Recommend a nice edition of King Lear

there is the Folio Society Letterpress Shakespeare edition. it is a limited edition, without illustrations. it is still available on the FS website (http://www.foliosociety.com/category/9233/page:2), where you can see pics of it. there is a used copy available on abebooks.com, in Vancouver, for much less money.

What about Limited Editions Club Shakespeare? You will have to hunt them down from ebay or abebooks. You can easily find them in great condition if your patient.

Here are some pictures.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HENRY-the-SIXTH-Shakespeare-Complete-in-3-Parts-1940-LIM...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LIMITED-EDITIONS-CLUB-Plays-of-William-Shakespeare-37-Vo...

>1 GoriceXII: I have a copy of the Easton Press King Lear. It is illustrated by Boardman Robinson. I will post some photos later in the week, together with a few more suggestions (I have quite a large King Lear collection!)

"My name is Conte Mosca...and I am a Lear-oholic"

As some of my friends on this forum know only too well, I have more than a passing interest in Shakespeare. And King Lear is my favourite Shakespeare work - the pinnacle of Shakespeare's many literary masterpieces.

The picture below shows the extent of my fascination with Lear.



Critical Editions

If we consider this picture in quadrants and move clockwise, we start at the bottom left with ten different paperback "critical" editions, excluding my paperback Oxford Shakespeare edition which I had out the other day and now can't find! From top to bottom and left to right:

1. Arden (Second Series) - 1972 - Edited by Kenneth Muir
2. Arden (Third Series) - 1997 - Edited by R.A. Foakes
3. The New Cambridge Shakespeare - 1992 - Edited by Jay. L. Halio
4. The New Cambridge Shakespeare (Updated) - 2005 - Edited by Jay. L. Halio
5. Norton Critical Edition - 2008 - Edited by Grace Ioppolo
6. RSC Shakespeare - 2009 - Edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen
7. The Annotated Shakespeare (Yale University Press) - 2007 - Edited by Burton Raffel
8. Barnes & Noble Shakespeare - 2007 - Edited by Andrew David Hadfield
9. Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare - 1995 - Edited by Frank Green

The final title in this quadrant is not actually Shakespeare's play but Edward Bond's recreation of the King Lear story in his play Lear. This is the Methuen Student Edition of Bond's play from 1983. This play was highly controversial, not least for the shock caused by the violence represented on stage. In July 1982 The Royal Shakespeare Company presented Lear at their studio theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, directed by Barry Kyle as part of the same season as a new production of Shakespeare's King Lear. Worth a look for those interested in exploring beyond Shakespeare.

Books About King Lear

If we move clockwise to the top left, we have a small selection of books about King Lear, but which do not contain the text of the play. From left to right:

1. The Lear Diaries - Brian Cox (1992). This tells the story of the Royal National Theatre's production of King Lear (and (Richard III) in 1991.

2. Prefaces to Shakespeare - King Lear / Antony and Cleopatra - Harley Granville-Barker (1978 reprint - first published in 1930). This is an absolute classic of literary criticism.

3. Arden's Springboard Shakespeare - Ben Crystal (2013). A new series of slim books aimed at actors, students, theatre-goers and anyone interested in understanding Shakespeare. A very enjoyable guide covering plot, characters, vocabulary, metre and much else.

Graphic Novels

Whatever your views about graphic novels, I think they are a great way to enjoy Shakespeare. As long as they use Shakespeare's original text, reading this way may be closer to Shakespeare's intetion than reading plain text. After all, the plays were meant to be watched and listened to, not read on the page. All three of these examples use the original text, although only the second is complete and unabridged:

1. King Lear - Adapted and Illustrated by Gareth Hines (2009 Candlewick Press)
2. King Lear - Illustrated by Ian Pollock (2006 Can of Worms Graphic Shakespeare)
3. King Lear (Manga Shakespeare) - Illustrated by Ilya (2009 Self Made Hero)

Fine Editions / Collectibles

At last I turn to answer the original question at #1 and focus on fine editions and collectibles. Surprisingly (to me anyway), I have come across relatively few fine editions of King Lear. Unlike many of the other popular plays, there are no Signature Shakespeare editions, no Calla Editions, nothing really of that kind. I therefore have a relatively small selection of these to comment on (unlike my Hamlet collection which is more substantial!). From left to right and top to bottom.

1. Graphic Arts Typographers special edition - 1968
2. Folio Society - 1956
3. The New Temple Shakespeare (J.M. Dent & Sons) - 1935 (First Edition)
4. The Easton Press - 1992
5. Folio Society Letterpress Shakespeare - 2007

I will show some pictures of some of the above titles in a few posts to follow.

