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The Arden Shakespeare series was created by the British publishing
firm of Methuen, started by Algernon Methuen towards the end of the nineteenth
century. The first series was aimed, typically of the period, both at the
scholar and the general reader. Edited by a distinguished collection of
scholars, it took 25 years to complete from the launch of the first title,
Edward Dowden's Hamlet, in 1899.
After the Second World War it was felt that the volumes required revision and a
new second series was planned. Initially it was intended that the new editors
should write fresh notes to the original texts, but it soon became apparent
that they would have to go back to the original Quarto and Folio editions, and
the series became a major new enterprise. The second series of The Arden
Shakespeare was launched in hardback in the early 1950s; in the
1960s, with the invention of Methuen's University Paperback series, volumes
also came out in paperback, creating an outstandingly successful series which
has appealed not only to educators, students and general readers, but also to a
whole generation of actors and directors. The series was completed in the early
1980s.
In 1995 the Third Series of The Arden Shakespeare was
launched. Now published under the imprint Arden Shakespeare, under the General
Editorship of Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson
and David Scott Kastan, The Arden Shakespeare
continues to evolve and address the changing needs of its audience - educators,
students, scholars and general readers who want a richer understanding of
Shakespeare's works.
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