Contains Rousseau's "The Social Contract" and three discourses in which he discusses the nature of liberty, human rights and the state; the origins of private property; the function of education; the
This volume includes all his available shorter fiction in a collection edited and introduced by Gabriel Josipovici. The stories range from tiny fragments to substantial narratives which have been arra
Young Nanda Brookenham fights to preserve her honesty in the brilliant but corrupt world of her parents, in a story of innocence betrayed but preserved. Its scene construction and dialogue point to Ja
Presents Hitler's rise and fall through the eyes of the dwarfish narrator whose magic powers become symbolic of the dark forces dominating the German nation in the period.
Set in the Central Europe of old, this anti-war novel features a simple soldier whose determination to survive brings into question the powerful social and political institutions he confronts. A portr
ON WAR is the most significant attempt in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy. Since the work's first appearance in 1832 it has been read th
Dostoesky's drama of sin, guilt and redemption transmutes the sordid story of an old woman's murder by a desperate student into the nineteenth century's profoundest and most compelling philosophical n
Set in Yorkshire, and first published in 1911, this is the story of two spoilt and lonely children who regain happiness by restoring a neglected garden. It was inspired by the rose garden in Great May
First published in 1912, this is a modern version of "Cinderella", told in the form of letters. It is the love-story of an orphan and her unknown benefactor, written and illustrated by the great-niece
This most beloved of all fairy tales is told in many versions and found in many different cultures - from the Italian CENERANTOLA to the Russian CHERNUSHKA For this edition, first published in 1919, C
After he is wrongly accused of a crime and expelled from his community, weaver Silas Marner becomes a miser and a recluse. A strange sequence of events, and the appearance of a small child, transforms
The story of a stifled woman in a provincial town who dreams of happiness and then perishes by her own hand, provides a profound and moving study of human bondage.
Edgar Allan Poe's gift for the macabre influenced Baudelaire and French symbolism, Freudian analysis, the detective novel and the Hollywood film. His psychologically profound stories, which comprise t
A group portrait of a brilliant circle, at the centre of which Boswell captures the powerful, troubled and witty figure of Samuel Johnson. The book is also an intimate picture of domestic life, which
Poet and pervert, Humbert Humbert becomes obsessed by twelve-year-old Lolita and seeks to possess her, first carnally and then artistically, out of love, 'to fix once for all the perilous magic of nym
This is the prose masterpiece of the Heian era of the 10th and 11th centuries, which is recognized as a great period in Japanese literature. It is an account of the intricate, exquisite, highly ordere
Although Plato's celebrated work of philosophy describes a society which to some seems the ideal human community and to others like a totalitarian nightmare, it also raises enduring questions about po
In this classic of American literature, Thoreau gives an account of his two years' experience of the 'simple life' in the woods, telling how he sought and found material and spiritual sustenance in th
First published in 1922, and modelled on Homer's "Odyssey", this is Joyce's account of one day in 1904 in the life of Dublin. It is an earthy story which focuses on the humble Lionel Bloom and his sen
From 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.
A story which traces the history of a house and a family at the time of World War I. This is a picture of Edwardian England at its most opulent. Exploring the themes of love, honour and betrayal, this
Hardy's last novel is the story of a young working man destroyed by the partial fulfilment of his dreams. He is torn between his desires for the life of the body and the life of the mind, as represent
James' novel featuring a complex and bizarre battle between two wives - the shy Maggie, who marries an Italian prince, and the prince's former mistress, who marries Maggie's widowed father. Determined
Goncharov's gentle satire on the failings of 19th-century Russian gentry and bureaucracy turns into something deeper and richer than satire, as he probes the character of a protagonist whose constitut
An account of a man haunted by the Devil in the form of his own evil double. Hogg's 1824 novel, set in 17th century Scotland, anticipates Dostoevsky's great dramas of sin, self-accusation and damnatio
This second volume of Chekhov's stories draws from his work of the 1880s and 90s and comprises "A Daughter of Albion", "An Incident", "A Dreary Story", "The Duel", "The Chorus Girl", "Ward 6", "The Te
Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales originally appeared in batches each Christmas in the mid-19th century, and Spink's English translation was first published in 1960. This edition has Heath Robinso
First published in Germany in 1812, these tales were collected by the two brothers Grimm from neighbouring villages and spinning rooms, and include Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs a
Kipling began these stories in Vermont, to amuse his daughter when they were living in his wife's home town. The comic explanations, such as how the camel got his hump and how the whale got his throat
Edward Lear, the 20th child of a London stockbroker, entered the household of Lord Stanley as little more than a servant, but his sense of humour soon made him welcome above stairs and he began to amu
Stevenson's gift as an author and poet for children lay partly in his lack of condescension towards them, and he preserved a large element of the child in his own personality. He wrote many of these p
Stevenson's great adventure story, set in the 18th century, was conceived in the Scottish Highlands, where the author and his 12-year-old stepson amused themselves by making a map that showed the loca
A story of passion and political intrigue in which the young and impulsive Fabrizzio finds himself caught between the love of two women and the wars of their aristocratic factions. "The Charterhouse o
This volume presents a complete text of all Milton's verse. Coleridge linked Milton and Shakespeare as the greatest of English poets, and even in our time Milton continues to exert a powerful influenc
Two of Stevenson's historical novels set against the Scottish landscape and featuring psychological studies of individuals. The unfinished "Weir of Hermiston", on which the author was working at the t
Letters by the 18th century blue-stocking grande dame, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. She was a duke's daughter, who married the English ambassador in Constantinople, and the friend of Swift and Pope, who
Lizzie Eustace can manipulate men and flatter powerful women, and she's determined to make her way in the world by whatever means she can. This comedy of a society adventuress and her necklace is one
The story of Hester Prynne, taken in adultery, arraigned by her puritan community and abandoned by her husband and her lover. Combining moral force, austere beauty and psychology, it is a narrative wh
Summoned to take up the position of a land surveyor to the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go abo
