Classics Books

Book SynopsisThe Heart of Mid-Lothian is precisely focused on the trials for murder of John Porteous and of Effie Deans in 1736 and 1737.Trade ReviewThe Edinburgh Edition! aims to rescue these superb works of fiction from an unfortunate history of errors...!A huge project, very scholarly, and altogether very grand indeed! it is perhaps Scott's most profound novel, being a considered meditation on the nature of justice! the novel is, above all, a superb story with a cast of rich characters. -- Harry Reid A part of our immediate response to these exemplary volumes is to feel the discrepancy between Scott's slapdash, hearty, headlong method of composition and the painstaking toil of his editors!the Edinburgh editors have reverted to the first editions, but have also combed the manuscripts for missed readings and lost material; some of the latter, such as the portraits of Edinburgh literati in Guy Mannering, are substantial discoveries. From the outset, readers of this volume will know themselves to be in the hands of learned and accomplished editors. By comparing the first edition of Scott's famous work to the manuscript, the editors of this excellent edition produce 'an ideal first edition'! all serious readers wil find the discussion of Scott's creative method fascinating, especially the case Hewitt and Lumsden make for him as a far more careful writer than scholars have heretofore believed! The present volume offers the modern reader a version very close to that a reader in 1818 would have experienced ... Highly recommended. I recommend the book to admirers of Scott and to those who, like me, have never read his work but always felt they should. The Edinburgh Edition! aims to rescue these superb works of fiction from an unfortunate history of errors...!A huge project, very scholarly, and altogether very grand indeed! it is perhaps Scott's most profound novel, being a considered meditation on the nature of justice! the novel is, above all, a superb story with a cast of rich characters. A part of our immediate response to these exemplary volumes is to feel the discrepancy between Scott's slapdash, hearty, headlong method of composition and the painstaking toil of his editors!the Edinburgh editors have reverted to the first editions, but have also combed the manuscripts for missed readings and lost material; some of the latter, such as the portraits of Edinburgh literati in Guy Mannering, are substantial discoveries. From the outset, readers of this volume will know themselves to be in the hands of learned and accomplished editors. By comparing the first edition of Scott's famous work to the manuscript, the editors of this excellent edition produce 'an ideal first edition'! all serious readers wil find the discussion of Scott's creative method fascinating, especially the case Hewitt and Lumsden make for him as a far more careful writer than scholars have heretofore believed! The present volume offers the modern reader a version very close to that a reader in 1818 would have experienced ... Highly recommended. I recommend the book to admirers of Scott and to those who, like me, have never read his work but always felt they should.

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Book SynopsisA new edition of Scott's longest, and arguably most intriguing, novel.Trade ReviewThe standard of work is to be commended highly. It is also a testament to the perseverance of the editor herself in producing such an exemplary volume to a new readership. -- Anthony Mandal Studies in Hogg and His World Reviving... a seldom remembered novel, the editor invite[s] us to share [her] vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us. -- Regina Hewitt Scottish Literary Review The standard of work is to be commended highly. It is also a testament to the perseverance of the editor herself in producing such an exemplary volume to a new readership. Reviving... a seldom remembered novel, the editor invite[s] us to share [her] vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us.