Graphic Arts Typographers Special Edition - 1968

I have to confess I know little about this edition, and can find practically nothing about the publisher, Graphic Arts Typographers, Inc, New York City. Therefore, all I can glean about this edition is what is contained in the book itself. It is an attractuve and nicely bound volume, housed in a clothbound slipcase. The introduction states "The Tragedy of King Lear, by WIlliam Shakespeare, has been prepared as the second in a series of annual keepsakes for the friends of the publishers (...). The publishers are once again indebted to Jack Wolfgang Beck, whose illustrations have been drawn with sensitive attention to details of the play and whose time was always generously given.". It is not a numbered limited edition, but I suspect the print run was quite modest.

I don't know too much about Beck other than he was an artist who lived between 1923-1988. I am indebted to John A. Dalles for the following information. "Jack Wolfgang Beck was a graphic artist whose advertising art helped to create a look that today we might call "Mad Men" mid-20th century style art. He was also one of seven artists who shared in the first group exhibition of works at The Loft Gallery in Manhattan; among the other artists was Andy Warhol."

I won't describe the materials in detail, but instead will let the colophon tell its own story.

Folio Society 1956

I have already covered this one here, so won't post again (GoriceXII, I know you don't find the illustrations in this one to your taste, which I totally understand. They have intrigued me over the years and I have grown to love them, but they are certainly very strange indeed!).

http://www.librarything.com/topic/155833#4176786

The New Temple Shakespeare (J.M. Dent & Sons)

I should be clear here that this is in no way a fine edition. Collectible certainly, both for the Gill engravings and the historic importance of the text, but you will find no fine binding or high quality paper here. The Dent editions have the advantage though of being relatively inexpensive. I would expect to pay no more than £5 for a first edition of any of the plays (one of those printed between 1934 and 1936) and with dust wrapper intact. Perhaps £1-£2 more if the dust wrapper is in immaculate condition, but frankly that is rare. These were not built to last.

It is also worth noting just how small these are. As you can see from my main picture above, these really are pocket editions.

As I have stated elsewhere, these are only lightly illustrated. As a collection they provide a nice sample of Gill's extraordinary work, but for each volume has just the title-page, half-title binding and jacket design by Gill, and the engravings are repeated across multiple titles.

The Easton Press - 1992

There are two Easton Press editions. This one, illustrated by Boardman Robinson, is basically a new edition of the 1939 Limited Editions Club edition. There is another Easton Press edition based on the 1901 "Chiswick" Shakespeare, illustrated by Byam Shaw.

I am not really a fan of The Easton Press. I find their approach to publishing to be tired, formulaic and dull - and increasingly cynical, given their poor judgement in releasing rushed commemorative editions of books that have no place in the world of fine books. But that aside, there are some books that are suited to The Easton Press formula, and I think the Shakespeare series works reasonably well, and is affordable.

Folio Society - The Letterpress Shakespeare - 2007

I have saved the best until last. You probably don't need photos to know what the Letterpress Shakespeare edition looks like, but for the sake of completeness (and because I love looking at this edition), here are a few to round things off.

>9 EclecticIndulgence: Carrying around a copy of The Letterpress King Lear might make me a little conspicuous. In any event we are not allowed to carry weapons in the UK. Instead I think my MO is more likely to be rushing up to my victim and ruthlessly quoting some of Shakespeare's bawdy. That'll show 'em...

I have a 1927 Ernest Benn 'Players' Shakespeare' edition. Limited edition of 550 copies, printed letterpress on pure rag paper at the Shakespeare Head Press (Bernard Newdigate, typographer) and illustrated by Paul Nash.

Michael I realised something, you're missing The Limited Editions Club Shakespeare, this is Hamlet from our very own, LT member Tony

http://thebookblog.com/review/hamlet-shakespeare-edy-legrand-limited-editions-cl...

Indeed I am Faisel :-( LEC editions have proved really difficult to find at reasonable prices in the UK. I have a couple, as shown on the Shakespeare thread here - http://www.librarything.com/topic/155833#4176737, but not the King Lear.

Of course the Easton Press edition shown above is based on the LEC edition, as are they all in that EP series, and I have 12 volumes from the series (plus a couple from the other Shakespeare series by Easton Press based on The Chiswick Shakespeare).

I hope one day to increase my collection of the original LEC editions, but not at the silly prices they often command in the UK!

>19 ironjaw: I absolutely love that portrait of Hamlet by Legrand. Seems to me exactly right.

>20 Conte_Mosca: Somehow I doubt these LECs of the Shakespeare plays are affordable even in North America, but I haven't (or dare!) look into it.

