The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, based on the Quarto text of 1608- on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, allusions and much else- detailed introduction considers composition, sources, performances and changing critical attitudes to the play- illustrated with production photographs and related art- includes 'The Ballad of King Lear' and related offshoots- full index to introduction and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.' Times Literary Supplement