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Book SynopsisFind Out What Scott Really WroteGoing back to the original manuscripts, a team of scholars has uncovered what Scott originally wrote and intended his public to read before errors, misreadings and expurgations crept in during production. Quentin Durward is a young Scotsman seeking fame and fortune in the France of Louis XI in the fifteenth century. He knows little and understands less, but Scott represents his ignorance and naiveté as useful to ''the most sagacious prince in Europe'' who needs servants motivated solely by the desire for coin and credit and lacking any interest in France which would interfere with the execution of his political aims. In Quentin Durward Scott studies the first modern state in the process of destroying the European feudal system.By far the most important of Scott''s sources for Quentin Durward is the splendid Memoirs of Philippe de Comines. Comines, who has more than a walk-on role in the novel itself, was trusted councillor of Charles the Bold of Burgundy until 1472, whenTrade ReviewWilll certainly be the definitive scholarly edition of Scott for the foreseeable future. The notes and emendation lists ! evince years of thorough, diligent research into manuscripts, editions, sources, references, and allusions. The information will give the serious reader inestimable help in understanding Scott. Alexander and Wood give us a Quentin Durward that corresponds to no previous version of the novel. It is a social text for our moment in time which, given the publication history of the Waverley Novels, is eminently appropriate. This is the fifth volume of the EEWN to be edited by J. H. Alexander. In each the scholarly apparatus has been superb, and this edition of Quentin Durward is no exception, The Explanatory Notes, Historical Notes, Glossary, Map and Essay on the Text make this an indispensable work. For the study of Scott's first fictional foray on to the European continent. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. Willl certainly be the definitive scholarly edition of Scott for the foreseeable future. The notes and emendation lists ! evince years of thorough, diligent research into manuscripts, editions, sources, references, and allusions. The information will give the serious reader inestimable help in understanding Scott. Alexander and Wood give us a Quentin Durward that corresponds to no previous version of the novel. It is a social text for our moment in time which, given the publication history of the Waverley Novels, is eminently appropriate. This is the fifth volume of the EEWN to be edited by J. H. Alexander. In each the scholarly apparatus has been superb, and this edition of Quentin Durward is no exception, The Explanatory Notes, Historical Notes, Glossary, Map and Essay on the Text make this an indispensable work. For the study of Scott's first fictional foray on to the European continent. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously.

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Book SynopsisThe Betrothed is set at the time of the Third Crusade (1189--92) and is the first of Scott's Tales of the Crusaders.

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Book SynopsisA new edition of The Talisman, the second of Tales of the Crusaders, which is set in Palestine during the Third Crusade (1189-92)

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Book SynopsisGoing back to the original manuscripts, a team of scholars has uncovered what Scott originally wrote and intended his public to read before errors, misreadings and expurgations crept in during production. The Edinburgh Edition offers you:* A clean, corrected text* Textual histories* Explanatory notes* Verbal changes from the first-edition text* Full glossariesTitle DescriptionWoodstock opens in farce, yet it is one of Scott''s darkest novels. It deals with revolution, to Scott the most disturbing of all subjects: ''it appears that every step we made towards liberty, has but brought us in view of more terrific perils.'' Written during the financial crisis which led to his insolvency in January 1826, the novel, Scott feared, ''would not stand the test''. Yet it does: it is set in England in 1651 as Parliamentary forces hunt the fugitive Charles Stewart who days previously had been defeated at Worcester. In the superb portrait of Cromwell we see a self-torturing despot who attempts to be in full control in the name of religion; in the rakish Charles we see a man without self-reflection whose own libertarianism after his restoration to the English throne in 1660 permitted a great burgeoning in scientific enquiry and the arts. This edition of Woodstock is based on the first, but emended in the light of readings in the manuscript and proofs that were misread, and at times deliberately suppressed, as Scott''s own handwritten words were turned into a printed book.

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Book SynopsisThe Fair Maid of Perth centres on the merchant classes of Perth in the fourteenth century, and their commitment to the pacific values of trade, in a bloody and brutal era in which no right to life is recognised.Trade ReviewThe volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. The Edinburgh Edition is essential to any Scott scholar ... [the student] will turn first to the superbly specific textual essays that follow the readings. The latest additions to the monumental Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels ... all three editors maintain consistently high quality in preparing what will surely be the standard edition of Scott's complete novels ... as might be expected, the Essays on the Text are of central importance in the editions, because of the minutely detailed yet lucid accounts of the textual choices made. The volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. The Edinburgh Edition is essential to any Scott scholar ... [the student] will turn first to the superbly specific textual essays that follow the readings. The latest additions to the monumental Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels ... all three editors maintain consistently high quality in preparing what will surely be the standard edition of Scott's complete novels ... as might be expected, the Essays on the Text are of central importance in the editions, because of the minutely detailed yet lucid accounts of the textual choices made.

