From Austen to Zola, from medieval to the modern day - all genres are catered for between the covers of these coveted classics.
Classics Books
Alma Books Ltd Dubliners: Annotated Edition (Alma Classics
Book SynopsisJames Joyce’s first published book, which he wrote when he was still in his twenties, Dubliners is far removed from the bold experimentalism of his later work, but is essential for understanding the author’s development as a writer, and endures as a masterly example of the short-story form. Although ranging considerably in tone, mood and milieu, the fifteen short stories included in this collection all centre around the city of Dublin and its inhabitants at the beginning of the twentieth-century. From the unsettling adventure of two truant schoolboys to the crafty schemes of two con-men, from a young woman’s refusal to abandon Ireland and elope with a sailor to a man’s moment of clarity during an annual dance party, these stories offer a moving portrait of an entire world and era which has all but disappeared.Trade ReviewHis writing is not about something; it is that something itself. -- Samuel BeckettIts deep power abides in the inextricability of Joyce’s masterly control of language and the breadth of his vision. -- Eimear McBride
£6.99
Alma Books Ltd The Fox: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisNellie March and Jill Banford manage an ailing Berkshire farm at the time of the First World War, a task which is made all the more complicated by the frequent rampages of a local fox through their chicken coop. When a young soldier turns up and begins to interfere with the farm and the lives of the two women, they must find ways to react to this new fox in their midst. A compelling study of the question of power, gender and sexuality, as well as a realistic portrayal of wartime rural England, The Fox showcases Lawrence’s inimitable gift for psychological observation and dramatic description.
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Agnes Grey
Book SynopsisThe well-educated daughter of a penniless clergyman, Agnes Grey is treated like a child by her own family and so sets out to prove herself by seeking employment as a governess. Soon, however, her idealistic notions regarding the education and care of her wards are dashed as she battles to control the wild Bloomfi eld children in her fi rst situation, and is then held in low regard by the superior Murray household.Trade ReviewThe most perfect prose narrative in English letters. Agnes Grey is a narrative simple and beautiful as a muslin dress -- George Moore
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd David Copperfield: Annotated Edition (Alma
Book Synopsis"One of the most famous and celebrated Victorian coming-of-age novels, David Copperfield charts the adventures and vicissitudes of its eponymous hero’s life, from the misery of his childhood after his mother’s marriage to the tyrannical Mr Murdstone, through to his first steps as a writer and his search for love and happiness. Along the way he encounters a vast array of gloriously vivid characters – many of whom number among the most memorable in literature – such as the eccentric aunt Betsey Trotwood, the eloquent debtor Wilkins Micawber and the obsequious villain Uriah Heep. Replete with comedy and tragedy in equal measure, and cited by Dickens as “his favourite child"", this partially autobiographical work provides tantalizing glimpses into Dickens’s own childhood and remains one of the most enduringly popular novels in the English language."Trade ReviewThe power of [Dickens] is so amazing that the reader at once becomes his captive. -- William Makepeace Thackeray
£7.59
Everyman Emma
Book SynopsisAlthough described by Jane Austen as a character ''whom no one but myself will much like'', the irrepressible Emma Woodhouse is one of her most beloved heroines. Clever, rich and beautiful, she sees no need for marriage, but loves interfering in the romantic lives of others, until her matchmaking plans unravel, with consequences that she never expected. Jane Austen''s novel of youthful exuberance and gradual self-knowledge is a brilliant, sparkling comic masterpiece.
£13.49
Everyman The Mill On The Floss
Book SynopsisFrom the author of MIDDLEMARCH and SILAS MARNER, a story of frustrated intelligence and longing, featuring the intelligent Maggie, who yearns to be loved, and her brother Tom, who is forced to study. When Maggie is cast out by Tom, she is ostracized by society, and must face the consequences of renunciation.
