Norton Editions

Is there a reason for a second edition (like, any changes), other than that the first one may have sold out...?

... as there are changes to the Oxford (the Norton play text is basically Oxford + Oford expanded the texts included I believe in the second edition) - there are changes to the Norton.

It is a second edition rather than a re-print.

Something I am increasingly aware of is the 'double' editions - texts by printers targeting American vs British Shakespeare needs.

Pelican and Penguin are mirror editions in terms of buyers - one American and one British - both by the same publisher.

Oxford and Norton the same - wonder why?

I also find it odd that a modern edition would publicize that it's based on another modern edition. It's one thing to say that it's based on the Globe Edition, but it seems almost like a vanity edition for the Norton editors.

... the market is a factor - Norton has a name in the USofA which it doesn't have in the UK - Oxford sounds a bit too 'British'(?) for the American market?

Interestingly enough, the OU (major player in UK education) chooses the Norton edition for its introduction to Shakespeare course, not the Oxford - notes and introductory essays, supporting papers at the back given as a reason for this becoming their 'Edition for Life'.

I have noticed a difference in the Pelican/Penguin notes too - a slightly less theatrical, more old-fashioned approach seems more appreciated in the US (and an obsession with the authorship debate).

Using other editions as the basis of the text is not so unusual - the Oxford Schools Shakespeare, for example, uses the New Cambridge edition of the plays - odd world.

Incidentally, a few years ago, the Third Edition of the Norton Shakespeare was published. It is no longer based on the Oxford Shakespeare; it's a completely new edition, which departs from the Oxford text quite often. (I suppose I should say, it departs from the 2nd edition of the Oxford Shakespeare, as the OUP has recently released the New Oxford Shakespeare, which is quite a significant update of the Oxford text.)

For my money, the Norton Third Edition is possibly the best one on the market.