贝特先生和拉斯马森先生共同主编的这部皇家版《莎士比亚全集》采取了截然不同的做法：它坚定地维护对开本的固有完整性、真实性和权威性，竭尽全力恢复对开本的本来面目。

该版本在莎士比亚著作的编辑原则方面能够跳出 300多年来的窠臼，横空出世，别树大旗，在当今莎学界可谓异军突起，独步莎坛。

这部全新的《莎士比亚全集》由享誉世界的英国皇家莎士比亚剧团于2007年隆重推出，有别于前此所有版本。它突破了延续300多年的莎士比亚著作的传统辑注取向，开创了崭新的辑注、阐释原则与独特的审美趣味。

本版彰显的特点主要表现在：

●坚持维护1623年第一对开本莎士比亚作品集固有的完整性和真实性，在结合最新文本研究成果的基础上，竭力恢复对开本的本来面目，重新确立其权威地位；

●以深刻的洞见保存莎士比亚作品原有演出剧本的形式，使其尽可能接近莎士比亚时代的剧院里实际演出的情形；

●每页的注释释义精审，详略得当，不但揭示词汇的多层含意，更不避忌之前版本中被审查或忽略的俚语、政治指涉与秽亵幽默；

●对拼写、标点等加以全面的现代化，力求使剧文具有真正的当代性, 让莎士比亚的语言呈现出最鲜活的风貌；

●著名莎学家Jonathan Bate教授为每部作品都亲笔撰写了极具启发性的介绍短文；

●精美的演出图片展现了不同演员与导演对莎剧的迥异诠释。

Preface 12

General Introduction by Jonathan Bate 14

 Shakespeare our Perennial Contemporary 14

 Shakespeare's Debut: The 'Upstart Crow' 19

 The Back Story: Shakespeare of Stratford 24

 The Playhouses 29

 Plague and Poetry 31

 The Lord Chamberlain's Man 33

 The Ensemble at Work 36

 “Dangerous Matter”: Politics and Religion 41

 The King's Man 44

 The Great Feast of Languages 48

 Cult and Heresy 51

 The First Folio Restored 56

User's Guide 64

Preliminary Pages of the First Folio 66

Foreword by Michael Boyd. Artistic Director. Royal Shakespeare Company 70

PLATES

William Shakespeare: Complete Works

with lntroductkms and 'Key Facts' by jonathan Bate

Comedies

The Tempest 1

The Two Gentlemen of Verona 52

The Merry Wives of Windsor 102

Measure tor Measure 155

The Comedy of Errors 215

Much Ado about Nothing 255

Love's Labour's Lost 305

A Midsummer Night's Dream 365

The Merchant of Venice 413

As You Like It 472

The Taming of the Shrew 526

Ali's Well that Ends Welt 584

Twelfth Night, or What You Will 645

The Winter's Tale 898

Histories

The Life and Death of King John 760

The Life and Death of King Richard the Second 829

The First Part of Henry the Fourth. with the Life and Death of Henry surnamed Hotspur 892

The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing his Death and the Coronation of King Henry the Fifth 963

The Life of Henry the Fifth 1026

The First Part of Henry the Sixth 1098

The Second Part of [tenry the Sixth, with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey 1168

The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Duke of York 1236

The Tragedy of Richard the Third, with the Landing of Earl Richmond and the Battle at Bosworth Field 1299

The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth 1382

Tragedies

The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida 1458

The Tragedy of Coriolanus 1536

The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus 1616

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet 1575

The Life of Thnon of Athens 1744

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar 1801

The Tragedy of Macbeth 1859

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1918

The Tragedy of King Lear 2004

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice 2081

The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra 2158

The Tragedy of Cymbeline 2240

Plays not in the First Folio

Pericles, Prince of Tyro, by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins 2323

The Two Noble Kinsmen. by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher 2356

Poems and Sonnets

Venus and Adonis 2393

The Rape of Lucrece 2412

'To the Queen' 2433

'Let the Bird of Loudest Lay' (also known as 'The Phoenix and Turtle') 2433

Shakespeare's Sonnets 2435

A Scene for Sir Thomas More 2464

(introduction, transcription and modernized text by Eric Rasmussen)

Charts

Shakespeare's Works: A Conjectural Chronology 2471

The Houses of Lancaster and York: A Genealogy 2476

Kings and Queens of England: From the History Plays to Shakespeare's Lifetime 2478

The History Behind the Histories: A Chronology 2479

The History Behind the Tragedies: A Chronology 2482

Acknowledgements and Picture Credits 2403-5

Alphabetical Index of Plays and Poems 2486