Shakespeare Complete Works Gilt Edged Colour Plates Paperback

This volume was a library withdrawn item. Normally, I don't like ex-library books, but this book had clean, bright pages and the four volumes were neatly made into one single volume. It is a wonderful book and I am happy that I purchased it. The shipping was quick and the value was great.Thank you!!!!Ned R. Turner

The 9 parts of this work last 99 hours. There have been complaints about the lack of a table of contents. The plays are in alphabetical order. Using the Audible application makes it easy to find the play you are looking for. Use the "chapters" button and you can see the different plays that might be on the Part you have loaded. The only complaint I have is that some plays started in on Part and continued on the next Part. A good addition to my library.Part 1 = A Midsummer Night's Dream to (start) Coriolanus,Part 2 = (end) Coriolanus to (start) Henry IV Part II,Part 3 = (end) Henry IV Part II to (start) Henry VI Part III,Part 4 = (end) Henry VI Part III to (start) Love's Labour's Lost (only the intro)Part 5 = (end) Love's Labour's Lost to (start) Prince of TyrePart 6 = (end) Prince of Tyre to Sonnet 71Part 7 = Sonnet 72 to (start) The Taming of the ShrewPart 8 = (end) The Taming of the Shrew to (start) Troilus and Cressida (only the intro)Part 9 = (end) Troilus and Cressida to Venus and Adonis

This is the Argo Complete Shakespeare project recorded from 1957-64 with actors from the Marlowe Dramatic Society (Cambridge University, England) augmented by professionals.Because they were chosen for their voice characteristics and vocal acting skills - not stage presence - these performers are among the best you'll ever hear. The sound is early 1960s mono and stereo, but it's clear enough and has little background noise.There is very little documentation. However, a booklet from the original project has survived on the internet. It looks at first like just the LP record cover and text for the "Macbeth" release BUT the scan includes the project flyer. That describes the whole effort, has pictures of the performers AND complete cast listings for all the plays. This information is not available elsewhere and once this link goes dead that's it.Copy the five lines of text below in one block, and paste that into a browser address line. It should take you directly to the downloadable PDF.https://archive.org/download/lp_the-works-of-shakespeare-macbeth_the-marlowe-dramatic-society-and-professio/lp_the-works-of-shakespeare-macbeth_the-marlowe-dramatic-society-and-professio.pdf

First of all, the book is divided into 9 sections with the plays being ordered alphabetically. You can select a specific play by going into the chapter selection for each section. Maybe it would have been nice to have the plays listed outside of the sections somehow, but being in alphabetical order you can easily find what you want.Secondly, I have put off getting the plays on audible because it's hard to give up a book credit for a 2 to 3 hour play. To get all of the plays (performed by talented actors) in one book that only costs one credit is maybe the most unbelievable deal I have ever seen on anything anywhere. Amazing.

Quality actors, poor sound.

There is no way to navigate to what you want. No table of contents or index. There are chapters but no indication of what they are. I emailed HarperCollins hoping for a refund and haven't heard back.

I've only listened to King Lear so far but the actors and sound are excellent. The Audible Edition has a table of contents so comments to the contrary must be for the $0.99 Kindle version. The download is nearly 3 GB so takes a while. But nearly 99 hours of listening for 1 audible credit is an incredible value.

Scenes from some plays are out of order as other reviews have described.Much Ado About Nothingch1 is Act 4 scenes 1, 2 and 3.ch2 is act5 s1, 2, and 3.ch3 is act3 s1-5.ch4 is act1 s1 and 2.ch5 is act 1 s3 and act 2 s1-3.Editing from 1 star to 3 stars because most plays seem complete and it's a really good value. Othello seems to be missing all of act1.