Shakespeare
Wellington City Libraries' collection of Shakespeare books is found at 822.33.
The Central Library collection is housed on the first floor, south end.
The books cover all aspects of Shakespeare - plays, commentary, criticism and interpretation.
Branch Libraries have smaller collections that cover the main plays, including student notes and audio visual material.
Catalogue links - items by Shakespeare ; items about Shakespeare.
Books
To enable easier access, the collection has been marked and labelled into four main sections.
Section One: Single plays.
| The first letter of the play title is on a white label, together with a graphic of Shakespeare on the spine. | ![]() | Macbeth, edited by Rex Gibson (Cambridge University Press) 822.33 SHA M |
Section Two: Collections of plays.
These just have an image of Shakespeare's head on the spine.
The collections are usually grouped under a theme, e.g. the Comedies, the Historical plays. This section also includes collections of particular scenes from various plays and various anthologies.
![]() | William Shakespeare, the complete works, edited, with an introduction and glossary, by Peter Alexander 822.33 SHA | ![]() | The histories and poems, (Modern Library) 822.33 SHA |
Sections three and four both cover commentary and performance literature. This includes histories, biography, poetry, companions, glossaries, interpretations, criticism and theatre productions.
Section Three: Commentary and performance (individual plays)
| The first letter of the play title is on a red label, together with a graphic of Shakespeare on the spine. This section also includes several student study series, such as the Studies in English Literature series and the Penguin Critical Studies series. | ![]() | Hamlet : poem unlimited, by Harold Bloom 822.33 BLO |
Section Four. Commentary and performance (general)
These have no separate spine labels.
![]() | Shakespeare: the invention of the human, by Harold Bloom 822.33 BLO | ![]() | Shakespeare's language, by Frank Kermode 822.33 KER |
The Audio-Visual collection
Wellington City Libraries holds a comprehensive range of Shakespeare's plays on video and DVD, including the BBC Shakespeare Company productions, most film adaptations and instructive critical guides on video.
Plays and poetry are available on cassette.
All audio visual material at Central Library is held on the ground floor north side.
Our Shakespeare AV collection : DVDs | Videos | CDs | Cassettes | Young Adult Shakespeare AV
![]() | Henry V, directed by Kenneth Branagh (1991) Vid/Movies/Shakespeare HEN | ![]() | Richard III, directed by Richard Loncraine, starring Ian McKellen DVD/Movies/Shakespeare RIC | ![]() | Shakespeare's musick : songs & dances from Shakespeare's plays, Musicians of the Globe (2 cds) Songs MUS |
Cliff's notes on Shakespeare
| These student study guides are all K.A.D. (kept at desk), but available for use in the Library. | ![]() | Romeo and Juliet : notes, by G.K. Carey. 822.33 CAR |
Reference Only Material
This collection covers all aspects of Shakespeare study. It includes glossaries, dictionaries, companions, concordances and annotated plays. All material can only be used in the Library.
![]() | The Oxford companion to Shakespeare, edited by Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells. REF 822.33 OXF | ![]() | The plays of Shakespeare : a thematic guide, by Victor L. Cahn. REF 822.33 PLA |












