'the greatest short story writer who has ever lived' Raymond Carver's unequivocal verdict on Chekhov's genius has been echoed many times by writers as diverse as Katherine Mansfield, Somerset Maugham, John Cheever and

Carpenter Adam Bede is in love with the beautiful Hetty Sorrel, but unknown to him, he has a rival, in the local squire's son Arthur Donnithorne. Hetty is soon attracted by Arthur's seductive charm and they begin to meet in

First published in 1885, "Huckleberry Finn" has delighted millions of readers, while simultaneously riling contemporary sensibilities, and is still banned in many schools and libraries. Now, Michael Hearn re examines

The book contains the first twelve published short stories of literature?s most famous detective: The Adventure of the Speckled Band The Red-Headed League The Adventure of the Dancing Men The Adventure of the Final Problem A Scandal in Bohemia

An epic of arms and heroism and a searching portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and the force of his own destiny. It presents the timeless journey of Aeneas - Achilles' erstwhile foe - as he flees the ashes of Troy

"Afloat, "originally published as "Sur l'eau "in 1888, is a book of dazzling but treacherously shifting currents, a seemingly simple logbook of a sailing cruise along the French Mediterranean coast that opens up to reveal unexpected depths,

"The Agricola" is both a portrait of Julius Agricola - the most famous governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus' well-loved and respected father-in-law - and the first detailed account of Britain that has come down to u

This is a revised edition of Anna Komnene's "Alexiad", to replace our existing 1969 edition. This is the first European narrative history written by a woman - an account of the reign of a Byzantine emperor through th

When Alice tumbles down a rabbit hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And here begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extra

Bored on a hot afternoon, Alice follows a White Rabbit down a rabbit-hole without giving a thought about how she might get out. And so she tumbles into Wonderland. In a land in which nothing is as it seems and cake

One of the most beloved children's classics of all time, Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is boldly reinterpreted by Camille Rose Garcia, whose dark yet whimsical style has won her resounding praise

01 A beautifully jacketed paperback omnibus edition of Carroll's classic novels, with illustrations by Mervyn Peake.

Allan Quatermain, H. Rider Haggard's famous protagonist, is an English-born, professional big game hunter and occasional trader in southern Africa. Largely considered to be the character on which Indiana Jones was based, at the beginning of

When Chadwick Newsome, a young American favoured with fortune and independence, becomes entangled in a liaison dangereux with a Parisian temptress, his overbearing mother deploys her future husband, the elderly, amiable Strether, a

"The Ancien Regime and the Revolution" is a comparison of revolutionary France and the despotic rule it toppled. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) is an objective observer of both periods - providing a merciless critique of the ancie

Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and

'All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'. "Anna Karenina" is a novel of unparalleled richness and complexity, set against the backdrop of Russian high society. Tolstoy charts the course of the doomed lov

This is an award-winning new translation of the great Russian novel.

"The Annals of Imperial Rome" recount the major historical events from the years shortly before the death of Augustus to the death of Nero in AD 68. Michael Grant's introduction discusses the life and works of Tacitus and the his

This work combines the notes of Gardner's 1960 edition with his 1990 update, "More Annotated Alice" (not published in the UK), as well as additional discoveries drawn from Gardner's knowledge of the texts. It is illustrated

The 'Annotated Brothers Grimm' celebrates the richness and dramatic power of the fables. With 40 newly translated stories - including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel - Tatar redefines the G

An unexpurgated translation of the "Tales From the Thousand and One Nights", which represent the expression of a lay and secular imagination in revolt against religious austerity and zeal in oriental literature. They depict a wor

Now as sumptuously packaged as they are critically acclaimed, these are new deluxe trade paperback editions of the beloved stories. Husain Haddawy's "highly recommended" ("The Times") translation of "The Arabian Nights" is based on a landmar

Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her the next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins t

Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tel

Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tel

Having assured the members of London's exclusive Reform Club that he will circumnavigate the world in 80 days, Fogg - stiff, repressed, English - starts by joining forces with an irrepressible Frenchman, Passepartout,

In this translation, the author presents the core text in two formats: first, the unadorned ancient words of wisdom ascribed to Sun-tzu, the author of "The Art of War"; then, the same text with a running commentary from the

Reintroduces 50 classics of Australian literature - including novels, non-fiction, children's literature and poetry - from the last 200 years.

This poem - originally published anonymously, written after Wilde's two year's hard labor in Reading prison - is the tale of a man who has been sentenced to hang for the murder of the woman he loved. "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" follows the

A new translation of the first narrative poem in the English language closely follows the original poetic form and includes an introduction that discusses the poem's historical background, structure, form, principal

Beowulf tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and of his battles, first with the monster Grendel, then with Grendel's avenging mother, and finally with a dragon that threatens to devastate his homeland. Through its blend of myth and history,

For thriller fans who have fought the Boche with Richard Hannay before, this collection puts you right back in the firing line, and for anyone who's used to seeing their secret agents weighed down by gadgets and gizmos, Hannay shows yo

Kipling's three most famous stories - both Jungle Books and Kim - all together in one great value volume.

