York Notes are a series of English literature study guides sold in the United Kingdom and in approximately 100 countries worldwide. They are sold as revision material for

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and A-level exams particularly as literary guides to introduce students to sophisticated analysis and perspectives of the specific title. The guides for A-level are sold under the name York Notes AS/A2, the GCSE guides under the name York Notes for GCSE with each guide attributed to its relevant author. There is also a range of York Notes Companion titles aimed at undergraduate level study. In recent years the brand has launched York Notes Plus – a series of enhanced digital editions incorporating interactive materials. The Irish literature academic A. Norman Jeffares edited the series. He previously worked at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and had moved to the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

by 1992. Numerous authors in 1992 had ties to the two universities through being lecturers or students. Books published that year earned their authors a £200 advance payment along with 5% in

royalty payment A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

s. Nearly 20,000 students in 1992 purchased the ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' study aid from York Notes. York Notes are an imprint of Librairie du Liban, a company based in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. In the United Kingdom,

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

publishes the York Notes. By 1988, there were 300 York Notes books. By 2013, York Notes had expanded its scope beyond pre-university students to also cover instructors and undergraduate students. That year, Francis Gilbert of '' The Times Educational Supplement'' said that York Notes and Letts Revision "dominate the market".< York Handbooks are a more comprehensive resource compared to York Notes. ''York Handbook'' titles include ''Preparing for Examinations in English Literature'', ''The English Novel'', ''Studying Shakespeare'', ''English Usage''.

Reception

Referring to York Notes, Hugh David of '' The Times Educational Supplement'' wrote in 1985, "it is still unfortunately possible to find one or two hack-works cobbled together apparently with no higher motive than to plug a hole in the list". He criticised the ''York Notes on the Selected Poems of W. H. Auden'' for having "a vague, prissy and rather misleading biographical introduction" and for barely addressing Auden's final 25 years. David thought ''Selected Poems of Byron'' was "better on content" but criticised it for discussing

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and Mrs Malaprop. He praised the York Handbook ''Studying Shakespeare'' for being "a stimulating introduction". The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' writer Alan Forrest said in 1988 that the educator considered York Notes to be "eminently suitable" for preparing for the

even though the guides were not directly targeted at GCSE candidates.

References

External links

Official website
Textbooks Study guides {{edu-book-stub

Reception

See also

References

External links