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Book SynopsisThis collection comprise eight pieces of shorter fiction all from periodicals. They show both Scott's versatility and his continuous exploration of the possibilities of fiction.Trade ReviewThe Shorter Fiction, as with all the volumes of the EEWN, contains all the full texts based on the first published version, followed by an 'Essay on the Text' by the editors of the volume offering a detailed and comprehensive account of the genesis, composition, and editorial history of each work. It also includes an 'Emendation List' made to the first editions, comprehensive historical accounts, explanatory notes and a glossary. These supplementary materials will be indispensable to scholars and students alike. -- Deirdre A. Shepherd, University of Edinburgh BARS Bulletin and Review Reviving almost forgotten stories... the editors [...] invite us to share their vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us. -- Regina Hewitt Scottish Literary Review The Shorter Fiction, as with all the volumes of the EEWN, contains all the full texts based on the first published version, followed by an 'Essay on the Text' by the editors of the volume offering a detailed and comprehensive account of the genesis, composition, and editorial history of each work. It also includes an 'Emendation List' made to the first editions, comprehensive historical accounts, explanatory notes and a glossary. These supplementary materials will be indispensable to scholars and students alike. Reviving almost forgotten stories... the editors [...] invite us to share their vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction; The Inferno of Altisidora; Christopher Corduroy; Alarming Increase of Depravity Among Animals; Phantasmagoria; My Aunt Margaret's Mirror; The Tapestried Chamber; Death of the Laird's Jock; A Highland Anecdote; Essay on the Text; Emendation List; End-of-line Hyphens; Historical Note; Explanatory Notes; Glossary.

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Book SynopsisTwo of James Hogg's pastoral dramas with songs, presented here with full explanatory notes and glossary.Trade ReviewThe excellent edition of The Bush aboon Traquair and The Royal Jubilee, edited by Douglas S. Mack, contains two versions of Hogg's lifely pastoral drama, with songs, as well as his masque, written as part of the welcoming celebrations for George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822. -- Deirdre A. Shepherd, University of Edinburgh BARS Bulletin and Review The excellent edition of The Bush aboon Traquair and The Royal Jubilee, edited by Douglas S. Mack, contains two versions of Hogg's lifely pastoral drama, with songs, as well as his masque, written as part of the welcoming celebrations for George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Bush aboon Traquair; Version of the Wellington Fair-Copy Manuscript; Act First; Act Second; Act Third; Version of Blackie's Tales & Sketches; Act First; Act Second; Act Third; The Royal Jubilee; Note on the Texts; Hyphenation List; Editorial Notes; Glossary.

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Book SynopsisThis European masterpiece from the Nobel prizewinner explores the lure and degeneracy of ideas in an introverted community on the eve of World War I.Hans Castorp is 'a perfectly ordinary, if engaging young man' when he goes to visit his cousin in an exclusive sanatorium in the Swiss Alps.Trade ReviewMagnificent... a beautiful, feverish account of obsessive love -- Jonathan Coe * Guardian *Featuring lengthy debates between humanist freemasons and Jews-turned-Catholics, a long love-scene written entirely in French and a brilliant hallucinatory journey down the snowy slopes, it merits multiple readings. A novel for a lifetime not just a rainy afternoon * Guardian *A monumental writer * Sunday Telegraph *The greatest German novelist of the 20th century * Spectator *Mann is Germany's outstanding modern classic, a decadent representative of the tradition of Goethe and Schiller. With his famous irony, he was up there with Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Freud, holding together the modern world with a love of art and imagination to compensate for the emptiness left by social and religious collapse. * Independent *

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Book Synopsis''The Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works of the imagination to come out of [this] age'' Anthony BurgessBOOK TWO OF THE GORMENGHAST TRILOGYEnter the world of Gormenghast...the vast crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is Lord and heir. Gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, cloisters and corridors, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old rituals, a world primed to implode beneath the weight of centuries of intrigue, treachery, manipulation and murder.Gormenghast is more than a sequel to Titus Groan - it is an enrichment and deepening of that book.The fertility of incident, character and rich atmosphere combine in a tour de force that ranks as one of the twentieth century''s most remarkable feats of imaginative writing.Trade ReviewMervyn Peake is a master of the macabre and a traveller through the deeper and darker chasms of the imagination * The Times *Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. [The Gormenghast Trilogy] is a very, very great work...a classic of our age[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience

