Tales from Shakespeare

Tales from Shakespeare
	Fifth edition title page (1831)
Author	Charles and Mary Lamb
Language	English
Genre	Fiction ; Children's literature
Publication date	1807 (first printing)
Publication place	Great Britain

Tales from Shakespeare is an English children's book written by the siblings Charles and Mary Lamb in 1807, intended "for the use of young persons"^[1] while retaining as much Shakespearean language as possible.^[2] Mary Lamb was responsible for retelling the comedies and Charles the tragedies.^[3] They omitted the more complex historical tales, including all Roman plays, and modified those they chose to retell in a manner sensitive to the needs of young children, but without resorting to actual censoring. However, subplots and sexual references were removed.^[3] They wrote the preface together.

Marina Warner, in her introduction to the 2007 Penguin Classics edition, claims that Mary did not get her name on the title page till the seventh edition in 1838.^[4]

Despite its original target audience, "very young" children from the early twenty-first century might find this book a challenging read, and alternatives are available. Nevertheless, the retelling of the Lamb siblings remains uniquely faithful to the original^[3] and as such can be useful to children when they read or learn the plays as Shakespeare wrote them.^[5]

^ Drabble, Margaret (1985). Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 545. ISBN 0-19-866130-4.
^ Bose, Sudip (5 October 2015). "Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare". The American Scholar. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Warner, Marina (5 May 2007). "Evangelists for the bard". Books. The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
^ Lamb, Charles; Lamb, Mary (2007). "Introduction by Marina Warner". Tales from Shakespeare. Great Britain: Penguin Classics. pp. xvi. ISBN 978-0-141-44162-7.
^ "A Double Life: A biography of Charles and Mary Lamb, by Sarah Burton". The Independent. 17 August 2003. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

[OCEL-1] Drabble, Margaret (1985). Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 545. ISBN 0-19-866130-4.

[2] Bose, Sudip (5 October 2015). "Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare". The American Scholar. Retrieved 27 October 2020.

[:0-3] Warner, Marina (5 May 2007). "Evangelists for the bard". Books. The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2020.

[4] Lamb, Charles; Lamb, Mary (2007). "Introduction by Marina Warner". Tales from Shakespeare. Great Britain: Penguin Classics. pp. xvi. ISBN 978-0-141-44162-7.

[:1-5] "A Double Life: A biography of Charles and Mary Lamb, by Sarah Burton". The Independent. 17 August 2003. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

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