Quote:
Originally Posted by BookCat
Thanks, but apart from the humungous price, I don't have a large screen device. For anyone studying the plays, it's usually best to buy the individual Arden editions in paperback. That's how I first studied him at F.E. College and Uni. Now I can read him as easily as a modern novel.
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I have the complete set of Arden Shakespeare paperbacks (or complete as of a few years ago - I haven't bought a few of the latest releases), and I agree that they are the best around. However, they fill a moderate size bookcase, and in total they cost several hundred pounds.
I have quite a few "complete works" - RSC, (several) Oxford, and Arden, and the one I linked to is now my favourite. I judge a Complete Works on the quality of its footnotes. The older Oxford (the edition with the picture of the London skyline on it) has no footnotes at all. The RSC and Arden just have word meanings. The new Oxford has more extensive notes than either, although obviously not approaching those of the paperback Ardens. It is expensive, you're right, but not out of line for a 3400 page book, to my mind. For comparison, the RSC is 2400 pages, and the older Oxford a paltry 1300 pages (because it's printed in two columns). As you can see from the page count, the new Oxford has an awful lot more in it! Both in terms of the content of each individual play, and also in terms of plays that modern linguistic analysis indicates Shakespeare probably had a hand in, which haven't previously been considered part of his "canon".
This is a book that's way easier to read as a PDF than a paper book. I've seen the paper version, and even though it's a thing of beauty as an book, it weighs kg even though the pages are as thin as tissue paper (it's the kind of paper that Bibles are often printed on, if you know what I mean?). You'd need to read it with the book on a table or in your lap, and I'd be petrified of tearing the pages. Much easier to hold my iPad!