William Shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Library · 1993
For almost everyone, the Folger is the right Midsummer Night's Dream — facing-page glosses keep the wordplay and the fairy mischief clear, with scene-by-scene synopses. Cheap, and the classroom standard. This is where I'd start.
Arden (3rd series) · 2017
The Arden Third Series is the scholar's Dream — a long introduction and dense footnotes on the text, its sources, and its stage history. Indispensable for study; more than a first read needs.
Oxford Shakespeare · 1994
Oxford's single-volume edition is the strong middle — serious scholarship and a fine introduction at a paperback price.
No Fear Shakespeare · 2003
No Fear sets the original beside a plain modern paraphrase — a crutch, not the poetry, but a way through if the language has stopped you before. (This is one of the more approachable plays to begin with.)
Free (public domain) · 1600
A Midsummer Night's Dream is public domain, so the full text is free — Folger Digital Texts, MIT, Gutenberg. No glosses, but the whole play at no cost.
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