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Book Synopsis''Gormenghast is, to my mind and to my taste, a perfect creation'' Neil GaimanWelcome to the world of Gormenghast, the classic fantasy series from the imagination of Mervyn Peake As the first novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born: he stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that stand for Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined by a complex ritual, lost in history, understood only by Sourdust, Lord of the Library. There are tears and strange laughter; fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings; dreams and violence and disenchantment contained within a labyrinth of stone.''A gorgeous volcanic eruption... A work of extraordinary imagination'' New YorkerTrade ReviewMr Peake's first novel holds one with its glittering eye - It has a genuine plot in the strictest sense, and it persuades you to read on simply in order to know what will happen - its gallery of characters is wonderful * Nation *A gorgeous volcanic eruption... A work of extraordinary imagination * New Yorker *The Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works of the imagination to come out of [this] age * Spectator *[An] extraordinary story bursting with grotesque characters, madness and mayhem. Fantasy writers of today owe his wild imagination a massive debt * Mail on Sunday *

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Book Synopsis''Disturbing, moving, and funny; these stories help amplify Williams''s tragic vision, for like the plays, they underline his preoccupation and insight into the conflicts of the human heart''New York TimesAcclaimed as one of America''s most successful playwrights, Tennessee Williams also published four volumes of short stories. In Collected Stories, these volumes are combined with a wealth of unpublished and uncollected work, ranging from his first his story published in `Weird Tales'' when William was seventeen, to his later frank homosexual fantasies. Williams was famous for insisting he write every morning. Even during his darkest days, while mourning a lover, or abusing some substance - he would write. The Collected Stories are from every period of his life, and recreate the milieux Williams knew and chronicled so movingly - from his gypsy youth in St. Louis and New Orleans to his days of celebrity in Hollywood and New York.''The two ingTrade ReviewFunny, bizarre, often moving and always brave -- Sunday TimesI yearned for a bad influence and boy, was Tennessee one in the best sense of the word: joyous, alarming, sexually confusing and dangerously funny -- John WatersWilliams's ear for dialogue, eye for character, and exploration of love, longing and loneliness are as powerful in these stories as they are in his plays. * John Berendt, author of Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil *There used to be two streetcars in New Orleans. One was named Desire and the other was called Cemeteries. To get where you were going, you changed from the first to the second. In these stories, Tennessee validated with his genius our common ticket of transfer -- Gore VidalAs in the plays, it is the force and adroitness of his curiosity that impresses. * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA captivating new series to spark the imagination and breathe new life into classic works

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Book SynopsisA captivating new series to spark the imagination and breathe new life into classic works

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Book SynopsisNothing can be kept secret for long in Thrush Green...For many years, Dorothy Watson and Agnes Fogerty have taught in the school at Thrush Green, so their imminent retirement provokes rumour and speculation. Who will take Miss Watson''s place as head teacher? As for replacing little Miss Fogerty, it seems impossible to imagine.There are other issues too. Will Winnie Bailey''s eccentric nephew move into the schoolhouse? Who is the strange young man lurking outside The Fuchsia Bush? And what will become of Miss Fogerty''s stray cat?The changing seasons reflect the changing face of Thrush Green as old and new friends learn to live happily together.

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Book Synopsis''Holmes! I cried. Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?''. The one and only Sherlock Holmes is sensationally back from the dead, and devoting his life once more to examining the criminal complexities of the capital. Cases of mysterious codes, persecuted millionaires, stalkers, abductions and a meeting with ''the worst man in London'' are all attacked with renewed vigour. But Holmes'' old enemies are watching his every move. Watching, waiting, plotting...Trade ReviewHe is unique in simultaneously bringing down the curtain on an era and raising one on another, ushering in a genre of writing that... has never been surpassed. His own life, as footballer... eye surgeon, champion of injustice and investigator into the paranormal, is the stuff of legend. Personally, I would walk a mile in tight boots to read his letters to the milkman * Stephen Fry, The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection *

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Book SynopsisIn one of the most fascinating works of fiction of all time, Stevenson examines the inner conflict between good and evil.Lawyer Gabriel Utterson hears of an ambiguous, solitary, violent man called Edward Hyde, who is said to have trampled over a young girl in the street, leaving her bruised and terrified. Utterson becomes concerned when a friend of his, Dr Henry Jekyll, makes a will declaring that in the event of his death or disappearance, Hyde should inherit all his property. When Hyde is seen killing a respected political figure, Jekyll becomes increasingly reclusive, which leads Utterson to suspect that there is more than a casual connection between his friend and this brutal ''apelike'' monster of a man . . .

