Tales from Shakespeare

Charles and Mary Lamb’s classic prose retellings of Shakespeare’s plays for young readers, now available in an unabridged, paperback volume in Union Square and Co.’s Signature Editions series.

Originally published in 1807 by brother and sister Charles and Mary Lamb, Tales from Shakespeare offers entertaining and highly readable versions of William Shakespeare’s most popular and enduring works. This volume collects twenty prose renditions of Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and Hamlet. Maintaining Shakespeare’s original language whenever possible, these captivating retellings bring his plays to life in a faithful but accessible way, providing an excellent introduction to the Bard’s work for children.

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) and Mary Lamb (1764–1847) were siblings and key literary figures in the English Romantic Movement. Charles was considered one of the greatest essayists in English letters for his imaginative and witty prose published under the pseudonym of “Elia,” and Mary wrote poetry and prose that have enjoyed a renewed scholarly interest with the rise of women’s studies. In 1807, they published their most enduring work, Tales from Shakespeare, prose versions of twenty Shakespeare plays adapted for young readers, with Mary handling the romances and comedies and Charles tackling the tragedies. Since then, it has been translated into dozens of languages and has never been out of print.