The Oxford Shakespeare
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The Oxford Shakespeare is a common term for the range of editions of William Shakespeare's works produced by Oxford University Press. It includes William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, a single-volume modern-spelling edition first published in 1986; William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion, which provides additional data for scholars of the plays; and William Shakespeare: An Old-Spelling Edition, which presents the plays in their original spelling. It is also used to refer to Oxford University Press's editions of individual Shakespeare plays and poems. The Oxford Shakespeare is produced under the general editorship of Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor.
The Oxford Shakespeare differs from other Shakespeare editions in attempting to present the text as it was first performed, rather than as it was first printed. This resulted in many controversial choices: for example, presenting Hamlet with several famous speeches relegated to appendices on the grounds that Shakespeare added them after the original performances; presenting two separate texts of King Lear due to the drastic differences between the two extant texts; and changing the name of Falstaff in Henry IV Part One to 'Oldcastle' due to historical evidence that this name was used in the first performances even though it never survived to print. The Oxford individual editions follow the same principles, although their editors are permitted to reject choices made for the Complete Works if they feel strongly; for example, David Bevington's edition of Henry IV Part One uses 'Falstaff' not 'Oldcastle'.
The Oxford Shakespeare was also the first to emphasize Shakespeare's collaborative work, describing Macbeth, Measure for Measure and Timon of Athens as either collaborations with or revisions by Thomas Middleton; Pericles as a collaboration with George Wilkins; Henry VI Part One as a collaboration with several unknown other dramatists; and Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen as collaborations with John Fletcher.
In 2007, a second edition of the Complete Works was produced. It adds a full text of Sir Thomas More, which may contain passages by Shakespeare, and Edward III, another play believed to be partly by Shakespeare.
