This is a series of small, handsome hardcover volumes devoted to the world's classic poets. This book draws on three thousand years of poetic forays into the supernatural. In time for the year's Hallo
Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale;
In My Life, a man renounces wealth and social position for a life of manual labour, and the resulting conflict between the moral simplicity of his ideals and the complex realities of human nature culm
From the lover's famous admonition, "Had we but World enough, and Time, / This coyness, Lady, were no crime," to the image of the solitary poet "Annihilating all that's made / To a green Thought in a
While staying with his Aunt Dahlia to help out in the election at Market Snodsbury, Bertie Wooster comes up against the familiar horrors of Florence Craye, his former fiancee, and Roderick Spode, head
Pongo Twistleton is in a state of financial embarrassment, again. Uncle Fred, meanwhile, has been asked by Lord Emsworth to foil a plot to steal the Empress, his prize pig. Along with Polly Pott (daug
Written in 1864, this classic novel recounts the apology and confession of a minor nineteenth-century official, an account of the man's separation from society, and his descent "underground."
Suitable for all those who believe that a dog is man's - and woman's - best friend. In this book, you will find a large selection of animals and an even larger variety of poets, some big and cuddly, o
When the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin returned from South America on board the H.M.S Beagle in 1836, he brought with him the notes and evidence which would form the basis of his landmark theory o
Always to be found in the bar-parlour of the Angler's Rest where he is a favourite with the accomplished barmaid, Miss Postlethwaite, Mr Mulliner, the narrator of Meet Mr Mulliner, returns for another
Written with energy and each quite different from the others, this volume features three novels which reveal a lightness of touch with the most serious matters unlike anything else in contemporary fic
Eating and drinking and the rituals that go with them are at least as important as loving in most people's lives, yet for every hundred anthologies of poems about love, hardly one is devoted to the pl
Montaigne identified both the power and the charm of a work which introduces us to one of the most attractive figures in European literature. A humanist, a sceptic, an acute observer of himself and ot
J Wellington Gedge seems to have everything a man could desire: a rich wife, a chateau, a life of ease in the south of France. But all he really wants is to return to California, not least because Mrs
Sir Buckstone Abbot owns what is possibly the ugliest stately home in England, and he is naturally eager to dispose of it to an American heiress, Princess Dwornitzchek. But the sale is complicated by
When Kay gets a splinter of the wicked troll's magic mirror in his heart it becomes hard and cold - just like a lump of ice. Kay is abducted and bewitched by the chillingly beautiful Snow Queen and hi
Philip Marlowe, a private detective inhabiting the seamy side of Los Angeles in the 1930s, as he takes on a case involving a paralysed California millionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail and mu
Anyone who involves himself with Roberta Wickham is asking for trouble, so naturally Bertie Wooster finds himself in just that situation when he goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court. So
Monty Bodkin's pursuit of Gertude Butterwick is temporarily interrupted by his encounter with silver-screen siren Miss Lotus Blossom, who sees in him a means of restoring relations with her idol, the
Pongo Twistleton and Freddie Widgeon may be small of brain and short of cash but they are always good for ingenious adventures, especially when it comes to falling in love with the wrong girl or cooki
Trapped in the rural hell-hole of Steeple Bumpleigh with his bossy ex-fiancee, Florence Craye, her fire-breathing father, Lord Worplesdon, her frightful Boy-Scout brother, Edwin, and her beefy new bet
As an operative for Pinkerton's Detective Agency the author knew about sleuthing from the inside, but his career was cut short by the ruin of his health in World War I. Taking detective fiction out of
When Psmith finds himself working in the City for the pompous Mr Bickersdyke, he makes it his mission to bring a little sweetness and light into the bank manager's life. The monocled wit with the suav
Set in mid 19th-century Russia, this book examines the effect of a charismatic but unscrupulous self-styled revolutionary leader on a group of credulous followers.
Clarence, Ninth Earl of Emsworth, has good health, a large income and an enviable ancestral home. But these blessings count for nothing in the presence of Sir Gregory Parsloe, whom Emsworth suspects o
Sent on a mission to Italy to coax an irresponsible young playboy back to his wealthy father in America, Ripley finds himself so fond of the young man that he sets out to be like him - exactly like hi
Primo Levi's account of life as a concentration camp prisoner falls into two parts. If This is a Man describes his deportation to Poland and the twenty months he spent working in Auschwitz. The Truce
The story of Jack, the intrepid little boy whose courage and ingenuity defeated a host of many-headed giants several times his size, is an English folk-tale that must have been told often in the Victo
Richard Hannay''s ennui comes to an abrupt end when a murder is committed in his flat. Only a few days before the dead man had revealed to him an assassination plot which would have terrible consequen
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is one of the towering figures of world culture, a universal man whose extraordinary talents found expression in literature, drama, autobiography, politics and the sciences.
Eugene Onegin is not merely the greatest poem in the Russian language by its most influential poet: it is a global cultural, social and political icon of the highest order. The historical power of thi
An expanded edition of Pushkin's prose fiction that contains all his mature work including many more short pieces. Translated from Russian by Paul Debreczeny and originally published in 1983.
The story of the Spanish knight Don Quizote whose devotion to the tales of chivalry leads him into a series of bizarre adventures in the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, blends fantasy, c
