Which edition of Romeo and Juliet should you read?
This play is already in English, so the question that splits translations of other old books apart does not come up. Every edition below has the whole play in it. What they disagree about is how much help should arrive with the words, and what kind.
That runs from nothing at all, to a note on the facing page, to a plain-English version of every line, to a scholar arguing with you at length. Pick by how you want to be helped, not by which text is more correct.
| Edition | What comes with the play | Format | Made for |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Norton Facsimile of the First Folio | Nothing. Photographs of the 1623 printing, with an introduction by Peter W. M. Blayney | Hardback, 968 pp, all the plays | Seeing the play as its first collected edition printed it |
| Folger Shakespeare Library | Notes on the left-hand page, the play on the right | Paperback, 368 pp | Reading the play yourself with help only where you ask for it |
| No Fear Shakespeare | A line-by-line modern English version beside the original | Paperback, 304 pp | Getting back in after the language stopped you once |
| Oxford School Shakespeare | Glosses, background on England in 1597, extracts from the poem Shakespeare used, classroom notes | Paperback | A student with an essay to write |
| Cambridge School Shakespeare | Facing-page summaries, word notes and activities on stagecraft and language | Paperback | A class that is going to stand up and perform it |
| Arden Shakespeare, Third Series | A long introduction by René Weis and a full scholarly apparatus | Paperback, 454 pp | A reader who wants the arguments about the text as well as the text |
| Manga Classics | Pictures. Every line, drawn as manga | Paperback, 400 pp | A reader who follows faces faster than footnotes |
| The Arkangel recording | Voices. A cast performs the play, Joseph Fiennes as Romeo | Audiobook | Hearing it the way it was written to be taken in |
One thing none of them can settle for you: the play survives in more than one early printing. The first, from 1597, is markedly different from the second, from 1599, which is the one most modern editions (the Folger’s included) are based on. Every modern edition above has made choices between them. The Arden explains its choices at length; the facsimile shows you only the 1623 version; the rest make the choices quietly so you can read.
Each edition, in more detail
The Folger Shakespeare Library edition
You want to read the play yourself, start to finish, and you want help to wait on the facing page until you ask for it. the complete play, on every right-hand page, and nothing about it simplified.
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
No Fear Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
The language stopped you once, and you would like to find out what was behind it without a fight. the complete original text. The publisher describes it as the whole play, line by line, with nothing cut.
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series, ed. René Weis
You have read the play and you want to know what the people who edit it argue about. the complete play, with a full commentary alongside it.
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
Oxford School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
You are a student and you have to write about this play, and you would like one book that helps with all of it. the full play, with glosses as you read.
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
Cambridge School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
You learn a play by saying it out loud with other people, or you teach people who do. Shakespeare’s language. The editors say plainly that this is not a cut-down or simplified version.
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
The Norton Facsimile of the First Folio
You want to see the play before anyone modernised it, and you would like all the other plays as well. the 1623 printing exactly: the type, the spelling, the columns, the misprints.
Buy the hardcover — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Hardcover — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet
You follow faces faster than footnotes, and you still want every word of the play. the text. This is the Full Original Text Edition: Shakespeare’s lines, all of them.
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
The Arkangel Shakespeare recording
You take things in by ear, and you want the play itself rather than a version of it. Shakespeare’s words, performed as a play by a full cast.
Other ways to get it: Listen — Audible
Borrow it free: Find at your library — WorldCat
Common questions
Which edition of Romeo and Juliet should I read first?
The Folger, if you want to read the play yourself with a little help: the notes sit on the page facing the text, so you can ignore them until you need one. If the language has already defeated you once, No Fear Shakespeare puts a plain-English version beside every line.
Is No Fear Shakespeare the full play?
Yes. The publisher describes each No Fear edition as the complete original text with a line-by-line translation into everyday language beside it. You are reading the whole play, with the modern version alongside.
What is the difference between the Folger and the Arden editions?
The Folger is built for reading: notes on the facing page and short essays. The Arden Third Series, edited by René Weis, is built for study: a long introduction and a full scholarly apparatus about the text and its history. Both contain the complete play.
Is there an edition of Romeo and Juliet with pictures?
Manga Classics publishes a Full Original Text Edition: the whole play, every line, drawn as manga by Julien Choy and adapted by Crystal S. Chan. Manga Shakespeare's version is also on this site, but it is an adaptation set in modern Tokyo rather than the full text.
Can I listen to Romeo and Juliet instead of reading it?
Yes. The Arkangel Shakespeare recording has Joseph Fiennes as Romeo, Maria Miles as Juliet and Elizabeth Spriggs as the Nurse, and is sold as an audiobook.
Or see every version — all 31 of them.