Tales from Shakespeare open book, title page and illustration, 1922

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Tales from Shakespeare was first published in 1807 by Charles and Mary Lamb, who retold the plays as prose stories for young readers, so this 1922 edition shows a book that had already been in print for more than a century. The open title page and illustration point to the period's taste for lavishly decorated gift editions, when publishers reissued older children's classics with new artwork. Charles Lamb wrote most of the tragedies and Mary took the comedies, a division worth noticing because it shaped how the stories were told to generations of young readers.

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