Product Description: Studying Shakespeare’s Contemporaries is an accessible guide to the non-Shakespearian drama of Renaissance England that can be read as complete subject overview or used as an indexed reference resource.

The first edition of Shakespeare's collected works, the First Folio, published in 1623, is one of the most valuable books in the world and has historically proven to be an attractive target for thieves. Of the 160 First Folios listed in a census of 1902, 14 were subsequently stolen-and only two of these were ever recovered. In his efforts to catalog all these precious First Folios, renowned Shakespeare scholar Eric Rasmussen embarked on a riveting journey around the globe, involving run-ins with heavily tattooed criminal street gangs in Tokyo, bizarre visits with eccentric, reclusive billionaires, and intense battles of wills with secretive librarians. He explores the intrigue surrounding the Earl of Pembroke, arguably Shakespeare's boyfriend, to whom the First Folio is dedicated and whose personal copy is still missing. He investigates the uncanny sequence of events in which a wealthy East Coast couple drowned in a boating accident and the next week their First Folio appeared for sale in Kansas. We hear about Folios that were censored, the pages ripped out of them, about a volume that was marked in red paint-or is it blood?-on every page; and of yet another that has a bullet lodged in its pages. Part literary detective story, part Shakespearean lore, The Shakespeare Thefts will charm the Bard's many fans.

Product Description: “This world to me is but a ceaseless storm Whirring me from my friends.” —Pericles   Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of this classic tragicomedy of good and evil in many guises...read more

A fresh new edition of Shakespeare's magical late play, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Dominic Cooke and Emma Rice, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and an illuminating introduction to the play by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate

From the Royal Shakespeare Company – a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare’s gripping political and personal tragedy. With an expert introduction by Sir Jonathan Bate, this unique edition presents a historical overview of Coriolanus in performance, takes a detailed look at specific productions, and recommends film versions. Included in this edition are interviews with two leading directors – Gregory Doran and David Farr – providing an illuminating insight into the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible. This edition also includes an essay on Shakespeare’s career and Elizabethan theatre, and enables the reader to understand the play as it was originally intended – as living theatre to be enjoyed and performed. Ideal for students, theatre-goers, actors and general readers, the RSC Shakespeare editions offer a fresh, accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare’s works for the twenty-first century.

Product Description: Everyman and Mankind are morality plays which mark the turn of the medieval period to the early modern, with their focus on the individual. Everyman follows a man’s journey towards death and his efforts to secure himself a life thereafter, while Mankind shows a man battling with temptation and sin, often with great humor...read more

Product Description: With outstanding on-page explanatory notes, an in-depth scene-by-scene summary and fascinating interviews with actors David Tennant and Alexandra Gilbreath and director Michael Attenborough, this fresh edition from the Royal Shakespeare Company offers enlightening new approaches to Shakespeare's tragic love story...read more

Product Description: Developed in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, this fresh edition of Shakespeare's sonnets and other poems offers a completely new introduction from renowned scholar Jonathan Bate, outstanding on-page explanatory notes and a clear, easy-to-read design.