Preface 12
　　General Introduction by Jonathan Bate 14
　　 Shakespeare our Perennial Contemporary 14
　　 Shakespeare's Debut: The 'Upstart Crow' 19
　　 The Back Story: Shakespeare of Stratford 24
　　 The Playhouses 29
　　 Plague and Poetry 31
　　 The Lord Chamberlain's Man 33
　　 The Ensemble at Work 36
　　 “Dangerous Matter”: Politics and Religion 41
　　 The King's Man 44
　　 The Great Feast of Languages 48
　　 Cult and Heresy 51
　　 The First Folio Restored 56
　　
　　User's Guide 64
　　Preliminary Pages of the First Folio 66
　　Foreword by Michael Boyd. Artistic Director. Royal Shakespeare Company 70
　　
　　PLATES
　　William Shakespeare: Complete Works
　　with lntroductkms and 'Key Facts' by jonathan Bate
　　
　　Comedies
　　The Tempest 1
　　The Two Gentlemen of Verona 52
　　The Merry Wives of Windsor 102
　　Measure tor Measure 155
　　The Comedy of Errors 215
　　Much Ado about Nothing 255
　　Love's Labour's Lost 305
　　A Midsummer Night's Dream 365
　　The Merchant of Venice 413
　　As You Like It 472
　　The Taming of the Shrew 526
　　Ali's Well that Ends Welt 584
　　Twelfth Night, or What You Will 645
　　The Winter's Tale 898
　　
　　Histories
　　The Life and Death of King John 760
　　The Life and Death of King Richard the Second 829
　　The First Part of Henry the Fourth. with the Life and Death of Henry surnamed Hotspur 892
　　The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing his Death and the Coronation of King Henry the Fifth 963
　　The Life of Henry the Fifth 1026
　　The First Part of Henry the Sixth 1098
　　The Second Part of [tenry the Sixth, with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey 1168
　　The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, with the Death of the Duke of York 1236
　　The Tragedy of Richard the Third, with the Landing of Earl Richmond and the Battle at Bosworth Field 1299
　　The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth 1382
　　
　　Tragedies
　　The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida 1458
　　The Tragedy of Coriolanus 1536
　　The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus 1616
　　The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet 1575
　　The Life of Thnon of Athens 1744
　　The Tragedy of Julius Caesar 1801
　　The Tragedy of Macbeth 1859
　　The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1918
　　The Tragedy of King Lear 2004
　　The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice 2081
　　The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra 2158
　　The Tragedy of Cymbeline 2240
　　
　　Plays not in the First Folio
　　Pericles, Prince of Tyro, by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins 2323
　　The Two Noble Kinsmen. by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher 2356
　　
　　Poems and Sonnets
　　Venus and Adonis 2393
　　The Rape of Lucrece 2412
　　'To the Queen' 2433
　　'Let the Bird of Loudest Lay' (also known as 'The Phoenix and Turtle') 2433
　　Shakespeare's Sonnets 2435
　　
　　A Scene for Sir Thomas More 2464
　　(introduction, transcription and modernized text by Eric Rasmussen)
　　
　　Charts
　　Shakespeare's Works: A Conjectural Chronology 2471
　　The Houses of Lancaster and York: A Genealogy 2476
　　Kings and Queens of England: From the History Plays to Shakespeare's Lifetime 2478
　　The History Behind the Histories: A Chronology 2479
　　The History Behind the Tragedies: A Chronology 2482
　　Acknowledgements and Picture Credits 2403-5
　　Alphabetical Index of Plays and Poems 2486