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Book SynopsisSeparated from his wife Irene for some years now, Soames Forsyte has resigned himself to the fact she''s never coming back. But as he grows older and richer, he yearns for an heir. When he confronts Irene, the raw wounds of his past passion are exposed and he will do anything to claim back what is his. Then his cousin Jolyon Forsyte moves in to protect and champion Irene and the old rift in the family splinters into new jealousy, hatred and fear. But this time it runs too deeply for forgiveness...Trade ReviewPraise for THE FORSYTE SAGA: 'An immortal achievement...it is, at all levels, readability itself * Financial Times *Just because they were set in a world of frock-coats and ornate drawing rooms, we should not be blind to their modern dilemmas... the satire is sharp, the dialogue, elegant and witty, and the characterisation - dazzling * Scotsman *THE FORSYTE SAGA was such a cracking good story...compulsive, as well as very modern and outrageous * Sunday Times *Still a terrific read, a satisfying, long, absorbing family story...which knocks spots off its pale imitators * Susan Hill *The books I most wish I'd written * Penny Vincenzi *

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Book SynopsisIt''s 1922 and Fleur Forsyte is now married to Michael Mont. Fleur throws herself into the roaring 20s with the rest of London, taking life as it comes. But the marriage is haunted by the ghost of a past love affair, and however vibrant Fleur appears, those closest to her sense her unhappiness. Michael, devoted to Fleur but not blind to her faults, is determined to stand by her through anything. He also finds himself caught up in the tragic and poignant story of a young couple struggling for survival in an age of unemployment and extreme poverty.Trade ReviewPraise for THE FORSYTE SAGA: 'An immortal achievement...it is, at all levels, readability itself * Financial Times *Just because they were set in a world of frock-coats and ornate drawing rooms, we should not be blind to their modern dilemmas... the satire is sharp, the dialogue, elegant and witty, and the characterisation - dazzling * Scotsman *THE FORSYTE SAGA was such a cracking good story...compulsive, as well as very modern and outrageous * Sunday Times *Still a terrific read, a satisfying, long, absorbing family story...which knocks spots off its pale imitators * Susan Hill *The books I most wish I'd written * Penny Vincenzi *

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Book SynopsisJon Forsyte is back. After years living in America with his mother Irene, he is excited to be home and can''t wait to show off his roots to his new bride. When Fleur Forsyte, now Fleur Mont, his first love, hears of his arrival, she doesn''t know what to feel. She''s married too, though, with a little boy so there''s no reason why they all can''t meet as friends. But feelings so strong are not easily contained. And when their passion is rekindled, no one can halt the devastating events that follow - the secret culmination of an old, old story...Trade ReviewPraise for THE FORSYTE SAGA: 'An immortal achievement...it is, at all levels, readability itself * Financial Times *Just because they were set in a world of frock-coats and ornate drawing rooms, we should not be blind to their modern dilemmas... the satire is sharp, the dialogue, elegant and witty, and the characterisation - dazzling * Scotsman *THE FORSYTE SAGA was such a cracking good story...compulsive, as well as very modern and outrageous * Sunday Times *Still a terrific read, a satisfying, long, absorbing family story...which knocks spots off its pale imitators * Susan Hill *The books I most wish I'd written * Penny Vincenzi *

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Book SynopsisIn 1957, the British colony of the Gold Coast broke free to become the independent nation of Ghana. Margaret Laurence’s first novel, This Side Jordan, recreates that colour-drenched world: a place where men and women struggle with self-betrayal, self-discovery, and the dawning of political pride.This Side Jordan transcends the traditional limits of the first novel. Its powerful and compassionate characterizations and its themes of exile and community anticipate the five later novels that make up Laurence’s acclaimed Manawaka series. A major work of lasting significance, This Side Jordan creates echoes in the mind of the reader as resonant as the drums of Ghana.

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Book SynopsisThe ten stories gathered together in The Tomorrow-Tamer are Margaret Laurence’s first published fiction. Set in raucous and often terrifying Ghana, where shiny Jaguars and modern jazz jostle for eminence against fetish figures, tribal rites, and the unchanging beat of jungle drums, the stories tell of individuals, European and African, trying to come to terms with the frightening world brought about by the country’s new freedom.With the same compassion and understanding she would bring to her later fiction set in Canada, Laurence succeeds brilliantly in capturing the atmosphere of a continent and of individual men and women struggling for survival under the impact of the wind of change.