£12.34
Everyman Complete Shorter Fiction
Book SynopsisHerman Melville (1819-91) brought as much genius to the smaller-scale literary forms as he did to the full-blown novel: his poems and the short stories and novellas collected in this volume reveal a deftness and a delicacy of touch that is in some ways even more impressive than the massive, tectonic passions of Moby-Dick. In a story like “Bartleby, the Scrivener” — one of the very few perfect representatives of the form in the English language — he displayed an unflinching precision and insight and empathy in his depiction of the drastically alienated inner life of the title character. In “Benito Cereno,” he addressed the great racial dilemmas of the nineteenth century with a profound, almost surreal imaginative clarity. And in Billy, Budd, Sailor, the masterpiece of his last years, he fused the knowledge and craft gained from a lifetime’s magnificent work into a pure, stark, flawlessly composed tale of innocence betrayed and destroyed. Melville is justly honored for the epic sweep of his mind, but his lyricism, his skill in rendering the minute, the particular, the local, was equally sublime.SEE LESS
£14.24
Pan Macmillan Peter Pan
Book SynopsisJ. M. Barrie's Peter Pan is a thrilling adventure for all ages - the story of the boy who refuses to grow up is a tale that never gets old. It follows the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael, who befriend the magical Peter and are whisked away to Neverland, where the villainous Captain Hook and the brave Lost Boys await.With illustrations by F. D. Bedford, gorgeously coloured by one of Britain's leading colourists, Barbara Frith, this majestic Macmillan Collector's Library edition brings to life one of the world's favourite tales.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
£10.44
Universitas Press Persuasion
Book SynopsisPersuasion is among Jane Austen’s most historically grounded works.Like many people in Britain, Jane Austen and her family followed the ups and downs of the British war effort on both land and sea.As was the case with Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice before it, one of Austen’s aims in Persuasion is to present a message about British society through contrasting pairs: in this case, aristocratic vanity versus the private and public utility of the navy.Having drawn this critical picture of a vain aristocratic class, Austen uses the knowledge she gained through her family’s wartime experiences to create an alternative image of Britain: a navy whose men and women are useful to one another, society, and the national war effort.As useful as Austen’s naval characters are, despite whatever challenges they might face in the service, when the novel’s crisis comes at the end of the first volume, it is another character altogether who proves their value: Anne Elliot.On one level, Anne Elliot’s story reinforces Austen’s critique of the class-based society of her time. But Persuasion’s resolution is more complex than such a summary of social and financial calculation might suggest. It would be a drearily didactic book were that not the case. Instead, it is the interiority of the plot––how much of it occurs in Anne’s head and is viewed from her often-limited perspective––that maintains our interest to the end. How Austen achieves this, while addressing both the insidious and beneficial impacts of the art of persuasion, deserves our attention. (from “Introduction” by Todd Webb)
£13.46
Fingerprint! Publishing Little Women
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£16.19
Double 9 Booksllp The Insidious Dr.Fu-Manchu
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£14.44
Double 9 Booksllp Finnegans Wake
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£23.24
Double 9 Booksllp The Castle of Otranto
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£9.99
Double 9 Booksllp The Man In Lower Ten
Book SynopsisThe Man in Lower Ten is written by Mary Roberts Rinehart and was initially published in 1909. Nevertheless, it is still extremely readable today and offers a fascinating glimpse into a period that is nearly a century removed from our own while maintaining a timeless emotional tone. the first detective book to top bestseller charts across the country. Lawrence, an attorney-in-law, gets framed after he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, in the wrong bed, with the wrong clothing on, and with his suitcase. He was on his way to deliver important documents related to a criminal case. Blakely is aware that he must track down the genuine criminal before being arrested, but regrettably, our hero is not your typical tough-guy hero. The first book ever published by Mary Roberts Rinehart, possibly the best American mystery author of her generation, is The Man in Lower Ten. It moves at breakneck speed while fusing adventure, suspense, terror, and mystery. The Circular Staircase (1908), which more or less popularized the spinster Had I but Known style most generally associated with the author, was Mary Roberts Rinehart's (1876-1958) debut book, but it didn't come out between hard covers until the year after.
£11.89
EduCart The Middle of Things
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£12.79
Double 9 Booksllp Ragged Dick, Or, Street Life In New York With The
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£12.34
Double 9 Books Summer
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£11.04
Double 9 Books The Black Tulip
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£12.74
EduCart Arizona Nights
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£11.89
Double 9 Booksllp Babbitt
Book SynopsisSinclair Lewis' satirical book Babbitt, published in 1922, is about American culture and society and criticizes the superficiality of middle-class life and the temptation to fit in. Babbitt's disagreement had a big impact on the decision to give Lewis the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. The book has been adapted into two motion pictures: a silent version in 1924 and a talkie version in 1934. Babbitt's life is chronicled in the first seven chapters over the course of a single day. Babbitt coos over his ten-year-old daughter Tinka during breakfast, tries to talk his 22-year-old daughter Verona out of her recent socialist tendencies and exhorts his 17-year-old son Ted to work more in school. He dictates letters while at work and has conversations with his staff on real estate advertising. Babbitt hurries home and abandons all disobedience when his wife develops acute appendicitis. They reestablish their intimacy during her prolonged recovery, and Babbitt returns to his emotionless conformity. In the climactic scene, Babbitt learns that his son Ted secretly wed Eunice, his neighbor's daughter. Though he doesn't agree, he declares that he is in favor of the union and commends Ted for leading an independent life.
