Plays and Sonnets of William Shakespeare (As You Like It / Comedy of Errors / Julius Caesar / King Henry IV. Part 1 / King Henry IV. Part 2 / King Henry V / King Henry VI. Part 1 / King Henry VI. Part 2 / King Henry VI. Part 3 / King John / King Richard II / King Richard III / Love's Labour's Lost / Merchant of Venice / Midsummer Night's Dream / Much Ado About Nothing / Romeo and Juliet / Taming of the Shrew / Titus Andronicus / Two Gentlemen of Verona)

This edition of William Shakespeare's works was published in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica as a component of their influential Great Books of the Western World series. The collection was curated under the editorial direction of Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins, who aimed to synthesize the foundational texts of Western intellectual history into a single, cohesive library for the modern home. The selection of these particular twenty plays and sonnets reflects the series' commitment to providing an accessible yet comprehensive survey of Shakespearean drama, designed to serve as a cornerstone for lifelong self-education.

The physical design of the volume adheres to the restrained, academic aesthetic characteristic of the Great Books series, prioritizing durability and legibility over decorative flair. The typesetting and layout were intended to mirror the gravity of the source material, ensuring the texts remained the focus for readers engaging in the Great Books Foundation's 'syntopicon' method of study. Upon release, the series was received as a significant pedagogical project, praised for its ambition to democratize classic literature during the mid-twentieth century, even as critics debated the canonization of such a narrow selection of historical works.