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Book SynopsisThis collector’s edition of Jane Austen’s final novel, Persuasion, is a poignant story of love, loss, and redemption set in Regency-era Britain.

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Book SynopsisDescribes the origin, writing, and reception of the novel, "The Lost Lady". This essay features photographs that illuminate the connection between the novel and the people and places from the author's formative years in Nebraska.Trade Review"This 1923 novel is among the best examples of Cather's experiment with minimalism and one of her finest works overall. As such, it deserves an edition produced to the highest standards of textual scholarship. It has found one here."-Choice Choice

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Book SynopsisSince the discovery over one hundred years ago of a body of Mesopotamian poetry preserved on clay tablets, what has come to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh has been considered a masterpiece of ancient literature. It recounts the deeds of a hero-king of ancient Mesopotamia, following him through adventures and encounters with men and gods alike. Yet the central concerns of the Epic lie deeper than the lively and exotic storyline: they revolve around a man''s eternal struggle with the limitations of human nature, and encompass the basic human feelings of loneliness, friendship, love, loss, revenge, and the fear of the oblivion of death. These themes are developed in a distinctly Mesopotamian idiom, to be sure, but with a sensitivity and intensity that touch the modern reader across the chasm of three thousand years. This translation presents the Epic to the general reader in a clear narrative. Table of ContentsA note to the reader; A note on the translation; Introduction; The epic of Gilgamesh; Appendixes.

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Book SynopsisSince the discovery over one hundred years ago of a body of Mesopotamian poetry preserved on clay tablets, what has come to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh has been considered a masterpiece of ancient literature. This title presents the Epic to the general reader in a clear narrative.Table of ContentsA note to the reader; A note on the translation; Introduction; The epic of Gilgamesh; Appendixes.

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Book SynopsisThis text represents Kuan-Chung Lo's retelling of the events attending the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 AD. It is an epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, loyalty and treachery, victory and death that is as important for Chinese culture as the Homeric epics have been for the West.Trade Review"One of the greatest and best-loved works of popular literature." --Dictionary of Oriental Literatures

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Book SynopsisThis text represents Kuan-Chung Lo's retelling of the events attending the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 AD. It is an epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, loyalty and treachery, victory and death that is as important for Chinese culture as the Homeric epics have been for the West.Trade Review"One of the greatest and best-loved works of popular literature." --Dictionary of Oriental Literatures

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Book SynopsisAs a whole, the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville, now complete in fifteen volumes, offers for the first time the total body of Melville's extant writings in a critical text, faithful to his intentions.

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Book SynopsisAn undiscovered modern Argentinian classic, based on the tragic lives of the renowned Raúl Barón Biza (a wealthy politician and notorious writer) and his wife Rosa Clotilde SabattiniTrade Review"A marvel." -- Will Noah - 4Columns"A provocative, meticulous novel that’s both utterly repulsive and morbidly fascinating." -- Booklist"Elegant prose." -- Publisher Weekly"The Desert and Its Seed chronicles the aftermath of an attack identical to the one that Baron Biza's father perpetrated against his mother. Baron Biza maintains [a] mixture of unflinching scrutiny and cool lyricism through the novel. It feels strikingly of the moment, as a resurgent feminist movement draws attention to the wide scope of misogyny." -- Alejandro Chacoff - The New Yorker"An emotionally (and physically) harrowing account of isolation, violence, and hypocrisy." -- Tobias Carroll - Words Without Borders"A cult masterpiece. The author has been compared to Joyce and Proust." -- Enrique Vila-Matas"Grips and perturbs the reader simultaneously." -- Les Monde des Livres"A great novel." -- Alejandro Zambra"A sublime explosion that results from an unpredictable art." -- El Pais"An Argentinian masterpiece." -- La Stampa

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Book SynopsisThe classic Christmas tale, with beautiful new illustrationsTrade Review"A merrier and more pungent celebration of the season for family reading aloud has not been written in our time." -- The Nation"Enchanting." -- Chicago Tribune"Surely this Christmas story ranks among the great experiences of the language." -- Harper’s Magazine"The language is enchanting and the poetry shines with an unearthly radiance." -- The New York Times

