William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a highly reputed poet, writer, actor, and playwright from England, who lived during the Elizabethan era. He is regarded as English language's greatest writer and the pre-eminent dramatist in the world. Shakespeare is often called as the national poet of England.

The best place to start is the History Plays series, the earliest of William Shakespeare's multi-book series: it opens with King John (1590) and runs to 11 books across 1590–1598, ending with Edward III (1598). William Shakespeare's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

William Shakespeare has 118 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1590 and 2024. 94 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series with 27 books — and 24 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. William Shakespeare's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are History Plays (1590–1598, 11 books), Tragedy Plays (1592–1610, 12 books) and Comedy Plays (1593–1634, 16 books), plus 1 more.

This guide splits William Shakespeare's 118 books into 5 named series and 24 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets (27 books, 1671–2024); Comedy Plays (16 books, 1593–1634); Tragedy Plays (12 books, 1592–1610); History Plays (11 books, 1590–1598); Poetry for Young People (28 books, 1977–2017).