These comic novels will resonate with anyone who has ever felt trapped by circumstance. Their central characters, Artie Kipps and Alfred Polly, are prisoners of their modest social class, limited educ
The perfect gift for any book-lover. Each box set contains eight of the best classics ever written, beautifully packaged in a ridged, matt-laminated slipcase with metallic detailing, complete with str
eng With an Introduction by Nicola Bradbury, University of Reading Une Vie (1883) and Bel-Ami (1885) seem almost diametrically opposed in tone and temper. The 'Life' of the first is poignantly restric
Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff (revised by Moya Longstaffe).With an Introduction and Notes by Moya Longstaffe. The Red and the Black has been hailed as the first great 'realist' novel of the nine
With an Introduction by Ellen Rees, Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo. The plays of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) are critically acclaimed throughout the world. The father of
With an Introduction by Pat Righelato, University of Reading.The child of parents who divorce, remarry and then embark on adulterous affairs, Maisie Farange survives by her intelligence and spirit. Fo
With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. Oliver Onions is unique in the realms of ghost story writers in that his tales are so far ranging in their background and substance that they are not easil
With an Introduction, Notes and Bibliography by Michael Irwin, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Kent, Canterbury. The young Thomas Hardy, working as an architect, but fired with literary a
With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. The Gothic novel, featuring dark tales of tragedy, romance, revenge, torture and ancient villainies, tinged with horror and the supernatural, became the vo
With an Introduction and Notes by Stuart Hutchinson. Following on from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884-5) Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) became one of Mark Twain
With an Introduction by Nicola Bradbury, University of Reading.The Wings of the Dove is a tale of desire and possession, of love and death. It is in essence a simple story, but one that opens up the g
It is more than a century since the ascetic, gaunt and enigmatic detective, Sherlock Holmes, made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet. From 1891, beginning with The Adventures of Sherlock Holme
Edited and with an Introduction by Aidan Arrowsmith, Manchester Metropolitan University. The literary and dramatic work of J.M. Synge is most famous for the 'riots' provoked by his 1907 play The Playb
With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. 'I saw him take a different shape before my eyes. His loose draperies fell about him...and there issued out of them a monstrous creature of the beetle trib
Whiston's translation, with an Introduction by Brian McGing. The works of the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus represent one of the most important records of Judaism and the Jews that survive from the a
The Comedies with Introductions by Judith Buchanan. These Comedies are among the best loved of Shakespeare's plays. In each a problem emerges, is then intensified to a point of maximum confusion and p
With a new Introduction by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Research Professor of English, University of Sussex. During his tragically short life, Stephen Crane gained fame as a vividly distinctive wr
With an Introduction and Notes by Jeff Wallace, University of Glamorgan.These stories of myth and resurrection, of uncanny events and violent impulse, were with one exception written and published in
Translated by F Max-Muller, revised and with an Introduction by Suren Navlakha. Upanishads are mankind's oldest works of philosophy, predating the earliest Greek philosophy. They are the concluding pa
Edited and with an Introduction by Dr Keith Carabine, Chairperson of the Joseph Conrad Society of Great Britain. As these three specially commissioned stories amply demonstrate, Conrad is our greatest
Translated by H.M. Bird With an Introduction by Tamsyn Barton. Suetonius, chronicler of the extraordinary personalities of the first dynasties to rule the Roman Empire, was the greatest Latin biograph
With an Introduction by Derek Matravers. Rights of Man is a classic statement of the belief in humanity's potential to change the world for the better. Published as a reply to Burke's Reflections on t
Abridged, with an Introduction by Patrick Renshaw. Democracy in America is a classic of political philosophy. Hailed by John Stuart Mill and Horace Greely as the finest book ever written on the nature
It is more than a century since the ascetic, gaunt and enigmatic detective, Sherlock Holmes, made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet. From 1891, beginning with The Adventures of Sherlock Holme
The Coral Island - A Tale of the Pacific Ocean - opens with the shipwreck on a Pacific Island of the young friends Ralph Rover and Jack Martin and Peterkin Gray. Despite the pleasurable presence of de
With an Introduction by Dr Tim Cook. Robert Browning (1812-1889) represents the intellectual and argumentative strand in English poetry in contrast to the more ornate style of Spenser and Tennyson. Hi
With an Introduction and Notes by Pat Righelato, University of Reading.Daisy Miller is one of Henry James's most attractive heroines: she represents youth and frivolity. As a tourist in Italy, her Ame
With an Introduction by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex. This anthology of tales by Rudyard Kipling contains some of the most memorable and popular examples of the ge
With an Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, University of Kent at Canterbury. Housman's melodic and memorable poems have been popular for over a century. He writes typically of lost love, of the
With an Introduction and Notes by David Ellis, University of Kent at Canterbury. In the first part of this famous work, published in 1821 but then revised and expanded in 1856, De Quincey vividly desc
With an Introduction and Notes by Martin Scofield. Lyrical Ballads (1798 and 1800) constituted a quiet poetic revolution, both in its attitude to its subject-matter and its anti-conventional language.
With an Introduction and revised translation by Adrianne Tooke. Sentimental Education has been described both as the first modern novel and as a novel to end all novels. Weaving a poignant love story
Melville's short stories are masterpieces. The best are to be appreciated on more than one level and those presented here are rich with symbolism and spiritual depth. Set in 1797, Billy Budd, Foretopm
This translation first appeared in a privately printed edition in 1904 (the translator remains anonymous). With an Introduction by Derek Matravers. When it was first published in 1781, The Confessions
H. G. Wells is often referred to as 'the father of science fiction' and this compendium of his stories contains two of his most well-known works in the genre, The Time Machine (1895) and The War of th
Almayer's Folly was Conrad's outstanding debut novel: as well as exploring the culture of a part of the world previously unknown to English fiction, it showed immense sophistication in its handling of
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) is the most important of Britain's nineteenth-century philosophers. His writings and activities were many and varied. The works reprinted in this volume were first publish
No nineteenth-century American writer can claim to be as modern as Henry David Thoreau. His central preoccupations - the illusory nature of much of what we call 'progress', the proper symbiotic relati
Few works of American fiction have proved as enduringly popular as Harold Bell Wright's The Shepherd of the Hills. Wright's novel, first published in 1907, was an instant best seller; by 1918 the book
engThis endearing edition proudly includes the original telling of the beloved tale, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Together, we travel alongside the Velveteen Rabbit on his magical journey