£16.79
Double 9 Books A Dog Of Flanders
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£9.49
Double 9 Booksllp The merchant of venice
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£10.44
Culturea Die Juden
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£13.30
New Directions Publishing Corporation No Longer Human
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
£17.99
Chronicle Books Little Women: The Complete Novel, Featuring the
Book SynopsisThis special edition invites fans inside the world of the March sisters. It includes the full text of Little Women, plus gorgeous, removable replicas of the characters' letters and other writings. For anyone who loves Little Women, or still cherishes the joy of letter writing, this book illuminates a favorite story in a whole new way. Louisa May Alcott's classic tale follows the March sisters as they come of age, and these unforgettable characters come alive in their letters and other writings. When Laurie invites Jo to join him for a picnic and "all sorts of larks," the unbridled joy of their friendship shines through. Each of the girls' personalities is perfectly encapsulated in the letters they pen to Marmee. And Jo's heart-wrenching poem "My Beth" speaks to the profound bond between two sisters. As you read this deluxe edition of the novel, you will find pockets throughout containing replicas of all 17 significant letters and paper ephemera from the story, re-created with beautiful calligraphy and painstaking attention to historical detail. Pull out each one, peruse its contents, and allow yourself to be transported to the parlor of the March family home. BELOVED STORY: LITTLE WOMEN has been passed down from generation to generation. Greta Gerwig's 2019 film adaption welcomed new fans to the story. Now is the perfect time to revisit the Alcott's original text and experience it in a unique way with physical ephemera that links you directly to the world of the March family. UNIQUE FORMAT: From the masterful calligraphy, to the painstaking attention to historical detail, to the hand-folding of the letters, to the quality of the materials—each book is an object made by fans for fans. This edition offers an immersive experience of the story, stands apart on the shelf, and makes for a truly lovely gift and keepsake. NOSTALGIC APPEAL, TIMELESS STORY: LITTLE WOMEN evokes deep childhood nostalgia—yet it's a rich and sophisticated story with feminist overtones that engages readers of any age and any generation. This edition allows those who read LITTLE WOMEN as children to experience their beloved novel anew, while inviting first-time readers to the party. Perfect for: • LITTLE WOMEN fans • Fans of the film adaptions • Moms, daughters, grandmothers, and girlfriends • Book clubbers • Letter writers • Collectors of vintage ephemera
£24.00
Vintage Publishing Ripleys Game
Book SynopsisTom Ripley detested murder. Unless it was absolutely necessary. Wherever possible, he preferred someone else to do the dirty work. In this case someone with no criminal record, who would commit ''two simple murders'' for a very generous fee.Trade ReviewTo call Patricia Highsmith a thriller writer is true but not the whole truth: her books have stylistic texture, psychological depth, mesmeric readability * Sunday Times *Highsmith has done it again. It seems to me she has reached a point where because she knows exactly what she is about she cannot miss * The Times *It's hard to imagine anyone interested in modern fiction who has not read the Ripley novels * Daily Telegraph *
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd Farewell My Lovely
Book Synopsis''I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room''Cynical Los Angeles Private Investigator Philip Marlowe always falls for a sob story. Eight years ago Moose Malloy and cute little redhead Velma were getting married - until Malloy was framed for armed robbery. Now he''s out and he wants Velma back. Marlowe meets Malloy one hot day in Hollywood and, out of the generosity of his jaded heart, agrees to help. Dragged from one smoky bar to another, Marlowe''s search for Velma turns up plenty of gangsters with a nasty habit of shooting first and talking later. And soon what started as a search for a missing person becomes a matter of life and death . . .Farewell, My Lovely is Raymond Chandler''s second novel featuring laconic PI Philip Marlowe.''Chandler grips the mind from the first sentence'' Daily Telegraph
£9.49
Flame Tree Publishing Ivanhoe
Book SynopsisThe FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader.Set in twelfth-century England during the reign of Richard I, Ivanhoe is Sir Walter Scott’s best known novel. Its depictions of witch trials, violent tournaments, sieges and ambushes make it a gripping read. The tense divisions between the Normans and the Saxons, the rich, the poor and the controversial figure of Robin Hood, and between King Richard and his untrustworthy brother are all explored in this brilliant account of the medieval era.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Last of the Mohicans Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.Death and honour are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not.'Set in frontier America in the midst of the French-Indian war, as the French are attempting to overthrow an English fort, Cooper's story follows Alice and Cora Munro, pioneer sisters who are trying to find their way back to their father, an English commander. Guided by an army major and Magua, an Indian from the Huron tribe, they soon meet Hawk-eye, a frontier scout and his Mohican Indian companions Chingachgook and Uncas.Magua is not all that he seems and the sisters are kidnapped. In The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper sets Indian tribe against Indian tribe and lays bare the brutality of the white man against the Mohicans.
