Single Shakespeare Play Modern Library Classics ebook

Larla · 08-23-2016, 09:08 AM

Has anyone read one of these ebooks? I saw in a review that they have real annotations and are quite cheap (less than $3). Of course the stupid Look Inside show a bunch of the initial commentaries but none of the actual play.

I was wondering how it looked in the ereader and how well the annotations worked.

Jeff L · 08-23-2016, 10:59 PM

Modern Library has (at least) a couple different series under their name. I think the ones you're referring to are the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) versions.

The RSC versions are annotated with links in the text to the notes in back.
E.g. https://www.amazon.com/Henry-V-Moder.../dp/B0036S4ATU

Non-RSC versions have notes but no links to them.
E.g. https://www.amazon.com/Tragedies-Sha.../dp/B000FC1KP2

A while back I read the RSC version of Coriolanus, using both a Fire and an old E Ink Kindle (non-touch screen). The profusion of links made reading on a Fire easier. A touch screen E Ink device should work as well. Hitting the links may be a problem if you use a small text size. I recall that I edited these to increase the line spacing.

FYI, there's also an RSC Complete Works available.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Shake...dp/B00BO4GSA2/

Larla · 08-24-2016, 08:41 AM

Yo Jeff -- yes it was definitely the RSC version that I was referring to. Thanks for the info on the complete works version. At $26 it is definitely cheaper than all of the $3 single versions.

I did break down and bought the Hamlet version on Kobo. After an initial quick look I would say it is just what I was looking for.

The annotations work great on my Kobo Glo HD reader. Not only do you get a clickable footnote number but the whole word or phrase in question is a clickable link and displays in italics; so it is very easy to touch. Plus, as a kepub ebook, the footnote is displayed as a pop-up window and very easy to dismiss.

A couple of concerns about the complete works version:

1) With such a large book, there may be performance issues while using the ereader
2) The single play books have a lot of specific articles and commentary about the play before getting to the play itself. Hopefully, the complete works would include all of that extra material for each play.

Jeff L · 08-24-2016, 12:44 PM

There shouldn't be performance issues with the complete works as I expect the acts are in separate files. I don't have any kepubs so I can't be sure but that's how plays are usually done.

You're right to be concerned about the availability of the introductions and the commentaries. I don't think the complete works have the individual articles. I'll have to check on that. (May not get to it until this evening.) I should have remembered that as I have multiple versions of some plays in order to read different commentary.

The other reason is that the way they edit/redact the plays can vary. For a long time, the versions of some of the plays that most people saw were the result of editors conflating different quarto and/or folio editions. They would create a mixture of their own that didn't actually exist in any editions. I read somewhere that the trend now was to be truer to a particular edition. I believe the RSC versions focus on the folio editions.

BTW, you can try downloading samples of the individual plays and see if you get all the pertinent parts of the frontmatter.

Larla · 08-24-2016, 04:37 PM

That's good to know about not having to worry about potential performance issues.

The large cost of the complete works would be perfect for one of those Kobo 90% discount codes. Hopefully they will show up again sometime.

BenG · 08-25-2016, 12:04 AM

Here's the TOC for The Modern Library's Complete Works. Each of the individual plays have their own essay and Key Facts section. I don't know if the essays are the same but generally there's only one per play.

Spoiler:

Jeff L · 08-25-2016, 01:35 AM

There are edited (abbreviated, somewhat reworded) versions of the individual introductions in the Complete Works. What's missing is the backmatter which includes a history of the productions that show how the plays have been regarded over the years.

Within the epub version, each play is in its own file.

BookCat · 08-27-2016, 02:05 PM

I have the RSC Complete Works as a hardback. The main negative about this is the modernisation of the spellings, which slightly changes the meanings of the words. They don't point these out in the notes, but I found them by comparision with a 19th century edition. One benefit of getting the ebook is that the physical book is HUGE, bigger than any of my other Complete Shakespeare's.

08-23-2016, 09:08 AM	#1
Larla Addict Posts: 281 Karma: 5262189 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Katy, TX Device: Samsung Tab S5E 12" Tablet	Single Shakespeare Play Modern Library Classics ebook Has anyone read one of these ebooks? I saw in a review that they have real annotations and are quite cheap (less than $3). Of course the stupid Look Inside show a bunch of the initial commentaries but none of the actual play. I was wondering how it looked in the ereader and how well the annotations worked.

