New Penguin Shakespeare is a series of the works of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
published from 1967 to 1987 as an imprint of
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...]
the editions were very popular in schools where they were used for teaching Shakespeare.
This series took over from the Penguin Shakespeare 'B' series edited by
G. B. Harrison which ran from April 1937 to September 1959 with 37 titles and which sold over 1.5 million copies. The 'New Penguin Shakespeare' series 'NS' was edited by Terence Spencer and started in April 1967 with NS1 ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
''. The books were accompanied by a new series of Shakespeare commentaries printed under the title 'The Penguin Shakespeare Library' ('SL'), while on the spines of a few books in the prefix 'PNS' has been used.
[New Penguin Shakespeare on the Penguin First Editions database]
/ref> ''A Midsummer Night’s Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'', ''Richard II
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...
'' and ''The Comedy of Errors
''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It ...
'' were edited by Stanley Wells
Sir Stanley William Wells, (born 21 May 1930) is a Shakespearean scholar, writer, professor and editor who has been honorary president of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, professor emeritus at Birmingham University, and author of many books a ...
while ''Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
'' was edited by G. Blakemore Evans.
The New Penguin Shakespeare series offered a complete edition of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. "Each volume has been prepared from the original texts and includes an introduction, a list of further reading, a full and helpful commentary, and a short account of the textual problems of the play."[
At least four different series of covers were used over the 20 years the series was published. The covers for 31 of the first series featured woodcut print illustrations by English artist ]David Gentleman
David William Gentleman (born 11 March 1930) is an English artist. He studied art and painting at the Royal College of Art under Edward Bawden and John Nash. He has worked in watercolour, lithography and wood engraving, at scales ranging fr ...
which placed his distinctive bold designs on a white background with the title in a simple Helvetica
Helvetica (originally Neue Haas Grotesk) is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann.
Helvetica is a neo-grotesque design, one influenced by the famous 19th century (1890s) ...
font. Gentleman worked on the covers from 1967 to 1977. The artist Pierre Clayette provided 6 covers for editions in the second series. Other covers in the series included 38 for series three by Paul Hogarth
Paul Hogarth, OBE, RA (born Arthur Paul Hoggarth) (4 October 1917 – 27 December 2001) was an English artist and illustrator. He is best known for the cover drawings that he prepared in the 1980s for the Penguin edition of Graham Green ...
;[ Louisa Hare provided 30 designs for series four with simple but effective designs with plain text on yellow or bluish background together with a drawing in ]Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
style rather like medieval engravings.Shakespeare Series: New Penguin Shakespeare
/ref>
The series lists 38 volumes over the 20 years it was published from "NS1" to "NS41" but there are several gaps (33, 39-40). '' Venus and Adonis'', ''Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen ...
'' and ''Cymbeline
''Cymbeline'' , also known as ''The Tragedie of Cymbeline'' or ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', is a play by William Shakespeare set in British Iron Age, Ancient Britain () and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerni ...
'' were not published in the series and the latter two were not published until 2001 and 2005 respectively in the current 'Penguin Shakespeare' (with cover designs by Clare Melinsky) which superseded the New Penguin Shakespeare series.
References
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