It can get used thousands of times and not fall apart. Thousands of times at once! So, it’s a quality corpus of texts, really good editions, and that’s what drew my attention in the first place.
Brett Bodemer, California Polytechnic University
‘Our theater department was thrilled about Cambridge Shakespeare, making it the 1st digital Shakespeare package that was equally useful to both the English Lit and Theater departments. The ability to toggle the different types of notes (textual variants, explanatory notes, and performance notes) on and off created excitement.’
It's great having the full texts of the New Cambridge Shakespeare editions fully available online, with the same layout and pagination as the print versions. The essays collected in 'Worlds of Shakespeare' give state-of-the-art accounts of the major themes in contemporary scholarship. And everything is fully searchable. Thanks to Cambridge Core, teaching Shakespeare and writing about his plays have become so much easier.
Julia Lupton, University of California Irvine
I've been really enjoying the Cambridge Shakespeare platform with my students this year. First thing is it's a one-stop shop for a range of approaches and voices, from Shakespeare's historical context to modern adaptations. I like the curated introductions to topics, and the fact that they can begin with a summary of an unfamiliar text, or dive into something more advanced.
Emma Smith, University of Oxford
It's great to have all these materials in one place, and so easily accessible. Being able to move between the NCS, the Shakespeare in Production, and the Quartos and cross-check things and add layers is fabulous. This is a wonderful addition to the world of digital Shakespeare.
David Hillman, University of Cambridge
Students like the flexibility of accessing in either HTML or PDF (which allows for screen readers) and that there are the toggle buttons when you’re using the HTML to either see or not see the explanatory notes and the textual variance.
Nicole Jacobs, California Polytechnic State University
'The Cambridge Shakespeare product is a really rich resource – the curation of such deep content combined with the potential for targeted searches is a genuine enhancement for all of us working in research and education contexts.'
Julie Sanders, University of Newcastle
'This is absolutely brilliant and an indispensable resource for all teaching Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama. I have already recommended to our librarian.'
Christina Lima, University of Leicester
‘The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare is going to be an invaluable resource for anyone taking the measure of Shakespeare’s reach - across times, languages, and cultures. Only an encyclopedia, this encyclopedia, is up to the task.’
Michael Witmore - Folger Shakespeare Library
‘The editors of The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare have assembled a treasure-house of informed, concise, and helpful entries. This comprehensive collection provides useful introductory essays on almost any topic in Shakespeare studies.’
Tom Bishop - University of Auckland
‘The worlds of Shakespeare have become more polyglot and diverse than ever before. In gathering an excellent group of scholars and tracing a horizon of yet unknown dimensions, this work is an indispensable guide for all expeditions into this universe.’
Peter W. Marx - University of Cologne
‘It would be hard to imagine a more thoughtful, imaginative, or comprehensive collection than this. As Dryden said of Chaucer: here is God’s plenty! The essays are crisp and lucid, and they address their topics with an intellectual energy that transmits to the reader. These volumes are unlike anything currently on the market and will not find an equal for many years to come.’
Laurie Maguire - University of Oxford
'Academic libraries catering for courses in English literature will obviously want to have this. I would also recommend volume one as a useful source of all sorts of miscellaneous information for historians interested in specialised aspects of late Tudor and early Jacobean England - from paper-making to cosmetics to garden design and volume two to readers interested in aspects of cultural changes over the past four centuries. Most university libraries will certainly find readers for it.'
Martin Guha - Reference Reviews
‘… The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare gives its readers an abundance of both pleasure and profitable insight.’
Jean E. Howard - Renaissance Quarterly
'This admirably lucid and concise guide will both provide essential information and stimulate fresh thought about Shakespeare and his works.'
Stanley Wells
‘5/5 stars: this is probably the only guide you will ever need to Shakespeare and his plays.’
The Bookbag
'For students and theatre enthusiasts this Shakespeare guide is a useful resource, providing valuable information for the individual and prompting discussion for groups … I was very impressed by the content, format and style of this authoritative guide.'
New Books Magazine
‘Even the most avid Shakespearean will learn from the spotlight on the works.’
The Independent
'I hope this book will find its way onto the shelves of many a Shakespeare enthusiast and into the satchels of many a student. For undergraduates, cramming for the next seminar or tutorial, Emma Smith’s guide will, I suspect, become a trusted and valued friend, something you can turn to with a cup a coffee and read on the way to class. For its size and the range of information it offers, I cannot think of a better example of its kind.'
Paul Edmondson, Around the Globe