£5.62
Oxford University Press The Nun
Book Synopsis''You can leave a forest, but you can never leave a cloister; you are free in the forest, but you are a slave in the cloister.''Diderot''s The Nun (La Religieuse) is the seemingly true story of a young girl forced by her parents to enter a convent and take holy orders. A novel mingling mysticism, madness, sadistic cruelty and nascent sexuality, it gives a scathing insight into the effects of forced vocations and the unnatural life of the convent. A succès de scandale at the end of the eighteenth century, it has attracted and unsettled readers ever since. For Diderot''s novel is not simply a story of a young girl with a bad habit; it is also a powerfully emblematic fable about oppression and intolerance.This new translation includes Diderot''s all-important prefatory material, which he placed, disconcertingly, at the end of the novel, and which turns what otherwise seems like an exercise in realism into what is now regarded as a masterpiece of proto-modernist fiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: Trade ReviewRussell Goulbourne's wide-ranging introduction shows clearly how the work's past significance and it present meaning are linked: Goulbourne's excellent translation maintains the reader's involvement without sacrificing accuracy. * Times Literary Supplement *
£11.69
Chronicle Books Persuasion: The Complete Novel, Featuring the
Book SynopsisCaptain Wentworth’s letter to Anne Elliot remains one of the literature’s most unforgettable confessions. It is the jewel at the heart of PERSUASION, Jane Austen’s captivating story of second chances and enduring love. Throughout the story, letters, newspapers, maps, and other paper ephemera reveal the characters’ deepest motivations and shape their destinies. Anne’s snobbish father obsesses over a written history of their noble family, and a page from the Bath Chronicle reveals the elaborate social scene of the town where the lovers are finally reunited. This deluxe edition brings all of this and more to life. As you read the novel, you will find pockets throughout containing replicas of thirteen items from the story, re-created with exquisite calligraphy and painstaking attention to historical detail. For anyone who loves Jane Austen or still cherishes the joy of letter writing, this book deepens the experience of a favorite story in an entirely new way.
£24.00
Vintage Publishing Dickens at Christmas
Book SynopsisDiscover this selection of the best of Dickens' Christmas stories and writings in one beautiful gift edition.The ultimate Christmas present.It is said that Charles Dickens invented Christmas, and within these pages you'll certainly find all the elements of a quintessential traditional Christmas brought to vivid life: snowy rooftops, gleaming shop windows, steaming bowls of punch, plum puddings like speckled cannon balls, sage and onion stuffing, miracles, magic, charity and goodwill. This beautifully produced Vintage Classics edition gathers together not only Dickens' Christmas Books ('A Christmas Carol', 'The Chimes', 'The Battle of Life', 'The Cricket on the Hearth' and 'The Haunted Man') but also stories that Dickens wrote for the special seasonal editions of his periodicals All the Year Round and Household Words, and a festive tale from The Pickwick Papers. A must-have for Christmas, this edition should be as necessary to your festivities as holly, mistletoe and silver bells.Trade ReviewCharles Dickens is an indelible part of Yuletide reading * Guardian *Dickens made Christmas a festival of generosity and moved it away from the unpopular religious festival it had been * Irish Times *[A Christmas Carol is] a story which, perhaps more than any other, sums up the spirit of the British Christmas * Sunday Telegraph *Charles Dickens' Christmas stories showed his readers all the magical trappings of the season * Sunday Express *
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Briggs R When the Wind Blows
Book SynopsisRaymond Briggs'' world-famous graphic account of one ordinary couple''s attempt to stand firm in the face of nuclear annihilation remains as powerful today as it was when it was first published in 1982.Following Jim and Hilda Blogg in the days before and after a nuclear attack on Britain, When the Wind Blows is alternately funny, shocking, heartbreaking and devastating. Few can read it and not be deeply moved.Despite writing some of the most beloved and enduring children''s books of all time - The Snowman, Father Christmas and Fungus the Bogeyman - When the Wind Blows is very much a story for adults. Not only does it articulate the fears of the generations who grew up in the shadow of the Cold War, but it also speaks today of our own fears, living as we do in a nuclear age.Written and illustrated by Briggs, When the Wind Blows has never been out of print.