The most beautiful and unique edition of King Lear (hands down) is from the Janus Press (1986). It is a giant folio-sized book measuring 14.5" x 11" with 39 dramatic woodcut engravings, 12 full-page and one double-page in black and white by Claire van Vliet. The text is printed letterpress on a special handmade paper. The spine is made of alum-tawed white pigskin with exposed cords and the covers are birch boards with another multi-colored abstract design by van Vliet. The book is then wrapped in a black cloth folder-chemise and then housed in a superb slipcase covered with linen-finish gray buckram.

It is a true livres d'artiste book and was issued in an edition of 160 copies. It is near impossible to find and, when you do, it will cost between $2,000 to $2,500 in fine condition. Simply put, no other edition of King Lear comes close to this one.

I finally completed the Graphic Arts Typographers special edition Shakespeare set! This was a result of some good fortune and job lot purchases, as well as obsessive hunting down of hard-to-find titles. (Anyone looking for a reasonably priced copy of Lear with the title still visible on the spine should give up now: I have concluded that it just is not out there.)

My job lot purchases have left me with two duplicates that I would love to see go to a fellow Devotee or Devotees: Antony and Cleopatra, and Winter’s Tale. These titles are hard to find in the condition my duplicates are in, so I hope someone gets in contact with me via private message (I am not looking to profit on these, just recover my expenses and shipping.) If there's no interest I will put them up on eBay in December, but want to give you fine people the first crack at them.

A nice edition of King Lear...

Some 18th century editions see Cordelia at the end of the play brought back to life.

So for those like me who prefer their books to have happy endings. you need to get one of these re-write jobs.

Yes, indeed!

Well into the 19th century, Lear was almost always performed with the happy ending provided by Tate’s 1681 revision of the play.

The ending in the 1608 Quarto is even bleaker than the one we know.

The Fool in Lear is my favorite character in all of Shakespeare -- but how to explain his disappearance?

I forgot to say that anyone who is interested acquiring my Graphic Arts Typographers special edition copies of Antony and Cleopatra and Winter’s Tale should note that I am in the US (if you didn't gather that from my username).

It's a shame Milton Glaser didn't do more than covers for Signet. I always felt his cover illustrations for the plays were spot on, in particular the expression on Lear's face here:

https://cover.archinform.net/m/9780451522825.jpg

>1 GoriceXII:

One month after my comments in >22 dlphcoracl: , I posted an article on the Janus Press edition of King Lear on Chris Adamson's Books and Vines website. It discusses the work of Claire van Vliet and her Janus Press over the past half-century and the articles contains numerous high resolution photographs of the book - binding with chemise, slipcase, text pages and many of van Vliet's wood-engravings.

https://booksandvines.com/2013/10/29/the-tragedie-of-king-lear-by-william-shakes...

>17 GoriceXII:

Both the recommendations are fine films although I find Brook a bit too nihilistic even for Lear and Olivier doesn't always have a secure handle on the text as well as lacking support from some cast members.

So I'd also recommend both:

McKellan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2049483/?ref_=nv_sr_1

and

Ian Holm http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0148376/

Other productions are available (eg Welles, Earl Jones, Hordern and of course "the Russian Lear). There's even one by Brian Blessed "Cordelia's ALIVE!" - to be honest however I can't entirely vouch for that one.

I should perhaps add that the Welles is an extremely truncated performance concentrating almost entirely on the main plot and indeed Welles as Lear. This will probably come as no great shock to anybody although in fairness it was performed live for US TV and the time allocation was only about 90 minutes. It is also probably a bit hard to get hold of, especially this side of the pond.

8>

An excellent collection - thanks for the pictures and information.

And I'm pleased to see somebody else has Mr Bond's version.

Gordon's ALIVE! Whoops, wrong film.

But is the Fool still alive? That's what I want to know.

Depends on the production.

I will confess to not having been keen on Simon Russell Beale battering him to death, especially since he seemed to take a while to do it despite the ferocity of his attack and Adrian Scarborough seeming a bit delicate and although I had a tad more sympathy with Mike Gambon's decision to stab Tony Sher through a pillow in order to restore the balance of the production it still seemed a mite uncalled for.

It is a puzzlement though.

I saw the Beale production on a screen in New York (the first time I saw a stage video link, or whatever you call it). I read beforehand that there would be a shocking interpretation, and I guessed (correctly) that the Fool would be killed. That was my guess because the most shocking thing you can do in Shakespeare is harm the Fool. Remember Lear's outrage when the Fool is punished (can't recall which daughter or son-in-law did it)?

That year in New York there were three staged productions of Lear, too!

