The Oxford Shakespeare

The Oxford Shakespeare, which includes a Complete Works edited by John Jowett, William Montgomery, Gary Taylor and Stanley Wells, appeared in 1986.

Two related books accompany the main volume: William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion provides comprehensive data on editorial choices for scholars of the plays, and William Shakespeare: An Old-Spelling Edition presents the plays in their original spelling.

The Oxford Complete Works differs from other Shakespeare editions in attempting to present the text as it was first performed, rather than as it was first printed.

This resulted in many controversial choices: for example, presenting Hamlet with several famous speeches relegated to appendices on the grounds that Shakespeare added them after the original performances; presenting two separate texts of King Lear due to the drastic differences between the two extant texts; and changing the name of Falstaff in Henry IV Part One to "Oldcastle" due to historical evidence that this name was used in the first performances even though it never survived to print.

These individual editions follow the same principles as the Complete Works, but their editors are permitted to reject choices made for the Complete Works if they feel strongly; for example, David Bevington's edition of Henry IV Part One uses "Falstaff" not "Oldcastle".