Editions of Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s plays have been edited, re-edited, and re-published countless times over the past few centuries. The number of different editions available for purchase in your local bookstore is frightening to some. Many customers aren’t sure which to buy. I worked in a bookstore once upon a time. Clueless customers aren’t always fun.
I’m not going to be a salesman today and tell you which edition I would purchase. You, if you choose, will tell me. Sort of.
I’ve been paying extra attention to footnotes, introductions, and appendices in editions of Shakespeare’s plays lately. I’ve been hearing and reading what an editor of a text actually DOES. It fascinates me. The editor must choose what they feel is the best spelling/punctuation/definition for this passage. Are they creating what they feel is most “authentic,” “understandable,” or “performable”?
As one who works in theatre, my bias is towards what can be performed. If I were to direct a show I would be creating my own edit of the text, to some extent… but not as pedantic as published editions. Maybe someday I’ll do my own full scholarly edit of a text. Maybe when I have a whole year with nothing else to do. In other words: not anytime soon.
But now I turn my attention toward you, gentle reader. What do you prefer to have in an edition of a play if you were to purchase one? Do you want summaries before each scene? A bio of Shakespeare at the beginning? Commentary on the differences between the Folio and Quarto editions? Do you want a copious cornucopia of footnotes? Definitions? Paraphrases? And what would you use this version for? Study in classroom? Performance? Reading for pleasure? Do you have different requirements for an edition for each of the aforementioned purposes? Maybe you wouldnt buy one at all, but instead download a freely available text from the internet?
If you have a favorite edition or two, tell me! And why? There’s a lot of Shakespeare out there, and a lot of Shakespeare fans out there who all want and need something different. I’ll share with you my preferences and processes of working with the text in an upcoming post. But what do YOU need in your book?
Posted on May 14, 2008
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A.K.Farrar May 14
Why buy at all nowadays?
There are several vary good on-line ‘editions’ - I use the PlayShakespeare (http://www.playshakespeare.com/) ones myself.
Many of the Folio and Quarto texts are available also - so back to the original if you can cope (and a lot more people will be able to cope than think).
For sticking in my pocket and reading by the river I tend to take the Penguin Shakespeare - right size, not too heavy (both in terms of weight and scholarship) - explanations at the back if needed, and a reasonable intro essay at the front - both on the text, on the performances of the play and on ‘further reading’.
Matt May 14
I like the New Folger Library editions, but that may just be force of habit; in high school and most of college, whenever we’d study or perform (of course you can’t perform without studying…) a Shakespeare play, this was the edition the teacher/director had available. I enjoy the accessibility and depth of the footnotes, as well as the explanations in the front of how the edition was put together.
A.K.Farrar May 15
I’ve just started to ‘review’ The Penguin Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona over on my blog for anyone interested enough to view it. As I work through the canon I hope to explore various other editions - although expect a very personal response rather than reasoned assessment!
Craig May 22
I find myself going back to three editions, over and over.
The newset Folgers are very, very good, especially for the casual reader or the “Shakespeare-curious.” One of the best things is that the introductions don’t assume you’ve already read the play! So they’re great to hand to someone who is going to see some summer festival Shakespeare and would like to check it out in print. They also include a critical essay at the end of each play, and these are sometimes so good that they’ve changed my whole outlook on a play (Henry VIII, for example).
Most of the time, though, the Signet Classics are my favorites. Very readable, with one of the best footnoting schemes around. They also come with a whole selection of critical essays, excerpts from source material, and solid textual notes. Very approachable, but you can still dig deep with them.
For heavy-duty scholarship, I pick up the Arden editions, but these are so clogged with notes that I find it very diffficult to _read_ these editions–they’re more for _consulting_.