Works [37 plays, 6 poems, sonnets]

This 1730 collection organizes the complete dramatic and poetic output of William Shakespeare, encompassing comedies, histories, and tragedies alongside his lyrical sequences. The volume contains thirty-seven theatrical scripts, such as the political assassination of Julius Caesar and the psychological downfall of King Lear. It documents the linguistic transition from Middle to Early Modern English through blank verse and prose. The text includes the cycle of 154 sonnets and long-form narrative poems like Venus and Adonis, showcasing formal constraints in meter and rhyme.

Students of early printing history and structural linguistics read this edition to analyze eighteen-century orthography and editorial choices. Scholars use these texts to track the evolution of character archetypes, from the melancholic prince to the comedic fool. Readers acquire a technical understanding of Elizabethan stagecraft and the structural requirements of the five-act play. The audience gains direct access to the source material behind the standardization of the English language and the development of secular drama.

Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a demanding read.

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