h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I went to look something up this evening, but couldn't find my Shakespeare anywhere on the crammed bookshelves. When, and in what country, did I lose it? I've had it since my 18th birthday, when I knew I was going to do English at Leeds. Why didn't I miss it before this?
Anyway the question is what edition shall I buy to replace it?

my spelling seems to have gone to pot as well: recommend

How about the First Folio?

I can't recommend either of the two I have. One is too small, with transparent pages, and the other is huge eeighing a few kilos.

I've heard of three options:

1. The second Oxford edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works. Probably the least reader-friendly. On the plus side, it has very good paper. On the minus side, it has double columns.

2. The Norton Shakespeare has thin paper, so text bleeds from the other side. But the text is in single columns, making it easier to read.

3. The RSC Shakespeare has thin paper and single columns.

if you'd be wiling to consider other options, Norton has a two-volume edition [early plays and later plays] and a four-volume edition Comedies, tragedies, Histories, romances and poems.

Thanks. That's a start.

Why not check the used book sites for a copy of your old favourite.
There is a possibility it will be in good condition as most people seldom open them

Good luck.

Here's another option:

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/shakespearecentral

Good link paulh

I haven't checked out the Gutenberg ones, but there are plenty:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65

Have you tried Macbeth in the original Klingon?

No, but I've heard that the Klingon Hamlet is .

I thought I'd found a copy of my 1960 Collins for £1 but someone else snapped it up. I'm still looking.
Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't explored Klingon, but have seen The Taming of the Shrew in German, Hamlet in Ukrainian and Midsummer Night's Dream in Mandarin. I've also seen The Reduced Shakespeare Company twice (even better than Cliffs Notes)

Have ordered a hardback Collins like the one I lost from a bookseller in the States. Looking forward to it.

Enjoy, enjoy!

Toss in remarks on my favorite Shakespearian controversy: Did William Shakespeare write the King James Version translation of the Book of Job?

I must say the literary stylistics of it are compellingly Shakespearian.

I don't know about Job, but there's speculation that Shakespeare translated the 46th psalm. He would have been 46 years aold at the time. If you count 46 words into the psalm, you find the word "shake." If you count 46 words back from the end of that psalm, you will find the word "spear."

These are the kinds of things that people with too much time on their hands concern themselves with.

But the list of 47 translators does not contain SDhakespeare's name

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/The%20King%20James%20Bible/Translators/translators.htm

That's the sort of conspiracy theory I like

Well, all the conspirators in the Bible are long dead, and presumably in Heaven or some level of Dante's Inferno.

The official translators may have employed support staff not officially listed.