Designed to make Shakespeare's plays and poems available to all readers, the Folger Shakespeare Library editions of Shakespeare's works provide accurate texts in modern spelling and punctuation, as well as scene-by-scene action summaries, full explanatory notes, many pictures clarifying Shakespeare's language, and notes recording all significant departures from the early printed versions. Each play or collection of poems is prefaced by a brief introduction, by a guide to reading Shakespeare's language, and by accounts of his life and theater.
Completely re-edited, these editions put readers in touch with current ways of thinking about Shakespeare. Each text is based directly on what the editors consider the best early printed version of a particular play, poem, or collection of poems, and each volume contains full explanatory notes on the page facing the text that they explain.
The illustrations of objects, clothing, and mythological figures are drawn from the Library's vast holdings of rare books. Each text is followed by an annotated list of further readings and by a "Modern Perspective" written by an expert on that particular work.
