Folio Shakespeare's Life and World

I'm embarking upon a discovery of Shakespeare - I've read little since my schooldays - and I would be grateful if any FS Devotee could tell what they think of this background FS volume (content as well as binding!). I'd also be most grateful for any other recommendations for learning more about Shakespeare - FS or other. I was fascinated by an at times caustic thread here last year on the origin of Shakespeare (ie. authentic Arden boy vs. de Vere), though at present I'm looking more for handy general introductions and commentaries.

I've bought several of the Oxford Shakespeare paperbacks for the individual plays as they're handily portable and appear to have excellent. introductions and copious commentary notes. The only FS Shakespeare I own is the Sonnets with a beautiful crushed purple silk binding.

Many thanks!

>1 cronshaw: It's not bad, but not particularly memorable either. Good value if you can get hold of a cheap copy for less than £10, which should be relatively easy on the secondary market.

In terms of Shakespeare recommendations, I won't revive the Arden vs Oxford Shakespeare debate which has been covered elsewhere. All I would say is that the Arden, Oxford and New Cambridge Shakespeare collections are all excellent. "The Rough Guide to Shakespeare" gives a great overview of Shakespeare and each of the plays, including multiple recommendations for each play (best book editions, best audio, best video etc), and will definitely help choose Arden vs Oxford vs New Cambridge on a play by play basis.

The best biography I have read is Peter Ackroyd's "Shakespeare" which I highly recommend. I also enjoyed "Shakespeare and Co" by Stanley Wells and "The Lodger" by Charles Nicholl. James Shapiro's books are also excellent (1599 and Contested Will).

For reading copies (undistracted by notes) I can of course highly commend the FS Shakespeare. Lovely small volumes, easy to handle and beautifully illustrated. I much prefer these to the various FS multi-volume (6 or 8 book) anthologies of plays. I like my First Folio of Shakespeare too but not exactly a book for day to day reading!

If you are interested in Shakespeare's language, David Crystal's "Shakespeare's Words" is absolutely fantastic and sist on my bedside as a constant companion!

For something a little lighter, Ben Crystal's "Shakespeare on Toast" is a great read.

I love Shakespeare's Sonnets, and other than the FS edition (of course!), I strongly recommend "Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets" by Don Paterson (a masterful poet in his own right). It is absolutely brilliant. As is Helen Vendler's "The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets", albeit a little idiosyncratic!

That should keep you entertained for a while!

Edit: Typos

I would recommend "Shakespeare: A Life" by Park Honan, published in 1999. It relates how the outward aspects of Shakespeare's upbringing and other known facts of his life are reflected in the plays. It was sent along by the FS if you ordered the First Folio Facsimile, back in 2001.

>2 Conte_Mosca:,3 That's incredibly helpful, thanks. Michael, you seem a veritable Shakespearean scholar! I remember now having read rave reviews some time ago of the Ackroyd biography. I've been spurred into remedying my Shakespeare deficit by my current OU course - my first year of general Humanities introduced me to Marlowe and Donne (wow!) while my second year starting next month does a broad sweep of History and Literature from 1400 to 1900, including William of course.

Excellent recommendations above. I would add The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare for browsing, which contains mainly short articles, arranged alphabetically. There is also a thematic listing of entries encompassing Shakespeares's and his family's biographies, the plays, songs, literary and linguisic features of Shakespeare's language and style, the Elizabethan and Jacobean literary and historical context, the theatrical context, the printing and publishing context, criticism and scholarship, etc., etc.

Another fascinating book is Gary Taylor's Reinventing Shakespeare: A Cultural History from the Restoration to the Present (1990). This asks the question, "When and why did people decide that Shakespeare was the greatest of all dramatists?" In answering this, he describes how "each age reinvents Shakespeare to suit its own ends".

If you're interested in why the various editions and commentaries manifest different approaches to editing the same plays, have a look at Re-Editing Shakespeare for the Modern Reader (1984) by Stanley Wells, who is General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare. This is admittedly more specialized, but it's short and readable, being based on a series of lectures given at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. He tackles that perennial question of original vs. modern spelling and also looks at the editorial treatment of stage directions, among more general matters.

>4 cronshaw: You are welcome. I wouldn't say a scholar, but definitely an enthusiast!

>5 boldface: The Gary Taylor sounds interesting, I will check it out. Thanks for the tip. I haven't come across that one before.

A couple of others spring to mind that which are also very good, and deserve mention. The David Crystal is an excellent glossary-type reference book, but a great supplement to it in a more readable (rather than dippable) format is Frank Kermode's superb "Shakespeare's Language". And whilst a little dated, A C Bradley's "Shakespearean Tragedy" is probably the classic text of Shakespearean criticism.

On the biography front, Jonathan Bates' "Soul of the Age" is a good follow up to Ackroyd (I would definitely start with Ackroyd). And whilst not to everyone's taste, I found Bill Bryson's biography entertaining to listen to on audiobook.

I would recommend The Oxford Compainion. It's great for dipping into.

Any recommendations for hardcover editions (non FS) of individual Shakespeare plays? Does anyone know about the binding of the Signature Shakespeare Series?

>8 jju: I had been wondering about this too before deciding to go with the individual Oxford Shakespeare volumes in paperback for which I have bought protective fitted plastic covers. It's a smart set on the shelf, and unusually for paperback volumes, they are sewn bindings and high quality acid-free paper, so very robust. I do like the illustrated individual hardback FS volumes (produced in the 90s I think - the ones with feathers on the boards) but I wanted to have plenty of on-page explanation and commentary!

>9 the_bb:
Nice! I'd love to be able to get a complete set of those. Can't afford anything like that just now though.

>9 the_bb: & 10
Thanks, I'll look into both suggestions.

I've now exhausted my season's budget with purchase of nearly all Shakespeare's Comedies and Tragedies from the individual Oxford Shakespeare series. I can highly recommend them for their comprehensive authoritative commentary. They're cheaper on-line at Foyles.co.uk (average £5.50) than at Amazon, Waterstones or The Book Depository.

>13 cronshaw: Won't they feel lonely without the company of the Histories? ;-)

The accompanying essays / commentaries in the Oxford volumes are indeed fantastic. You will enjoy them very much I am sure.

>14 Conte_Mosca: I had to draw both a line and pursestrings somewhere!

Folio "Shakespeare's Life and World" has some great illustrations that you won't find elsewhere. It's worth buying for those, but it's far from the A-list of books on Shakespeare and his times. Anything by Jonathan Bate is going to reward you a whole lot more, plus the Oxford Companion is endlessly fascinating and organized like an encyclopedia.