

Paperback: 768 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications; 3rd Revised and Enlarged ed. edition (June 1, 1971)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 048622726X
ISBN-13: 978-0486227269
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.5 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #35,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #16 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Genres & Styles > Poetry #21 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Shakespeare > Literary Criticism #24 in Books > Reference > Quotations

I assign a higher rating to Schmidt's lexicon than to C.T. Onions's *Shakespeare Glossary* (which I have also reviewed) for the reason that, although both compendiums by now do show their age, Schmidt's two volumes (one of course needs N-Z with this one) are all in all in many ways more comprehensive and informative than Onions's single-volume work (even after its updating by Eagleson).Readers of Shakespeare should NOT assume that if they use an unannotated edition (e.g. the Oxford Complete Works) they will understand everything they read if only they consult Schmidt or Onions or both. For one thing, many words in Shakespeare look intelligible from a modern viewpoint, but in fact had a different meaning in Shakespeare's day: an uninitiated reader will miss many such instances if s/he does not use good annotated editions by expert scholars, who provide glosses for well-considered and essential reasons. And I do not even dwell on the need to be aware of bawdy puns (see my review of Onions), or of other specific usages (e.g. legal terms), on which a good deal of new work has been done in recent years. Therefore, purchase of valuable volumes like these should be seen as SUPPLEMENTARY to the use of good, carefully annotated editions. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University, South Australia
Do not order this book. There is a defect in the run of this edition. I ordered, discovered the defect, returned for a replacement, and the replacement had the same defect. It skips at least half of the "b's", jumping about 60 pages, then continues for about 30-40 pages, and repeats the same 30-40 pages again before continuing with the rest of the book.
This is, simply, the essential, definitive guide to the Bards language. Almost every word in every Shakespearean play is here, and instead of having to guess what the meaning is in relation to the play, each word is listed by play and meaning in each heading. It can even be used for other lexiconic purposes is you're having trouble trying to figure out what Shaw means in one of his passages from "Saint Joan", or Ibsen in "when We Dead Awaken". Unless they suddenly discover a new play by shakespeare, this reference will never go out of date.And hey, it's not called the "Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary (Vol. 1 A-M)" for nothing, people. You're going to have to get the other one, but there's no real problem, because this is simply just the greatest lexicon ever for Shakespeare. Your search ends here if you ever need to understand the Bard words.
I got the kindle edition of this book so that I could use it right away. But the kindle edition is useless because none of the terms have been indexed yet. Any time I try to search for a word it won't come up because of this even though the word IS in the lexicon. Instead I have to go to the table of contents, pick the letter in which the word starts in and then turn to each page until the word comes up. If I'm looking for the word "Beguile" I have to go to the B section and then go through all the Ba, Bb, Bc, etc until I get to the Be's and find Beguile. Incredibly time consuming. You're better off just getting the book so you can flip to whatever word you need. There's nothing more useless than a reference kindle book that is not indexed. Now I'm going to have to try to get a refund on this worthless purchase.
I got this so my daughter could research a role in Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately, the Kindle edition is very hard to use. The text is dumped into an ebook format without any apparent effort spent to take advantage of the format. Finding simple phrases can be very painful.The content is there and the content is extensive, but accessing it is almost not worth the effort.
This is indispensable for any Shakespearean actor or student. Very useful. If you work with Shakespeare on any kind of regular basis, you would do well to invest in the two volumes of this lexicon. I would love to see this digitized at some point, and made into a searchable program which can be used from a phone or tablet. For now, I've found that using the books is actually easier than Googling phrases or words, partly because the answers you'll find in these books are definitive, whereas the information you find online can be of questionable value. As an actor, I'm not interested in finding breadth of opinion -- I want a 'right' answer to my question, and I want it right away. So this lexicon is always by my side when I am doing textwork on any Shakespearean play.
This book is absurd. It purports to be a compilation of definitions of "every word" in Shakespeare, which, if you give that claim half a thought, is pretty much impossible to accomplish. If, however, you accept the premise, be advised that the combination of microscopic print, confounding abbreviations of the plays and characters, and zillions of irrelevant observations and/or definitions render the book useless. The first entry, for example is A, which is defined as "the first letter of the alphabet" (oh, THAT A) and is noted as appearing in LLL V, 1, 50. Right below that entry are fully three more pages of definitions of...A, crammed into the tiniest font you'll ever see in print. A better source of Shakespearean clarity (to coin a phrase) would be any annotated anthology of his plays. The best overview of the plays in my extensive Shakespeare-reference library is Leslie Dunton-Downer and Alan Riding's "Essential Shakespeare Handbook." It's about 25 bucks and worth many times that.
If you're reading or performing Shakespeare, this reference is absolutely invaluable. It defines for you the words you have no clue about, as well as shedding light on the words you thought you knew. The English in Shakespeare's canon is centuries if not worlds different from our own. For example, if a character refers to another character as a friend, you'd think you understand, right? Well, in this book you'll find that it can mean many many things such as 'lover,' or 'relative.' That is, of course, but one meager example. Check it out, you won't be sorry!
Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary: A Complete Dictionary of All the English Words, Phrases, and Constructions in the Works of the Poet (Volume 1 A-M Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary (Volume II, N-Z) An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon: Founded Upon the Seventh Edition of Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon Barron's Spanish-English Pocket Dictionary: 70,000 words, phrases & examples presented in two sections: American style English to Spanish -- Spanish to English (Barron's Pocket Bilingual Dictionaries) Barron's French-English Pocket Dictionary: 70,000 words, phrases & examples presented in two sections: American style English to French -- French to English (Barron's Pocket Bilingual Dictionaries) Perfect Phrases for the Perfect Interview: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases That Succinctly Demonstrate Your Skills, Your Experience and Your Value in Any Interview Situation (Perfect Phrases Series) Perfect Phrases for Negotiating Salary and Job Offers: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases to Help You Get the Best Possible Salary, Perks or Promotion (Perfect Phrases Series) Perfect Phrases for Conflict Resolution: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Encouraging a More Productive and Efficient Work Environment (Perfect Phrases Series) Perfect Phrases for Office Professionals: Hundreds of ready-to-use phrases for getting respect, recognition, and results in today's workplace (Perfect Phrases Series) The Shakespeare Stealer Series: The Shakespeare Stealer / Shakespeare's Scribe / Shakespeare's Spy 2600 Phrases for Effective Performance Reviews: Ready-to-Use Words and Phrases That Really Get Results Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People: Over 325 Ready-to-Use Words and Phrases for Working with Challenging Personalities Spanish-English English-Spanish Medical Dictionary: Diccionario Médico Español-Inglés Inglés-Español (Spanish to English/ English to Spanish Medical Dictionary) (Spanish Edition) All the Words on Stage: A Complete Pronunciation Dictionary for the Plays of William Shakespeare A Sea of Words, Third Edition: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian The Complete Works of the Pearl Poet Spanish Phrase Book: 1001 Easy Spanish Phrases: The Beginners Guide to Learning the Most Common Spanish Phrases Quick and Easy Perfect Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Handling Conflict, Confrontations and Challenging Personalities Spanish Phrasebook: 350 Easy Spanish Phrases: Learn the Most Common Spanish Phrases Quick and Easy, Spanish Phrase Book Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors, Second Edition (Perfect Phrases Series)