The binding, as some have said, is not of the highest quality, it seems. My copy is completely new (as evidenced by the "gilding" on the pages still sticking in places), yet there are significant creases where the book opens.

The thickness of the paper, which some have claimed is lacking, to me seems quite adequate, especially for a tome of this magnitude. I have recently been using extensively The Norton Anthology of American Literature, whose pages are as thin as tissue paper, so my basis of comparison may be off.

The text itself claims to be unabridged. However, for texts such as King Lear, where at least two conflicting manuscripts exist, the editors give no information as to what choices they themselves made regarding the text. Text that in other editions is noted as having been adjusted by editors is in this edition laid out as truth, with no indication whatsoever. If you are interested in this sort of thing, I would recommend the individual plays published by The New Folger Library, which have excellent editorial markings.

Another problem, in my opinion, is marginalia. This volume contains none, which makes it tremendously difficult if one intends to use this book as reading. Shakespeare is difficult reading even with textual notes, and without borders on impossibility. I'm not sure how easy it is to include extensive footnotes in an anthology like this, but little things like the accents to show when the stress in certain words (e.g. obliged) falls on the last syllable would be nice. For the individual plays with great notes, again I recommend the Folger Library editions.

I would add that the things I have critiqued here are not all things that might matter to another reader. I present them as my feelings, so take with a grain of salt.


Only suitable for a book shelf   October 18, 2002
 403 out of 426 found this review helpful

If you got a copy of Shakespeare's works, you might like to be able to rely on the text it presents. That would require knowing the credentials of the editor, the currency of the editing, etc...The price is excellent - what the reader receives, well... caveat emptor.

Value to beginners: none (no background on the plays, glosses of difficult words, etc.)
Value to adv. students: none .
Value to scholars: less than none.
Judge this book by its cover: not. Attractive cover hides printed pages that appear to be facsimiles of archaic, crammed-type pages from some bygone era.

Perhaps you think, 'Well, at least it's a cheap way to get a copy of the complete plays.' A few months of reading modern, respectable editions (e.g., from Routledge/Arden, Cambridge, or Oxford) for any popular Shakespeare play will help a newcomer realize that for almost all Shakespeare plays determining what is 'the text' is a vast conundrum; nay: an oxymoron. As with many aspects of Shakespeare study, 'tis not so easy: for most plays there are multiple alternative *original sources* - differing in important ways from each other. What sources did the editor of the Gramercy edition use? Well, if the publisher does not deem it necessary even to credit the editor's name in this volume or to acknowledge how outdated the editorial work is...

A better use of your money is to buy a modern edition of single plays. Even the inexpensive Folger Library paperbacks give beginners helpful definitions for difficult words. For those planning to dive deeply into the intricate weavings and unfathomed levels of meaning in these great works, save your money by shunning this bookcase-worthy-only printing, and seek out a complete edition such as the Arden(Routledge) with helpful annotation on difficult words or the respected Riverside edition, or (best for real literature students) David Bevington's excellently edited volume (extremely helpful overviews offered for each play). (A used copy of a Bevington edition from the 1980s is worth a truckload of these 1900ish Gramercy printings.)

I regret spending even these few minutes to review the most INadequate version of Shakespeare available, but am aggravated to it by the high Amazon sales ranking for this edition - which suggests that thousands of unsuspecting buyers are throwing money away. Worse yet, once they have their copies they will be discouraged from exploring the grandeur of the plays because of this archaic, alienating, barren reprint. Most will open the book a few times, quickly put it away, and stick to Hollywood productions.

Ignore the respected name 'Random House' on these books and attend to the qualifier 'Value Publication' and its alias 'Gramercy Books'. We are not amused. The buyer is abused.


Looks good on the shelf, but. . .   June 22, 2000
 67 out of 80 found this review helpful

There are, obviously, pros and cons to buying any book. This edition of the complete works of Shakespeare is no different. Of course, Shakespeare is great no matter what the binding of the book looks like, but I would really hesitate to purchase a single book containing the complete works, if you're buying for everyday reading. I find that such large volumes are awkward, hard to hold and really thick. My personal collection of Shakespeare's works consists of single-work paperback volumes, not lovely to look at, but functional. Someday I hope to buy a set of the complete works in hardcover, but when I do, I'll look for a set, not a single book. However, if you're looking for the complete works in a compact package, this book is for you.


Book for Shelf - Not Terribly Accessible Shakespeare   January 6, 2004
 58 out of 68 found this review helpful

I originally bought this book used and later discovered that this was the ideal situation. It is handy to have all of Shakespeare's works (plays and sonnets) under one cover, but there are several drawbacks. Each page is split into two columns, causing the plays to be read like a newspaper. Since linebreaks are important in Shakespeare (remember the iambic pentameter), some lines are too long for the margins, causing the remaining words to hover like ghosts away from the sentence.

Also, this book contains no footnotes. This is mainly how buying the individual play is superior to the collected works. Olde English isn't always intuitive, and this particular book leaves you to find out a word's meaning for yourself.

But this book certainly looks pretty on your shelf. :)


The work is unquestioned; the edition, questionable.   April 15, 2003
 50 out of 54 found this review helpful

The very idea of reviewing or giving stars to Shakespeare in this format is superfluous: he is the epitome of English literature. The source and inspiration for many subsequent classics, the well from which many popular expressions have sprung, the basis for many brilliant (and not-so-brilliant) stage and film renditions of these classics -- Shakespeare's literary greatness lies universally ackwnoledged and unquestioned. In reviewing any edition of the man's works, then, the reviewer's task is not to comment upon the work itself, but the presentation. This Gramercy edition of The Complete Works (yes, that's all 37 plays -- comedies, histories, and tragedies -- as well as all of the poems, sonnets included) is the most popular and widely-available -- and inexpensive -- version available. Is it the best? Well, no. Other reviews of this edition have commented upon its shortcomings -- extremely small print; very tight and hard-to-read layout; no margins for notes; no footnotes or annotations; no background information on the plays; errors, typos, and generally questionable editing. That said, this edition may have what you're looking for. It does indeed contain the complete works; it also has a few other small incentives: a hard cover that looks great on a bookshelf, a built-in bookmarker, and various illustrations. Clearly, this is not an omnibus for the Shakespeare scholar. If you want an edition of the bard for in-depth study or for academic use, you are better off buying more expansive editions of the individual plays themselves, with plenty of background info, notes, annotations, and space for your own writing; or else one of the more expensive editions of the Complete Works. That said, if you are just looking for a Shakespeare book that has all of his works in one place, that is convenient and, above all, inexpensive -- or you just want a Shakespeare tome sitting on your dust-ridden bookshelf to impress friends -- then you could do worse than picking up this.