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Complete Ghost Stories
Book SynopsisThe art of telling a ghost story is a refined one, and Montague Rhodes James was a master of the genre. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition features an afterword by author and playwright David Stuart Davies.M.R. James draws the reader into narratives which, seeming innocuous, become darker and darker in gentle turns – until confronting the reader with some of the most unforgettably frightening images in British literature. Complete Ghost Stories contains every timeless masterpiece from each of his four collections: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), and A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925).
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Scenes of London Life: From 'Sketches by Boz'
Book SynopsisDesigned to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. Chosen and introduced by the playwright J. B. Priestley, these twelve marvellous sketches are accompanied by George Cruikshank’s evocative illustrations.Charles Dickens was one of the great chroniclers of London life. From the colourful chaos of dances and gin-shops to the sparse destitution of the pawnshop and the penitentiary, he captured the grime and the glory of the English capital with singular brilliance.Orphans and beggars, lord mayors and murderers, actors, criminals, cab drivers and prostitutes; all rub shoulders in this wonderful selection from Sketches by Boz.
£10.79
HarperCollins Publishers The Fall of Númenor
Book SynopsisJ.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume.Trade Review‘Physically beautiful and sometimes overwhelming in its power, this book is a grand compendium of all Tolkien said about the period when the foundations of The Lord of the Rings are laid’John Garth, THE GUARDIAN ‘It brings a Biblical grandeur to Tolkien’s fictional history’WINTER IS COMING ‘A trove of source material about one of Middle-earth’s most intriguing and central back stories. The book is beautifully illustrated by Alan Lee and nimbly edited by Brian Sibley’WASHINGTON POST ‘For those wishing to expand their understanding of Middle-earth and the incredible legend crafted by Tolkien, this is an essential piece to complete that puzzle’BOOK REPORTER ‘How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’THE GUARDIAN ‘Demanding to be compared with English mythologies… at times rises to the greatness of true myth’FINANCIAL TIMES ‘A creation of singular beauty… magnificent in its best moments’WASHINGTON POST ‘With this most recent volume, The Fall of Númenor, Sibley has beautifully and brilliantly done for Tolkien’s Second Age what Christopher Tolkien did for the First Age’NATIONAL REVIEW
£16.19
Vintage Publishing Lotte In Weimar
Book SynopsisRead Thomas Mann's meditation on the power of literary representation and the tyranny of the writer's imagination. Mann's novel, written some 150 years after Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, follows Lotte Kestner, Goethe's real-life heroine, as she makes a pilgrimage to Weimar to meet the author who courted her forty years before. To her surprise, Lotte is greeted on her arrival as a celebrity and immediately taken up into Goethe's set. Time and place are brilliantly evoked in Mann's novel, but its genius lies in his masterful portrayal of Goethe himself, and of the astonishing influence he exerted on his contemporaries.'A masterpiece' Stefan ZweigTrade ReviewA masterpiece -- Stefan Zweig
£9.49
Duckworth Books The Complete Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde
Book SynopsisThe treasured fairy tales of Oscar Wilde in a stunning gift edition featuring exquisite illustrations by the celebrated artist Philippe Jullian with an afterword by Wilde’s son, Vyvyan Holland.
£11.69
Scholastic Stories From Around the World
Book SynopsisWhether you're ready to sail the high seas with Sinbad the Sailor,or fight alongside brave warrior Hua Mulan, you're guaranteed tofind your favourite legends right here. And no matter how the story starts, you'll always find your happyending. Including: Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, Hua Mulan and manymore.