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Book SynopsisA windfall for every reader: a trove of marvelous impossible-to-find Kafka stories in a masterful new translation by Michael HofmannTrade Review"Kafka himself stays well enough afloat. Even when he fumbles, he never falls wholly flat: at his worst, he is provocative yet provisional. But at his best, he is hilarious and mordant, mired in the impossibilities that he could neither live with nor without." -- Becca Rothfeld - Bookforum"This delightful collection features dozens of untitled fragments, false starts, and unfinished work by Kafka, found and chosen by biographer Stach...Opening sentences such as “I was allowed to set foot in a strange garden” and “The city resembles the sun,” make the reader’s pulse heighten with the thrill of entering the space of great literature. This offers precisely the kind of fare Kafka enthusiasts would hope for from the legendary writer’s archives. " -- Publishers Weekly"They have been translated by polyphonic, wizardly Michael Hofmann, who has made of Kafka a marvelous, often very humorous writer of eccentric English prose." -- Reading in Translation"These marks make visible the fourth wall that is implicit in each work Kafka left in some way unfinished, and even in those whose publication he permitted. It’s not only the characters, but Kafka himself who could find no way out. The Lost Writings helps us linger with him, in his impassable doorways." -- Nathan Goldman - The Baffler"I think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable." -- Michael Hofmann"Kafka is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him." -- Vladimir Nabokov"If the mundane is, for Kafka, the domain of improbability and impossibility—wherein even the simplest of gestures cannot be guaranteed—the extraordinary is evoked with an air of sheer certitude." -- Ari Linden - Public Books

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Book SynopsisA New York Times Best Book of the Year Nobel Prize Laureate Trade Review"Cela never forgets that the mazurka is a dance. He writes with gusto about that fundamental two-step of human existence: sex and death." -- Los Angeles Times"The definitive novel of how the Spanish Civil War was actually experienced by ordinary people." -- Newsday"If there is any Spanish novelist who deserves the Nobel Prize on the merit of narrative experimentation alone, it is without a doubt Camilo José Cela." -- Miguel Ugarte - The Nation"His most mesmerizing fiction, about life during the first four decades of the twentieth century, a life so brutal that the Spanish Civil War, when it occurs, seems a mere continuation of the ordinary. A fiendishly haunting story." -- The New York Times"Cela is the Goya of Franco’s Spain." -- Paul West"There is a secret slot for Cela at his best, as one of the great prose stylists, plural, of Spain—a man dangerously like us." -- Roberto Bolaño

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Book SynopsisThree subtly connected stories converge in this chimerical debut, showcasing a powerful new Brazilian voiceTrade Review"Like the writers I most admire, Fraia sets for himself the hardest and most respectable task a writer can face: unraveling the mystery without revealing the secret." -- Javier Montes"A literary jewel." -- Fernanda Torres"Three stories track the wanderings of contemporary Brazilians in Fraia’s subtle and melancholy English-language debut, a collection inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches." -- Publishers Weekly"With deft precision, Fraia bares his characters just enough to reveal only these stories—nothing is extraneous." -- Kirkus"A truly beautiful book that is hard to describe without using words like precision, subtlety and, mostly, wisdom." -- Alejandro Zambra"These tales don’t operate the way most tales do; they adhere to their own separate sense of languid time." -- Tope Folarin - Vulture"As Sevastopol masterfully demonstrates, all one can do against time’s attrition is organize the losses into a story of the self." -- Marshall Shord - Southwest Review"Quite excellent." -- Erin Bloom - Full Stop"A vibe is, by definition, inexplicable. To say Sevastopol’s vibe is a bit gloomy, desolate, styled in a color palette that includes grays, greens, and violets, is both true and inexact. The vibe accumulates over time and amounts to something. But exactly what remains evasive, thrillingly open-ended." -- Melanie Broder - Public Books

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Book SynopsisNow in a gift cloth edition, No Longer Human ponders profound alienationTrade Review"What I despise about Dazai is that he exposes precisely those things in myself that I most want to hide." -- Yukio Mishima"From the point of view of wholesome common sense, Dazai’s writings may be regarded as the soliloquies of a deviant." -- Yasunari Kawabata"No Longer Human is his masterpiece, though all his work is worthy. Dazai was an aristocratic tramp, a self described delinquent, yet he wrote with the forbearance of a fasting scribe." -- Patit Smith"Dazai’s brand of egoistic pessimism dovetails organically with the emo chic of this cultural moment." -- Andrew Martin - The New York Times

