William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, Deluxe Edition by William Shakespeare Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, Deluxe Edition
Book Review: A true master
Summary: 5 Stars
Few writers in history have been able to come close to matching Shakespeare's astounding flair for writing, and this volume is the perfect compliment to his talent. The engravings inside are beautiful, and the plays, even without their numbers and their footnotes, are still as incredible as they ever were. To those of you who say that Shakespeare is boring, you're not really understanding his work, or you are simply unable to appreciate anything this old. I highly recommend this particular editionBook Review: great
Summary: 5 Stars
this is a worderful book for any shakespeare fan!!Book Review: Only suitable for a book shelf
Summary: 1 Stars
If you got a copy of Shakespeare's works, you might like to be able to rely on the text it presents. That would require knowing the credentials of the editor, the currency of the editing, etc...The price is excellent - what the reader receives, well... caveat emptor.Value to beginners: none (no background on the plays, glosses of difficult words, etc.)
Value to adv. students: none .
Value to scholars: less than none.
Judge this book by its cover: not. Attractive cover hides printed pages that appear to be facsimiles of archaic, crammed-type pages from some bygone era.
Perhaps you think, 'Well, at least it's a cheap way to get a copy of the complete plays.' A few months of reading modern, respectable editions (e.g., from Routledge/Arden, Cambridge, or Oxford) for any popular Shakespeare play will help a newcomer realize that for almost all Shakespeare plays determining what is 'the text' is a vast conundrum; nay: an oxymoron. As with many aspects of Shakespeare study, 'tis not so easy: for most plays there are multiple alternative *original sources* - differing in important ways from each other. What sources did the editor of the Gramercy edition use? Well, if the publisher does not deem it necessary even to credit the editor's name in this volume or to acknowledge how outdated the editorial work is...
A better use of your money is to buy a modern edition of single plays. Even the inexpensive Folger Library paperbacks give beginners helpful definitions for difficult words. For those planning to dive deeply into the intricate weavings and unfathomed levels of meaning in these great works, save your money by shunning this bookcase-worthy-only printing, and seek out a complete edition such as the Arden(Routledge) with helpful annotation on difficult words or the respected Riverside edition, or (best for real literature students) David Bevington's excellently edited volume (extremely helpful overviews offered for each play). (A used copy of a Bevington edition from the 1980s is worth a truckload of these 1900ish Gramercy printings.)
I regret spending even these few minutes to review the most INadequate version of Shakespeare available, but am aggravated to it by the high Amazon sales ranking for this edition - which suggests that thousands of unsuspecting buyers are throwing money away. Worse yet, once they have their copies they will be discouraged from exploring the grandeur of the plays because of this archaic, alienating, barren reprint. Most will open the book a few times, quickly put it away, and stick to Hollywood productions.
Ignore the respected name 'Random House' on these books and attend to the qualifier 'Value Publication' and its alias 'Gramercy Books'. We are not amused. The buyer is abused.
Book Review: Use the Library or Paperbacks Instead of This Book
Summary: 1 Stars
I am a professional actor and teacher of Shakespeare. This is a vastly inferior edition of Shakespeare's complete works. There is no room in the margins for making notes. There are no footnotes to aid the reader with antiquated language and references. The binding is insubstantial and the gilding sticks to other pages. I picked this book up at a bookstore once and thought I would enjoy such a pretty and portable copy of Shakespeare's works. As soon as I opened my copy of the book, I immediately returned the book to the bookstore. I found misspellings and errors and the type was so tight, I found the text difficult to read. Try to save your money for the Riverside Shakespeare (a book you and your family will enjoy for years, mine is 25 years old) and use the Folger if you need to by one play at at time, but go to the library for your Shakespeare before wasting your money on this piece of junk. The notes are helpful and aid in the enjoyment of the text. Avoid this book!Book Review: not as good as arden
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is empty and useless. If you want to read and understand what Shakespeare wrote buy the Arden Complete Shakespeare, it is much better.This book is a waste of money