DAVID BEVINGTON, internationally renowned Shakespeare scholar, is Phyllis Fay Horton Professor of Humanities at the University of Chicago and editor of Scott, Foresman's The Complete Works of Shakespeare.JOSEPH PAPP, one of the most important forces in theater today, is the founder and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival, America's largest and most prolific theatrical institution. He has produced or directed all but one of Shakespeare's plays.

it's hard to imagine, but Shakespeare wrote all of his plays with a quill pen, a goose feather whose hard end had to be sharpened frequently. How many times did he scrape the dull end to a point with his knife, dip it into the inkwell, and bring up, dripping wet, those wonderful words and ideas that are known all over the world? In the age of word processors, typewriters, and ballpoint pens, we have almost forgotten the meaning of the word "blot." Yet when I went to school, in the 1930s, my classmates and I knew all too well what an inkblot from the metal-tipped pens we used would do to a nice clean page of a test paper, and we groaned whenever a splotch fell across the sheet. Most of us finished the school day with inkstained fingers: those who were less careful also went home with ink-stained shirts, which were almost impossible to get clean.

Foreword
Three Early Comedies
The Playhouse
LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST
Introduction
Love's Labor's Lost
in Performance
Love's Labor's Lost
Date and Text
Textual Notes
Shakespeare's Sources
Further Reading
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
Introduction
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
in Performance
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Date and Text
Textual Notes
Shakespeare's Sources
Further Reading
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
Introduction
The Merry Wives of Windsor
in Performance
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Date and Text
Textual Notes
Shakespeare's Sources
Further Reading
Memorable Lines
Love's Labor's Lost
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Merry Wives of Windsor