08-25-2016, 12:04 AM	#6
BenG Home Guard Posts: 4,729 Karma: 86721650 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard Device: Kindle Oasis 3G, iPhone 6	Here's the TOC for The Modern Library's Complete Works. Each of the individual plays have their own essay and Key Facts section. I don't know if the essays are the same but generally there's only one per play. Spoiler: Cover Title Page Copyright Preface General Introduction by Jonathan Bate Shakespeare Our Perennial Contemporary Shakespeare’s Debut: The “Upstart Crow” The Back Story: Shakespeare of Stratford The Playhouses Plague and Poetry The Lord Chamberlain’s Man The Ensemble at Work “Dangerous Matter”: Politics and Religion The King’s Man The Great Feast of Languages Cult and Heresy The First Folio Restored User’s Guide Preliminary Pages of the First Folio Foreword by Michael Boyd, Artistic Director, Royal Shakespeare Company Comedies The Tempest The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Merry Wives of Windsor Measure for Measure The Comedy of Errors Much Ado About Nothing Love’s Labour’s Lost A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Merchant of Venice As You Like It The Taming of the Shrew All’s Well That Ends Well Twelfth Night, or What You Will The Winter’s Tale Histories The Life and Death of King John The Life and Death of King Richard the Second The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry surnamed Hotspur The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, Containing His Death and the Coronation of King Henry the Fifth The Life of Henry the Fifth The First Part of Henry the Sixth The Second Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Duke of York The Tragedy of Richard the Third, with the Landing of Earl Richmond and the Battle at Bosworth Field The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth Tragedies The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida The Tragedy of Coriolanus The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet The Life of Timon of Athens The Tragedy of Julius Caesar The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark The Tragedy of King Lear The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra The Tragedy of Cymbeline Plays Not in the First Folio Pericles, Prince of Tyre, by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins The Two Noble Kinsmen, by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher Poems and Sonnets Venus and Adonis The Rape of Lucrece To the Queen “Let the Bird of Loudest Lay” (also known as “The Phoenix and Turtle”) Shakespeare’s Sonnets A Scene for Sir Thomas More Charts Shakespeare’s Works: A Conjectural Chronology The Houses of York and Lancaster: A Genealogy Kings and Queens of England: From the History Plays to Shakespeare’s Lifetime The History Behind the Histories: A Chronology The History Behind the Tragedies: A Chronology Acknowledgments and Picture Credits Alphabetical Index of Plays and Poems Other Books by This Author Last edited by BenG; 08-25-2016 at 12:11 AM.

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08-23-2016, 10:59 PM	#2
Jeff L Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 584308 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: San Francisco Device: Kindle	Modern Library has (at least) a couple different series under their name. I think the ones you're referring to are the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) versions. The RSC versions are annotated with links in the text to the notes in back. E.g. https://www.amazon.com/Henry-V-Moder.../dp/B0036S4ATU Non-RSC versions have notes but no links to them. E.g. https://www.amazon.com/Tragedies-Sha.../dp/B000FC1KP2 A while back I read the RSC version of Coriolanus, using both a Fire and an old E Ink Kindle (non-touch screen). The profusion of links made reading on a Fire easier. A touch screen E Ink device should work as well. Hitting the links may be a problem if you use a small text size. I recall that I edited these to increase the line spacing. FYI, there's also an RSC Complete Works available. https://www.amazon.com/William-Shake...dp/B00BO4GSA2/

08-24-2016, 08:41 AM	#3
Larla Addict Posts: 281 Karma: 5262189 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Katy, TX Device: Samsung Tab S5E 12" Tablet	Yo Jeff -- yes it was definitely the RSC version that I was referring to. Thanks for the info on the complete works version. At $26 it is definitely cheaper than all of the $3 single versions. I did break down and bought the Hamlet version on Kobo. After an initial quick look I would say it is just what I was looking for. The annotations work great on my Kobo Glo HD reader. Not only do you get a clickable footnote number but the whole word or phrase in question is a clickable link and displays in italics; so it is very easy to touch. Plus, as a kepub ebook, the footnote is displayed as a pop-up window and very easy to dismiss. A couple of concerns about the complete works version: 1) With such a large book, there may be performance issues while using the ereader 2) The single play books have a lot of specific articles and commentary about the play before getting to the play itself. Hopefully, the complete works would include all of that extra material for each play.

08-24-2016, 12:44 PM	#4
Jeff L Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 584308 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: San Francisco Device: Kindle	There shouldn't be performance issues with the complete works as I expect the acts are in separate files. I don't have any kepubs so I can't be sure but that's how plays are usually done. You're right to be concerned about the availability of the introductions and the commentaries. I don't think the complete works have the individual articles. I'll have to check on that. (May not get to it until this evening.) I should have remembered that as I have multiple versions of some plays in order to read different commentary. The other reason is that the way they edit/redact the plays can vary. For a long time, the versions of some of the plays that most people saw were the result of editors conflating different quarto and/or folio editions. They would create a mixture of their own that didn't actually exist in any editions. I read somewhere that the trend now was to be truer to a particular edition. I believe the RSC versions focus on the folio editions. BTW, you can try downloading samples of the individual plays and see if you get all the pertinent parts of the frontmatter.

08-24-2016, 04:37 PM	#5
Larla Addict Posts: 281 Karma: 5262189 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Katy, TX Device: Samsung Tab S5E 12" Tablet	That's good to know about not having to worry about potential performance issues. The large cost of the complete works would be perfect for one of those Kobo 90% discount codes. Hopefully they will show up again sometime.

08-25-2016, 01:35 AM	#7
Jeff L Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 584308 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: San Francisco Device: Kindle	There are edited (abbreviated, somewhat reworded) versions of the individual introductions in the Complete Works. What's missing is the backmatter which includes a history of the productions that show how the plays have been regarded over the years. Within the epub version, each play is in its own file.

08-27-2016, 02:05 PM	#8
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,912 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	I have the RSC Complete Works as a hardback. The main negative about this is the modernisation of the spellings, which slightly changes the meanings of the words. They don't point these out in the notes, but I found them by comparision with a 19th century edition. One benefit of getting the ebook is that the physical book is HUGE, bigger than any of my other Complete Shakespeare's.

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