£5.99
Pan Macmillan Three Men in a Boat
Book SynopsisComplete and unabridged.Three Men in a Boat remains one of the best-loved and most entertaining comic novels. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, unabridged, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features illustrations by A. Frederics and an afterword by David Stuart Davies.Join our young heroes J., George and Harris (not forgetting Montmorency, the mischievous, irascible fox terrier) as they take a boating holiday along the Thames. Their aim is to escape the weary workaday world and improve their health, but they are ill prepared for the various escapades, difficulties and vicissitudes that they encounter along the watery way. The adventures of these incompetent innocents abroad are magnified to epic proportions by the storyteller, J. His narration gives the book not only a wonderful endearing freshness but also a series of hilarious moments of timeless comedy.Trade ReviewThere are a few seriously funny books that remain great for all time. Three Men in a Boat is one of these. -- Robert McCrum * Guardian *Ultimately, Three Men in a Boat is a study of friendship, human foibles and forgiveness. Returning to the book is like settling in for a fireside chat with an eccentric great-uncle who has seen it all, done it all, but who's still more ready to mock himself than others. -- Mark Mills * Independent *
£10.44
Alma Books Ltd The Rats in the Walls and Other Stories
Book SynopsisWhen the descendant of an ancient aristocratic family moves from Massachusetts to Exham Priory, his ancestral home in the south of England, he is plagued by the constant noise of rats scurrying within its walls. As the sound begins to haunt his dreams, he investigates the house and discovers a horrific secret underneath, which will bring him to the point of madness. Considered one of the most accomplished examples of the horror genre, 'The Rats in the Walls' is presented here alongside other quintessentially Lovecraftian tales - such as 'The Dunwich Horror', 'At the Mountains of Madness', 'The Colour out of Space' and 'The Horror at Red Hook' - in a brand-new collection which will delight new readers and those familiar with the blood-curdling imaginary worlds of the twentieth century's master of terror.Trade ReviewThe most important US horror writer since Edgar Allan Poe and a big influence on nearly every major figure in the genre after his day. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsContains: The Statement of Randolph Carter, Arthur Jermyn, The Rats in the Walls, The Horror at Red Hook, The Colour out of Space, The Dunwich Horror, The Strange High House in the Mist, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Quest of Iranon, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shunned House, The Thing on the Doorstep.
£7.99
Pan Macmillan Round About the Christmas Tree: A Miscellany of
Book SynopsisRound About the Christmas Tree is the perfect Christmas gift for booklovers, as all facets of the festive season are represented here in one gorgeous volume. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition is introduced by Ned Halley and features the classic, charming illustrations of Alice Ercle Hunt.This anthology reveals the inspiration Christmas gives so many writers, whether as a time for celebration, for family, or as a chance to remember those in hardship. There are heart-warming stories from Charles Dickens and E. Nesbit, comic fun from G. K. Chesterton and Saki, touching whimsy from Hans Christian Andersen, and even crimes to solve from Arthur Conan Doyle.Table of ContentsChapter - 1: Round About the Christmas Tree by W. M. Thackeray Chapter - 2: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle Chapter - 3: The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson Chapter - 4: Christmas Eve by Washington Irving Chapter - 5: Christmas at Thompson Hall by Anthony Trollope Chapter - 6: Christmas Inspiration by L. M. Montgomery Chapter - 7: The Flying Stars by G. K. Chesterton Chapter - 8: A Christmas Dinner by Charles Dickens Chapter - 9: The Fir-Tree by Hans Christian Andersen Chapter - 10: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry Chapter - 11: A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum Chapter - 12: The Ghost of Christmas Eve by J. M. Barrie Chapter - 13: A Country Christmas by Louisa May Alcott Chapter - 14: The Conscience Pudding by E. Nesbit Chapter - 15: The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing by Thomas Hardy Chapter - 16: Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells Chapter - 17: A Christmas Tree by Charles Dickens Chapter - 18: Bertie’s Christmas Eve by Saki Chapter - 19: Christmas; Or, The Good Fairy by Harriet Beecher Stowe Chapter - 20: The Snow-Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter - 21: A Christmas Tree and a Wedding by Fyodor Dostoevsky [trans. Garnett] Chapter - 22: Christmas at Red Butte by L. M. Montgomery
£10.44
Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Return of the Native
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction and Notes by Claire Seymour, University of Kent at Canterbury. The Return of the Native is widely recognised as the most representative of Hardy's Wessex novels. He evokes the dismal presence and menacing beauty of Egdon Heath - reaching out to touch the lives and fate of all who dwell on it. The central figure is Clym Yeobright, the returning ‘native’ and the story tells of his love for the beautiful but capricious Eustacia Vye. As the narrative unfolds and character after character is driven to self-destruction the presence of the Heath becomes all-embracing, while Clym becomes a travelling preacher in an attempt to assuage his guilt.