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Book SynopsisNow in a beautiful gift cloth edition, a masterpiece of postwar Japanese literatureTrade Review"What I despise about Dazai is that he exposes precisely those things in myself that I most want to hide." -- Yukio Mishima"From the point of view of wholesome common sense, Dazai’s writings may be regarded as the soliloquies of a deviant." -- Yasunari Kawabata"Dazai offers something permanent and beautiful." -- The New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisThis astonishing short novel concerns the unfathomable, otherworldly experiences of an aristocratic young calvary officer in WWITrade Review"[For I Was Jack Mortimer] Brilliant, extra stylish, excellently written and fearsomely gripping." -- The Times (UK)"A rare and special pleasure—your Baron Bagge is a masterpiece! It is positively magical the way dream and reality glide seamlessly into one another, creating a realm of visionary luminescence, a visual plenitude whose color derives from fever and coursing blood: in this flawless chef d’oeuvre, every word and every sentence rests lightly right where it belongs. Truly you wrote this unforgettable novella in a state of grace" -- Stefan Zweig, in a letter to Lernet-Holenia, from the Afterword"But nowhere, as often as he has dealt with it, has this walk to ‘that unknown country from which no wanderer returns’ been traced with such visual power, vividness and dream fantasy as in Baron Bagge, the most beautiful novel written by Alexander Lernet-Holenia." -- Hilde Spiel"Fog-of-war tales are always abundant, but this one conjures a unique spell. An unsettling tale of war trauma, cleanly and uniquely told." -- Kirkus Reviews"A pupil of Rilke, admired by Borges, Lernet-Holenia has a literary reputation as a sort of continental necromancer, a conductor of the underworldly and oneiric, uprooting tangled lineages and raising the closeted skeletons of guilty nations." -- Trevor Quirk - Bookforum

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Book SynopsisConcerned for her family’s financial welfare and eager to expand her own horizons, Agnes Grey takes up the position of governess, the only respectable employment for an unmarried woman in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, Agnes cannot anticipate the hardship, humiliation, and loneliness that await her in the brutish Bloomfield and haughty Murray households. Drawn from Anne Brontë’s own experiences, Agnes Grey depicts the harsh conditions and class snobbery that governesses were often forced to endure. As Barbara A. Suess writes in her Introduction, “Brontë provides a portrait of the governess that is as sympathetic as her fictional indictment of the shallow, selfish moneyed class is biting.”

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Book SynopsisSelected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all timeSet amid the splendor of London drawing rooms and gilded Venetian palazzos, The Wings of the Dove is the story of Milly Theale, a naïve, doomed American heiress, and a pair of lovers, Kate Croy and Merton Densher, who conspire to obtain her fortune. In this witty tragedy of treachery, self-deception, and betrayal, Henry James weaves together three ill-fated and wholly human destinies unexpectedly linked by desire, greed, and salvation. As Amy Bloom writes in her Introduction, “The Wings of the Dove is a novel of intimacy. . . . [James] gives us passion, he gives us love in its terrible and enchanting forms.”

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Book Synopsis“In a few short pages,” writes Francine Prose in her Introduction, “May Sinclair succeeds in rendering the oppressive weight and strength of the chains of family love.” Young Harriett Frean is taught that “behaving beautifully” is paramount, and she becomes a self-sacrificing woman whose choices prove devastating to herself and to those who love her most. An early pioneer ofstream-of-consciousness writing, Sinclair employs the technique brilliantly in this finely crafted psychological novel. Evoking the style and depth of her contemporaries Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence, Sinclair’s haunting narrative also reflects her keen interest in the theories of Jung and Freud. The text of this Modern Library 20th Century Rediscovery was set from the first American edition of 1922.

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Book SynopsisLaurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy is narrated by the title character in a series of digressions and interruptions that purportedly show the ""life and opinions"" – part of the novel's full title – of Tristram.

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Book SynopsisFilled with thought-provoking ideas and marked by an open, conversational writing style, Tristram Shandy: A Book for Free Spirits is an adroit guide to understanding the aims and achievements of Sterne's masterpiece and to fully appreciating its lessons for contemporary times.

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