# Shakespeare's Sonnets (1883)/Advertisements

​SHAKESPEARE. WITH NOTES BY WM. J. EOLFE, A.M. The Merchant of Venice. The Tempest. Julius Caesar. Hamlet. As You Like It. Henry the Fifth. Macbeth. Henry the Eighth. Midsummer -Night's Dream, Richard the Second. Richard the Third. Much Ado About Nothing. Antony and Cleopatra. Romeo and Juliet. Othello. Twelfth Night. The Winter's Tale. King John. Henry IV. Part I. Henry IV. Part II. King Lear. Taming of the Shrew. All >s Well That Ends Well, Coriolanus. Comedy of Errors. Cymbeline. Merry Wives of Windsor. Measure for Measure. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Love's Labour 's Lost. Timon of Athens. Henry VI. Part I. Henry VI. Part II. Henry VI. Part III. Troilus and Cressida. Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The Two Noble Kinsmen. Poems. Sonnets. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 56 cts. per Vol. ; Paper, 40 cts. per Vol. In the preparation of this edition of the English Classics it has been the aim to adapt them for school and home reading, in essentially the same way as Greek and Latin Classics are edited for educational pur- poses. The chief requisites are a pure text (expurgated, if necessary), and the notes needed for its thorough explanation and illustration. Each of Shakespeare's plays is complete in one volume, and is pre- ceded by an Introduction containing the "History of the Play," the "Sources of the Plot," and "Critical Comments on the Play." From Horace Howard Furness, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor of the "New Vario- rum Shakespeare. ' ' No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed with the conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they are edited. The educational purposes for which the notes are written Mr Rolfe never loses sight of, but like "a well-experienced archer hits the mark his eve doth level at." ​From F. J. Furnivall, Director of the New Shakspere Society, London.
The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's Plays over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe edits the plays as works of a poet, and not only as productions in Tudor English. Some editors think that all they have to do with a play is to state its source and explain its hard words and allusions ; they treat it as they would a charter or a catalogue of household furniture, and then rest satisfied. But Mr. Rolfe, while clearing up all verbal difficulties as carefully as any Dryasdust, always adds the choicest extracts he can find, on the spirit and special "note" of each play, and on the leading characteristics of its chief personages. He does not leave the student without help in getting at Shakspere's chief attributes, his characterization and poetic power. And every practical teacher knows that while every boy can look out hard words in a lexicon for himself, not one in a score can, unhelped, catch points of and realize character, and feel and express the distinctive individuality of each play as a poetic creation.
From Prof. Edward Dowden, LL.D., of the University of Dublin Author of "Shakspere : His Mind and Art."
I incline to think that no edition is likely to be so useful for school and home reading as yours. Your notes contain so much accurate instruction, with so little that is superfluous ; you do not neglect the æsthetic study of the play; and in externals, paper, type, binding, etc., you make a book "pleasant to the eyes" (as well as "to be desired to make one wise")—no small matter, I think, with young readers and with old.
From Edwin A. Abbott, M.A., Author of "Shakespearian Grammar."
I have not seen any edition that compresses so much necessary information into so small a space, nor any that so completely avoids the common faults of commentaries on Shakespeare — needless repetition, superfluous explanation, and unscholar-like ignoring of difficulties.
From Hiram Corson, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon and English Literatwe, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
In the way of annotated editions of separate plays of Shakespeare, for educational purposes, I know of none quite up to Rolfe's.
​Rolfe's Shakespeare. From Prof. F. J. Child, of Harvard University. I read your " Merchant of Venice" with my class, and found it in every respect an excellent edition. I do not agree with my friend White in the opinion that Shakespeare requires but few notes — that is, if he is to be thoroughly understood. Doubtless he may be enjoyed, and many a hard place slid over. Your notes give all the help a young student requires, and yet the reader for pleasure will easily get at just what he wants. You have indeed been conscientiously concise. Under date of July 25, 1879, Prof. Child adds : Mr. Rolfe's editions of plays of Shakespeare are very valuable and convenient books, whether for a college class or for private study. I have used them with my students, and I welcome every addition that is made to the series. They show care, research, and good judgment, and are fully up to the time in scholarship. I fully agree with the opinion that experienced teachers have expressed of the excellence of these books. From Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., Professor in Harvard University. I regard your own work as of the highest merit, while you have turned the labors of others to the best possible account. I want to have the higher classes of our schools introduced to Shakespeare chief of all, and then to other standard English authors ; but this cannot be done to ad- vantage, unless under a teacher of equally rare gifts and abundant leisure, or through editions specially prepared for such use. I trust that you will have the requisite encouragement to proceed with a work so hap- pily begun. From the Examiner and Chronicle, N. Y. We repeat what we have often said, that there is no edition of Shake- speare's which seems to us preferable to Mr. Rolfe's. As mere specimens of the printer's and binder's art they are unexcelled, and their other merits are equally high. Mr. Rolfe, having learned by the practical ex- perience of the class-room what aid the average student really needs in order to read Shakespeare intelligently, has put just that amount of aid into his notes, and no more. Having said what needs to be said, he stops there. It is a rare virtue in the editor of a classic, and we are propor- tionately grateful for it. ​Rolfe^s Shakespeare. From the N. Y. Times. This work has been done so well that it could hardly have been done better. It shows throughout knowledge, taste, discriminating judgment, and, what is rarer and of yet higher value, a sympathetic appreciation of the poet's moods and purposes. From the Pacific School Journal, San Francisco. This edition of Shakespeare's plays bids fair to be the most valuable aid to the study of English literature yet published. For educational pur- poses it is beyond praise. Each of the plays is printed in large clear type and on .excellent paper. Every difficulty of the text is clearly explained by copious notes. It is remarkable how many new beauties one may dis- cern in Shakespeare with the aid of the glossaries attached to these books. . . . Teachers can do no higher, better work than to inculcate a love for the best literature, and such books as these will best aid them in cultivating a pure and refined taste. From the Christian Union, N. Y. Mr. W. J. Rolfe's capital edition of Shakespeare — by far the best edi- tion for school and parlor use. We speak after some practical use of it in a village Shakespeare Club. The notes are brief but useful ; and the necessary expurgations are managed with discriminating skill. From the Academy, London. Mr. Rolfe's excellent series of school-editions of the Plays of Shake- speare. . . . Mr. Rolfe's editions differ from some of the English ones in looking on the plays as something more than word-puzzles. They give the student helps and hints on the characters and meanings of the plays, while the word-notes are also full and posted up to the latest date. . . . Mr. Rolfe also adds to each of his books a most useful " Index of Words and Phrases explained." Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage Prepaid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the Price.