The latest in Yale's "Annotated Shakespeare" series are two of the old boy's greatest hits. Besides the scholarly texts, these include lists of suggested further reading, essays, and more. Fab for the price. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Published to coincide with the performance schedule of the Globe Theatre in London, these handsomely printed editions of Shakespeare's plays are facsimiles of the First Folio of 1623. Intended to "provide students, actors, and the general reader with portable and affordable facsimiles of individual plays," each volume features Anthony James West's brief introduction to the printing history of the First Folio, its place in literary studies, and the original performance date and environment (when known) of the play. The short overview of the role of the First Folio in editorial practices (for better and for worse) is particularly helpful. Though otherwise lacking textual or editorial context, each volume nonetheless offers the feel of how the play would perhaps have been first experienced by early readers of Shakespeare. To understand the full complexity of the First Folio's influence and the debates currently going on regarding its authority and usefulness for scholarship and performance issues, readers will need to supplement these volumes by consulting the painstaking work of Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers. K. Farley Virginia Commonwealth University