The concise encyclopedic guide to Shakespeare

This encyclopedic guide has been designed to present in a single comprehensive and easily usable volume, the information about the subject that the modern reader may need to bring the world of Shakespeare closer and enhance his pleasure in it. Thus it can be not only used as a ready companion to the plays and poems but also as a guide to both the times in which they were written and to their interpretations and performances up to the present day. The plan of this guide is comprehensive, and simple to use. The main encyclopedia section is of course alphabetically aranged. It covers... The plays -- The characters -- Meanings of words, phrases, allusions -- Quotations -- Critics and scholars -- Additional separate sections include: Shakespeare's life and theater -- People of the theater -- Modern productions of plays -- Music -- An introductory reading list -- Genealogies of the historical characters and sections of illustrations from the time of Shakespeare up to the present day.