William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems is E. K. Chambers’s monumental two‑volume investigation into every recoverable historical, textual, and bibliographical fact about Shakespeare’s life, works, and early reception. It remains one of the foundational works of modern Shakespeare scholarship, notable for its exhaustive archival method and its attempt to separate verifiable evidence from legend.

Chambers assembles and analyzes virtually all known documentary records relating to Shakespeare—birth and family background, theatrical career, company structure, publication history, and early references to his plays. The work also surveys the textual transmission of the quartos and the First Folio, evaluates questions of authorship and authenticity, and reconstructs the chronology of the plays. Volume II supplements this with genealogical material, appendices of records, contemporary allusions, myth-making about Shakespeare, and detailed tables of quartos and metrical data.

This is an edited facsimile edition.