Arden Shakespeare
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The Arden Shakespeare series was created by the British publishing firm of Methuen & Co. Ltd., 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.
