The Works of William Shakespeare, the Text Formed from an Entirely New Collation of the Old Editions, With Notes &C. by J.P. Collier. With Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays

The Works of William Shakespeare presents a meticulously curated text formed from a new collation of the old editions, featuring notes and emendations by J.P. Collier. This four-part reader edition preserves archaic spelling and punctuation, complete with front matter, textual apparatus, and full play texts. In this volume, Julius Caesar is included (Act I through part of Act III) alongside the opening of Macbeth, accompanied by prefatory material that discusses the edition’s basis and dating debates, a Dramatis Personae, and scene-by-scene notes. Editorial features encompass notes on readings and variants, cross-references to Holinshed, and commentary on earlier plays and their dating. The collection highlights enduring themes such as public duty versus private ambition, rhetoric, tyranny, ambition, fate versus free will, and moral psychology, enhanced by thoughtful staging commentary. Local summaries provide thematic and plot overviews of Othello, Hamlet, Lear, and other works, enriching the understanding of the Shakespearean canon.