This major new complete edition of Shakespeare's works combines accessibility with the latest scholarship. Each play and collection of poems is preceded by a substantial introduction that looks at textual and literary-historical issues. The texts themselves have been scrupulously edited and are accompanied by same-page notes and glossaries. Particular attention has been paid to the design of the book to ensure that this first new edition of the twenty-first century is both attractive and approachable.

"Here is an elegant and clear text for either study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them, and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel, who understand that these are plays for performance as wellas great texts for contemplation." —Patrick Stewart

General Introduction
The Shakespearian Theater World
William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman
The Texts of Shakespeare
A Comparative Table

Nondramatic Poetry
The Narrative Poems - edited by Jonathan Crewe:
Venus and Adonis
Lucrece
The Phoenix and the Turtle
The Passionate Pilgrim
A Lover's Complaint

The Sonnets - edited by Stephen Orgel with an Introduction by John Hollander
Index of First Lines to The Sonnets

Comedies
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - edited by Mary Beth Rose
The Taming of the Shrew - edited by Stephen Orgel
The Comedy of Errors - edited by Frances E. Dolan
Love's Labor's Lost - edited by Peter Holland
A Midsummer Night's Dream - edited by Russ McDonald
The Merchant of Venice - edited by A.R. Braunmuller
The Merry Wives of Windsow - edited by Russ McDonald
Much Ado About Nothing - edited by Peter Holland
As You Like It - edited by Frances E. Dolan
Twelfth Night, or, What You Will - edited by Jonathan Crewe
The History of Troilus and Cressida - edited by Jonathan Crewe
Measure for Measure - edited by Jonathan Crewe
All's Well That Ends Well - edited by Claire McEachern
Pericles Prince of Tyre - edited by Stephen Orgel
Cymbeline - edited by Peter Holland
The Winter's Tale - edited by Frances E. Dolan
The Tempest - edited by Peter Holland

Histories
Genealogical Chart
Monarchs of England
The First Part of Henry the Sixth - edited by William Montgomery with an Introduction by Janis Lull
The Second Part of Henry the Sixth - edited by William Montgomery with an Introduction by Janis Lull
The Third Part of Henry the Sixth - edited by William Montgomery with an Introduction by Janis Lull
The Tragedy of King Richard the Third - edited by Peter Holland
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second - edited by Frances E. Dolan
The Life and Death of King John - edited by Claire McEachern
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth - edited by Claire McEachern
The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth - edited by Claire McEachern
The Life of King Henry the Fifth - edited by Claire McEachern
The Life of King Henry the Eighth - edited by Jonathan Crewe

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus - edited by Russ McDonald
Romeo and Juliet - edited by Peter Holland
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar - edited by William Montgomery with an Introduction by Douglas Trevor
The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark - edited by A.R. Braunmuller
The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice - edited by Russ McDonald
The Life of Timon of Athens - edited by Frances E. Dolan
King Lear: The 1608 Quarto and 1623 Folio Texts - edited by Stephen Orgel
King Lear: A Conflated Text - edited by Stephen Orgel
Macbeth - edited by Stephen Orgel
Antony and Cleopatra - edited by A.R. Braunmuller
The Tragedy of Coriolanus - edited by Jonathan Crewe
Index of Songs

It has been almost half a century since the first volumes of the Pelican Shakespeare appeared under the general editorship of Alfred Harbage. The fact that a new edition, rather than simply a revision, has been undertaken reflects the profound changes textual and critical studies of Shakespeare have undergone in the last twenty years. For the new Pelican edition, the texts of the plays and non-dramatic poetry have been thoroughly revised in accordance with recent scholarship, and in some cases have been entirely reedited. New introductions, textual notes, and glosses have been provided. But the new Shakespeare is also designed as a successor to the original edition; the previous one has been taken into account, and the advice of the previous editors has been solicited where it was feasible to do so.

Certain textual features of the new Pelican Shakespeare should be particularly noted. All lines are numbered that contain a word, phrase, or allusion explained in the glossarial notes at the bottom of the page. In addition, for convenience, every tenth line is also numbered, in italics when no annotation is indicated. The intrusive and often inaccurate place headings inserted by early editors are omitted (as is becoming standard practice), but for the convenience of those who miss them, an indication of locale, if the locale is clear, now appears as the first item in the annotation of each scene.

In the interest of both elegance and utility, each speech prefix is set in a separate line when the speaker's lines are in verse, except when those words form the second half (or further parts) of a verse line. Thus the verse form of the speech is kept visually intact. What is printed as verse and what is printed as prose has, in general, the authority of the original texts. Departures from the original texts in this regard have only the authority of editorial tradition and the judgement of the Pelican Shakespeare editors; and, in a few instances, are admittedly arbitrary.