Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author), Arthur Rackham (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2003 | Series: Dover Fine Art, History of Art

Shakespeare's romantic comedy takes on a new and vivid life with these brilliant images by one of the 20th century's leading illustrators. This faithful reprint rivals the limited and first editions of 1908. Includes the complete text of the play, along with 40 full-color and numerous black-and-white illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (July 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486428338
• ISBN-13: 978-0486428338
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,024,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dream, September 14, 2005

By 

Antonia Bauerlein Sehnert (California, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream (Paperback)

I'm an avid collector of all books to do with fairies. This will take its place as a favorite among all my books. The play is magical, and the mix of genius -- Shakespeare's words and Rackham's imagery -- transported me to another world. There's nothing like it!!! As a fairy photographer/artist http://www.faeriechronicles.com/chronicles/antonia/index.htm I'm passionate about this genre and have have seen many of Rackham's illustrations before. It is really great to see them here with the story. There are the color copies from the plates, but also a plethora of elegant and whimsical pen and ink fairy drawings that introduce the chapters and decorate the pages that I'd never seen. Oh for joy. The pages appear to be copied from the original book (as if duplicated by scanning the original 1908 pages, but cleaned up to look new and enlarged), and they did a great job. The quality of the color reproductions is very good, especially for a paperback in this price range. I would love to have this in a hardback -- the publishers would do well to create an even fancier edition of this hearthrob -- the same size but with a more vintage-look and feel. The soft paperback tends to splay in my hands in its large format. This is a keeper and one that I'd like to last for years. Go check out the reviews on other publications of this play by itself without the illustrations -- you will find an audience that has been spellbound.

I also found a university site with the original book binding and almost all the images in the book scanned -- these are fabulous references:
http://www.special-coll.bham.ac.uk/Blueprint/feature_dream.htm

This is one of those books for which I'd enjoy having the first edition. The original had around 40 bookplates. My websearch found only a subsequent edition (with 16 plates) for $200! Nery a copy of the original 1908 version was to be found. I wonder what THAT would go for!? Please let me know if you find one for a reasonable amount, which I doubt would happen. -- Antonia

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First edition at 1% of the price., January 3, 2007

By 

Felicia Filsdotter (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream (Paperback)

After I sadly lost an auction for a first edition of Midsummer Night's Dream with 1906 drawings by Arthur Rackham, I found and ordered this version -- a faithful copy. I'm delighted -- and not out so much money! :-)

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The story and Rackham's images togerther. A good combination., September 19, 2005

By 

Vas N. Ekonomakou "vassofishes" (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream (Paperback)

The story along with the images! Grate. Most of the books of its king feature only the plates with a brief description and the reader has to know the story to really understand and feel the image. Colour reproduction is not the best possible though. I have seen on the web the same images looking brighter and better. All in all it is a good book to have.