Ex-lib. Bryn Mawr College Library; ex-lib. Lucy Martin Donnelly (1904) ( )

Very useful book as it's the only one I have found to contain all of Coleridge's lectures AND notes on Shakespeare in one place and volume.

The criticism itself is quite perceptive from a literary and philosophical point of view; however the social perspective can be painfully dated - I find it is best to try and ignore the occasional racist/misogynistic comments that would sadly have been commonplace in Coleridge's day, as it would be a pity to discard the valuable insights that are there just because Colerige's cultural context wasn't what it is now.

I am giving this four stars instead of five because I expected this to have some sort of introduction and/or footnotes to Coleridge's thoughts on Shakespeare, while instead it is "just" a reproduction of the first collection of those thoughts in book format, with no criticism of Coleridge's criticism. It seems that to get a commentary you must buy an abridged or "selected" version, which of course is nonsense. ( )