Discover the enduring legacy of Shakespeare The Complete Plays, initially published as a Limited Edition in 2023 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the First Folio and now available as a core edition. Featuring fabulous artwork by Neil Packer, a foreword by Dame Judi Dench and an introduction by Gregory Doran.
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Editor’s Note
James Rose, Editor
Shakespeare's plays have suffused our culture and language like no others. Using the most authoritative text to date, this spectacular set presents the complete plays of the Bard, featuring a personal foreword by Dame Judi Dench.
Inspired by the black-and-red playbills of the Elizabethan era, award-winning artist Neil Packer has created an illustration for each of the plays, alongside bindings that feature some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters. The three volumes are housed in a slipcase representing the Globe Theatre where the plays were first produced. This is the ultimate edition of the most important writings in the English language, and a timeless gift that will be handed down from generation to generation.
Step behind the scenes of Neil Packer's illustrations here.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Beautiful three-volume set
Bound in printed and blocked cloth
1,456 pages in total, type set in Caslon with a hand design version by Neil Packer as display
Printed in two colours throughout
43 illustrations in total
Silk ribbon markers
Printed paper slipcase
Sized at 11½˝ x 8˝
SYNOPSIS
‘A body of work that has infiltrated our speech, our politics and our culture like no other. It is irreplaceable and joyous, and I have been obsessed with it since my first exposure aged just seven.’
Dame Judi Dench, from her foreword
On 8 November 1623, the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays was registered, uniting the great playwright’s work in a single printed collection for the first time, ensuring its preservation for centuries. Four hundred years later, in 2023, Folio celebrated this momentous anniversary with a sensational limited edition that sold out in record time. Now, we are excited to release the core edition, allowing those who missed the limited edition to experience this exquisite collection of Shakespeare's plays. Featuring a foreword by Dame Judi Dench, an introduction by Gregory Doran, formerly the RSC’s Artistic Director Emeritus, and 40 illustrations by Neil Packer, this edition is sure to captivate and delight.
This edition of The Complete Plays of William Shakespeare uses text from The Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works, first published 2021 and edited by Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson, David Scott Kastan and H.R. Woudhuysen.
THE IDEAL TEXT
‘Without the First Folio we would have lost a world of words.’
Gregory Doran, from his Introduction
Echoing the divisions in the First Folio; the plays are divided between three volumes – The Comedies, The Tragedies and The Histories. Uncluttered by notes, and with a generous setting, the 38 plays are beautifully readable and follow The Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works – the most up-to-date and authoritative versions. Although the First Folio comprised 36 plays, both Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen are included for completeness.
BIOGRAPHIES
About William Shakespeare
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire in April 1564, Shakespeare is widely considered to be the world’s greatest dramatist and the most influential writer in English. Along with at least 38 plays, he wrote over 150 sonnets and three longer narrative poems. In the late 1500s Shakespeare is noted as being in London, a member of a leading theatrical company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men who performed at the original Globe Theatre. They became The King’s Men following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. Shakespeare retired to Stratford-upon-Avon where he died on 23 April 1616.
About Dame Judi Dench
Since playing Ophelia in Hamlet at The Old Vic Theatre over 60 years ago, Judi Dench has garnered wide popular and critical admiration for a career marked by outstanding performances in classical and contemporary roles on both stage and screen. She has won numerous major awards – including an Academy Award, ten BAFTA Awards and a record eight Laurence Olivier Awards, and in recognition of her many achievements she received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1970, became a DBE (Dame of the British Empire) in 1988, and in 2005 was awarded a Companion of Honour.
About Gregory Doran
Gregory Doran is Artistic Director Emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has been described as ‘one of the supreme Shakespeare directors of our era’ (The Financial Times), and ‘one of the finest present day directors of Shakespeare’ (The Sunday Telegraph). He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987, and became its Artistic Director in 2012, programming his first season from September 2013. Doran was awarded the Sam Wanamaker Prize for pioneering work in Shakespearean Theatre in 2012, in 2023 was the recipient of the prestigious Pragnell Shakespeare Prize, is an honorary associate of the British Shakespeare Association, an honorary senior research fellow of the Shakespeare Institute, and a trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
About Neil Packer
Neil Packer was born in Birmingham in 1961. He trained at the Colchester School of Art before becoming a full-time illustrator in 1984 with the publication of his first children’s book. He has had a long career working in design, publishing and advertising, mostly in the United States. He has illustrated a number of titles for The Folio Society, including I, Claudius (1994), The Name of the Rose (2001), Catch-22 (2004), One Hundred Years of Solitude (2006), Foucault’s Pendulum (2016), Mythical Beasts (2021), The Divine Comedy (2022) and The Complete Plays by William Shakespeare (2023). Packer’s work has been exhibited in London, Singapore and the United States.
Reviews Powered By
Average Score for 27 Review(s)
The pictures don't make justice to the quality of this edition.
Review by
JOAQUIN S B
on 12th February 2025
A wonderful book with a fantastic font. It is a pleasure to hold and to read. A proper solid book (any of the set), which is a joy to touch, look at and read.
Review by
MS BERNADETTE SHANNON
on 5th February 2025
the perfect Christmas gift
Review by
Gaudi Delgado Falcon
on 29th January 2025
Books are beautiful, but my 76-year-old eyes could use a slightly larger font!
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