£6.23
Everyman The Trial
Book SynopsisThe story of the mysterious indictment, trial and reckoning forced upon Kafka’s Joseph K. is one of the twentieth century’s master parables which has influenced almost every major writer since. By rendering the absurd and the terrifying with scrupulous factual accuracy and evenness of tone, Kafka presents the world we recognize in a gripping narrative which is also a revelation of its hidden significance.
£13.49
Alma Books Ltd Northanger Abbey
Book SynopsisWhile enjoying a six weeks' stay in fashionable Bath, the young and callow Catherine Morland is introduced to the delights of high society. Thanks to a new literary diet of the sensational and the macabre, Catherine travels to Northanger Abbey fully expecting to become embroiled in a Gothic adventure of intrigue and suspense - and, once there, soon begins to form the most gruesome and improbable theories about the exploits of its occupants. An early work, but published posthumously, Northanger Abbey is a parody of the Gothic genre typified by the novels of Ann Radcliffe, as well as a witty comedy of manners in the style of Jane Austen's later novels and, ultimately, an enchanting love story.Trade ReviewAs a creative realist, giving to her characters the very body and pressure of actual life, no writer, living or dead, has surpassed her. -- John Cowper Powys
£6.99
Oxford University Press The SketchBook of Geoffrey Crayon Gent.
Book SynopsisIn The Sketch-Book Washington Irving explores the uneasy relationship of an American writer to English literary traditions. He sketches a series of encounters with the cultural shrines of the parent nation, and in two brilliant experiments with tales transplanted from Europe creates the first classic American short stories, `Rip Van Winkle' and `The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow'.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd A Sentimental Journey Laurence Sterne Penguin
Book Synopsis“Funny, human, highly learned and literary, sexy, and filled with psychological nuances that remain unrivaled at the hands of any other psychological writer.” —André AcimanA Penguin ClassicA Sentimental Journey is a novel without a plot, a journey without a destination. It records the adventures of the amiable Parson Yorick, as he sets off on his travels through France and Italy, relishing his encounters with all manner of men and women—particularly the pretty ones. Sterne's tale rapidly moves away from the narrative of travel to become a series of dramatic sketches, ironic incidents, philosophical musings, reminiscences, and anecdotes; sharp wit is mixed with gaiety, irony with tender feeling. With A Sentimental Journey, as well as his masterpiece, Tristram Shandy, Sterne forged a truly original style and established himself as the first of the stream-of-consciousness writers. This Penguin Classics
£8.04
Alma Books Ltd Uncle's Dream: New Translation: Newly Translated
Book SynopsisThe small town of Mordasov is all abuzz at the arrival of Prince K—, a wealthy, ageing landowner, after an absence of several years. Maria Alexandrovna Moskalyova, a local gossip and fearsome schemer, decides that he would be an advantageous match for her daughter Zina. But in her endeavours to make such a union come about, she must contend with rival matchmakers and Zina’s wilfulness. Written soon after Dostoevsky was released from the prison camp that inspired The House of the Dead, Uncle’s Dream shares very little of that novel’s gloomy tone and contains many elements of a light, drawing-room farce. Beneath the surface, however, lies a sharply satirical voice which looks ahead in part to later novels such as Devils.Trade ReviewNo novelist ever wrestled with materialism more fiercely and intelligently than Dostoevsky. -- Jonathan FranzenThe only psychologist from whom I have anything to learn. -- Friedrich NietzscheThe novels of Dostoevsky are seething whirlpools, gyrating sandstorms, waterspouts which hiss and boil and suck us in. They are composed purely and wholly of the stuff of the soul. Against our wills we are drawn in, whirled round, blinded, suffocated, and at the same time filled with a giddy rapture. Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading. -- Virginia WoolfThe real nineteenth-century prophet was Dostoevsky, not Karl Marx. -- Albert CamusDostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss! -- Albert Einstein
£7.59
