The Norton Shakespeare

This is the *only* version of Shakespeare’s work I can read and actually understand with enjoyment. No Norton, no Shakespeare. The notation is so well laid out, unfamiliar words are simply translated to modern familiar words right across, with more detailed notation easily footnoted numerically below on the same page so no annoying page flipping. Just about any other so-called annotated Shakespeare work I’ve looked at is a complete pain in the neck by comparison. And what’s even more wonderful is that they’ve broken it up into manageable sized texts, so you can finally carry around whatever breed of Shakespeare play you feel like reading. Everything you need to enjoy Shakespeare without having a specialty in 16th century English. And as a special bonus you get really good short and to the point commentary before every play that sets you up to absorb well. Wow wow wow, what a treat!

Comprehensive and easy to read because text divided into 4 books

This has all the information you could ever want on Shakespeare’s plays without being overwhelming. Excellent product

Almost returned this but the book shows the plays as written by Shakespeare rather than order of history. Threw me off, but I’m happy after seeing it’s all here. I saw a few posts saying it only has SOME and a digital copy of all of the plays on subscription basis. Doesn’t seem to be the case. 👍

Beautiful collection, nicely organized, illustrated, noted, edited.

The introductions to each play are very helpful. It is much easier to carry and hold while reading the multi-volume set rather than one large book.

I ordered this 4-volume set in 2022, but received only one of the books. Didn't reorder because someone else mentioned, in the reviews, that the same thing had happened to them. One year later, I gave it another try and received all 4 this time. Whatever issue they were having seems to have been fixed. I'm thrilled with the purchase.

Having purchased the 4-volume paperback set with hope of also being able to access content on Kindle, I found that the digital content is NOT available on Kindle or without active internet access. The digital content was specifically designed for classroom use, facilitating instructor/student communications. The texts must be accessed using an internet browser. Because I wanted to be able to download the plays and background essays onto my Kindle, this purchase is a disappointment.Having said that, the four volume set is worth the price. The volumes are comfortable to hold, not being too heavy or too large. The pages are well laid out and easy to read. The background essays in particular are well worth the price of the set.In short, if you are interested in a downloadable ebook, this is a one-star rating. If you want a top-notch edition of Shakespeare's works that you can read in your easy chair, I'd give this five stars.