That's a lot of Learing in one year! But sometimes they do come in waves when you get a fair few "distinguished" actors (or indeed actresses if we can still use the term) all eager to play the role before the Cordelias get too heavy and the storms too noisy. And again the biggies tend to appoint Directors and then ask what they are interested in putting on - there aren't all that many keen to have a go at say King John (although personally I love it) and the main stages need to attract large audiences. I believe the RSC and National used to have a wee conflab at some point before season plans were drawn up in order to try and avoid a surfeit of the more popular plays (or even a doubling of the less box-office possibilities) but then of course the Globe (or Shakespeare's Globe as they somewhat presumptuously named it) opened up and these clashes became more likely. They seem to have managed to adapt though - and the punters still turn up (usually).

Did you catch the staged productions? And if so how did they go?

I saw two of the three. The one at BAM had a Fool that was so moving I was close to tears.

The Shakespeare on the Park one had Lithgow as Lear (quite good) and Clarke Peters (from The Wire and Treme) as Gloucester (he was superb). Annette Bening was Goneril -- I was unconvinced.

The test of a good Lear for me is: Did the staging make me see the play in a new light? Both of these passed that test, as did the Beale one (which I doubtless would have found more powerful had I been in the live audience in London).

>24 NYCFaddict: Congratulations on completing the Graphic Arts Typographers' set. I bought a copy of Henry IV some years ago and have just added Hamlet to my burgeoning collection.
Based on my sample of two they seem to me to be ideal books for reading: the size, clarity, ease of opening, and enjoyable illustrations recommending them before more prestigious volumes.

I agree with all you say, but set completion was so time consuming!

>36 NYCFaddict:

That sounds excellent - I'm a big fan of Lithgow and Peters although I missed out on seeing the latter's Othello at The Crucible a few years back (with Dominic West as Iago).

My late and much missed friend Frank Benson (no, not that Frank Benson) always used to say that he found something new or interesting in every production. We used to attend the same courses and in after-show discussions following some apparently god-awful directorial disaster I would rant on about the various shortcomings only for Frank to gently say "I have listened carefully and much of what David said is true but...." and go to find wee nuggets and new interpretations that others had overlooked. He was a lovely bloke and taught me so much.

www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21709941-great-actor-also-brings-tenderness-one-dramas-most-demanding-roles-lears

"Lear's Fool is dressed in a ragged Superman outfit." I'd love to see this!

>40 NYCFaddict:

What an awful idea.

Call me a bit of a traditionalist but "Lear's Fool dressed in a ragged Superman outfit" is a travesty . This is reminiscent of the horrific performances of Wagner's Ring at Bayreuth in the 1970's and 1980's in which Wagner's magnificent Ring cycle is transformed into a commentary on the Nazis and Holocaust replete with Storm troopers on stage or is staged inside a post-modern factory with slave trolls, an updated and vastly inferior version of Fritz Lang's groundbreaking film 'Metropolis'.

No thanks.

But in a way it's clever: he is a Superman in the sense that he's the only one who clearly perceives what's going on.

> 42

The only true Superman (or Superwoman) in this outlandish performance is the audience member who can refrain from retching and walking out.

>43 dlphcoracl:
Haha, wholeheartedly agree!

Reluctant though I am to write off any Deborah Warner production and much as I would think twice (or even more) before arguing with her in public that does sound slightly odd.

>40 NYCFaddict:

After reading that ghastly description, I have to concur absolutely with >41 dlphcoracl:!!!!

Call me a traditionalist, but I've never been entirely comfortable with staging Shakespeare's plays in the present day; it just doesn't feel right, mostly because so few people today really comprehend the power of Shakespeare's linguistic subtlety. Modern productions tend to focus on the literal meaning of the text, without really paying much attention to the aural and historical subtleties of Shakespeare's language - particularly his slang.

The worst thing is these productions that 'distill' Hamlet(!!!) or any other play into less than 90 minutes. If you can't be bothered to dedicate three hours to enjoy one of the greatest plays ever composed, pray tell, why exactly are you here? Just because Coles Notes and Dummies guides exist for everything doesn't mean that simplifying everything is a good idea.

And >41 dlphcoracl:: stormtroopers and slave trolls?! Yeesh.

Each to their own.

I have no problems with folk staging Mr Shakespeare's work in his own age, the time period covered by the story concerned, modern day, the future or any point in between including eclectic elements. All I ask is that there be some logical reason for the selection - even if it be only for the noble cause of making the actors look more attractive - and that the most important thing be the text.

And to be honest I have never, ever noted any correlation between what an actor is wearing or which particular implement the director has asked him to utilise in dispatching his fellow thespians and the ability to speak properly or convey meaning.

Yes, the absence of a logical reason results in a gimmicky staging -- for which I have no patience.

I remember being on courses when the late Guy Woolfenden led sessions on music at the RSC. On one occasion I was lucky enough to be sitting next to him at the subsequent performance of As You Like It. Charming and amusing as he was there were some slightly cutting remarks when the toy sheep got a round from the audience. I doubt he would have favoured the Superman gag.