A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Reproduction from the Original 1623 First Folio
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Publisher Description
This facsimile edition of Richard III is taken from the large and handsome book known simply as the ‘First Folio’. This is the earliest collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays and was was printed in 1623, just seven years after his death.
For students of Richard III, going back to these First Folio plays is an essential part of a more complete understanding of Shakespeare's work.
Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had already been published in the small, cheap format known as quartos during his lifetime, including such favourites as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. The First Folio added another eighteen, including Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night all of which are indispensable to the modern repertory. Without the First Folio only half of Shakespeare’s dramatic output would have survived.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies and is still widely performed today. It is thought that sources such as Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' and Chaucer's 'The Knight's Tale' influenced Shakespeare in his composition of the play. It was written some time around 1595.
This is an enhanced eBookTreasures facsimile edition which includes a speech from the play performed with 17th century pronunciation, allowing you to hear the play as Shakespeare would.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Coville follows up his version of The Tempest (see p. 84) with a retelling of another of Shakespeare's most popular plays. The fundamental story of magic, mischief and the trials and tribulations of love is preserved through well-chosen use of the original language and Coville's heady prose ("The queen... saw the ass-headed monstrosity through magic-drenched eyes"). Major plot lines are clearly and concisely rendered, but it is the portrayal of the various levels of humor-from Bottom's buffoonery to Puck's gleeful magic-making-that really captures the essence of the play. Nolan's (Dinosaur Dream) sumptuous, painterly watercolors highlight the theatrical setting of the spellbound wood. Gnarled, mossy trees provide the backdrop for a cast of unusually youthful lovers, gossamer-winged fairies (which nod at Rackham's famous interpretations) and a truly puckish Puck. A first-rate entree to the Bard. Ages 7-up.
