attractive. I've always thought i should read shakespeare, so i tried browsing in it. Not much fun. So i came to amazon to look for reviews. Now i see what the problem was.
Sure it seems awesome to have such a polished looking volume on the coffee table, but i'm starting with the Oxford student edition of a couple plays and finally starting to GET shakespeare! This one is too expensive a centerpiece for my table if i'm never going to feel able to understand it!

This volume will please real Shakespeare lovers and would make a valuable addition to a library. Let me explain.
About ten years ago, for a Christmas present, my girlfriend bought be a copy of the Complete Works that was published by the now defunct Crown Books. She paid about$30. Although I appreciated the thought, I did not think the book would be anything worth keeping. Furthermore, I was more disappointed when I did a quick check and confirmed that it appeared to be just a reprint of the First Folio, with all of its faults.
Yet, the more I examined its contents, the more valuable this collection appeared, at least, to me. Not only did the book include all of the plays and poems, it also included Will's will, a biography, and other little notes.
I checked the fly leaf for the editor, and discovered that it was by a very well known 19th century scholar, and in fact the book was a reprint of his edited complete works from 1863 in three volumes.
Moreover, each play is followed by fairly pertinent notes and comments by other Shakespearean scholars from the 19th century. For instance, there are several entries by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
After reading the various commentaries by those scholars of that century, you will readily understand that the opinions and understanding of the plays were different from those of today. Taking Coleridge again, he writes a very racist opinion about Othello, essentially saying that Shakespeare couldn't possibly have written a play where a white woman sleeps with a Black man; indeed, Coleridge denies that Othello was really dark skinned.
So, if you want read unique or ancient opinions about Shakespeare, this book will satisfy you.
By the way, the current "Globe" collection is identical to the Crown books edition that I have.

This book is simply fantastic. It it huge and gorgeous and illustrated with great etchings. A must have for any home library!!

Even if you don't like Shakespeare, this book is intriguing, beautiful, and a conversation starter! It's drawings are wonderful and the pages even smell and feel luxurious. I'd recommend this to everyone I know except for the fact that they would be able to brag about it too! It was a gift for my sister who is in love with Shakespeare's plays and she couldn't stop talking about it. It's perfect!!!