Other editions of book Tales from Shakespeare

Mary Ann Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847), was an English writer. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother Charles on the collection Tales from Shakespeare. Lamb suffered from mental illness, and in 1796 she stabbed her mother to death during a mental breakdown. She was confined to mental facilities off and on for most of her life. She and Charles presided over a literary circle in London that included the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, among others.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Shakespeare’s genius is known to all in the world, however, his language has certainly dated and not everyone can enjoy his stories. To this end, Charles and Mary Lamb retell his stories, some of his tragedies, comedies and histories for children. The language is simple enough for beginning readers to understand, and preserve the wit and humour of Shakespeare throughout the book. They retain Shakespeare’s words in their essence, helping readers learn how to associate with the Bard of Avon from a young age. The book is a must have for every child’s library.

Shakespeare, William and Charles and Mary Lamb. Tales from Shakespeare. New York: George Routledge and Sons, n.d. [circa 1890]. 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches. 400 pages. Eighty illustrations. Margins lightly tones. Otherwise pages bright and clean and free of marking, soiling or staining. Bound in publisher's brown cloth with pictorial decoration and gilt title to front cover and spine. Covers lightly rubbed and soiled. Very Good. Original Cloth. A very good illustrated copy. (#1053)

Tales from Shakespeare is an English children's book written by brother and sister Charles and Mary Lamb in 1807. The book is designed to make the stories of Shakespeare's plays familiar to the young. Mary Lamb was responsible for the comedies, while Charles wrote the tragedies; they wrote the preface between them. Marina Warner, in her introduction to the Penguin 2007 edition, says that Mary did not get her name on the title page till the seventh edition in 1838. Tales from Shakespeare has been republished many times. It was first published by the Juvenile Library of William Godwin (under the alias Thomas Hodgkins) and his second wife, Mary Jane Clairmont, who chose the illustrations, probably by William Mulready. Later illustrators included Sir John Gilbert in 1866, Arthur Rackham in 1899 and 1909, Louis Monziès in 1908, Walter Paget in 1910, and D. C. Eyles in 1934. In 1893-4, the book was supplemented with some additional tales by Harrison S. Morris, and was re-published in the USA as a multi-volume set with colour plate illustrations. As noted in the authors' preface, "[Shakespeare's] words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided."

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.