Each volume in the "Collector's Library" series has a specially commissioned Afterword, brief biography of the author and a further reading list. The Afterword for this edition of is by David Stuart Davies.These fifteen s

This collection reflects Maupassant's remarkable diversity, with stories that vary in theme and tone, and range from tragedy and satire to comedy and farce. "Boule de Suife", his most famous tale exposes the brutality and hypocrisy of war. H

"The Bhagavad Gita" is an early epic poem that recounts the conversation between Arjuna the warrior and his charioteer Krishna, the manifestation of God. In the moments before a great battle, the dialogue sets out the import

One of the great founders of Taoism, Chaung Tzu lived in the fourth century BC and is among the most enjoyable and intriguing personalities in the whole of Chinese philosophy. This work draws together the stories, tales, jok

Basil, an ambitious lawyer, comes to Boston to seek his fortune. Through his suffragette cousin, Olive, he meets Verena, the beautiful daughter of a showman. Olive hopes to recruit Verena for the feminist cause, but Basil

Contains the following unabridged novels: "Anne Bronte: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"; "Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre"; and, Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights". This boxed set of novels is beautifully designed, with a r

"The Brothers Karamazov" is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving Karamazov and his three sons - the impulsive and sensual Dmitri;

When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed irrevocably: Mitya is placed under suspicion; Ivan's mental tortures drive him to breakdown; Alyosha tries to heal the family's rifts;

Life is good for Buck in Santa Clara Valley, where he spends his days eating and sleeping in the golden sunshine. But one day a treacherous act of betrayal leads to his kidnap, and he is forced into a life of toil and danger. Dragged away to

When his love for the Baron's daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world. And so he and his companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disaster

In "The Canterbury Tales", Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce. This version of the text has been translat

"The Canterbury Tales" is a major part of England's literary heritage. From the exuberant Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend to the Miller's worldly, ribald farce, these tales can be taken as a mirror of fourteenth-cent

This is a collection of stories, including two of Wilde's most famous: "The Canterville Ghost", in which a young American girl helps to free the tormented spirit that haunts an old English castle and "The Happy Princ

Sallust (86-c. 35 bc) is the earliest Roman historian of whom complete works survive, a senator of the Roman Republic and younger contemporary of Cicero, Pompey and Julius Caesar. His "Catiline's War" tells of the con

This is a one-volume collection of Dickens' most popular Christmas stories and articles. It includes "A Christmas Carol", "The Chimes" and "The Haunted Man" and a few short items from Dickens' journalism on the sub

Dickens's story of solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by a series of ghostly visitors, has proved one of his most well-loved works. Ever since it was published in 1843 it has had an enduring influenc

A military leader of legendary genius, Caesar was also a great writer, recording the events of his life with immediacy and power. "The Civil War" is a tense and gripping depiction of his struggle with Pompey over the leade

Freud's epoch-making insights revolutionized our perception of the self, forming the foundation for psychoanalysis; here he presents his theory of an innate 'death drive' - arguing that civilisation distorts natural aggression

When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Jud

Contains the recognized canon of Shakespeare's plays and his sonnets and poems. This book starts with two articles - a biography of Shakespeare by Germaine Greer, and an introduction to Shakespeare theatre by the late Anth

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and c

"Jane Eyre" ranks as one of the greatest and most popular works of English fiction. Although Charlotte Bronte's heroine is outwardly plain, she possesses an indomitable spirit, and great courage. Forced to batt

A wonderful collection of all 210 tales and popular legends collected by the Grimm brothers over a century ago.

Charles Perrault's versions gave classic status to the humble fairy tale, and it is in his telling that the stories of Little Red Riding-Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and the rest have been passed down from the se

"The Brothers Grimm" rediscovered a host of fairy tales. Together with their well-known tales of "Rapunzel", "The Goose Girl", "Sleeping Beauty", "Hansel and Gretel" there are darker tales which deserve to be better known. This is a

Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) is famed for his magical stories, "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass", here illustrated throughout the inner pages by Sir John Tenniel's much loved dra

Lewis Caroll is best known for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and "Through the Looking Glass", but he was a prolific author of fantasy and nonsense verse. This gorgeous collection of works is quarter bound in genuine bonded leather, wi

Contains seven great novels of Jane Austen: "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Mansfield Park", "Emma", "Northanger Abbey", "Persuasion", and "Lady Susan". This volume covers the literary career of o

Jane Austen is without question, one of England's most enduring and skilled novelists. With her wit, social precision, and unerring ability to create some of literature's most charismatic and believable heroine

This volume contains six major novels by Jane Austen - "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Mansfield Park", "Emma", "Northanger Abbey", "Persuasion" and "Lady Susan".

This book contains all the investigations and adventures of the world's most popular detective, Sherlock Holmes. From "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott" to "His Last Bow", we follow the illustrious career of this qu

'Wilde did not converse - he told tales.' Oscar Wilde was already famous as a brilliant wit and raconteur when he first began to publish his short stories in the late 1880s. They have never lacked readers and admirers, George Orwell and W.

Macabre parties in isolated castles ...Gruesome bestial murders ...Talking ravens, hellish black pits, innocents buried alive ...Prepare to be chilled and enthralled by the haunting genius of the acknowledged master of goth

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of "Hamlet", "King Lear", "Othello", and

Male, female, deft, fraudulent, constantly shifting: which of the 'masquerade' of passengers on the Mississippi steamboat Fidele is 'the confidence man'? The central motif of Melville's last and most 'modern' novel c

In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army and travelled to the Caucasus as a soldier. Begun in 1852 but unfinished for a decade, "The Cossacks" describes the experiences of Olenin, a young cul

Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Edmond Dantes spends fourteen bitter years in a dungeon. When his daring escape plan works he uses all he has learnt during his incarceration to mastermind an elaborate plan

With the ink still wet on his diploma, the twenty-five-year-old Dr Mikhail Bulgakov was flung into the depths of rural Russia which, in 1916-17, was still largely unaffected by such novelties as the motor car, the te

Gaskell's best known work is set in a small rural town, inhabited largely by women. This is a community that runs on cooperation and gossip, at the very heart of which are the daughters of the former rector: Miss Deborah Jen

This novel uses the hero, Deronda, to come to terms with the English Jews, a society-within-a-society. The book's heroine, Gwendolen Harleth, marries for power rather than love, uncovering a vein in human relations

This is the novel Dickens regarded as his "favourite child" and is considered his most autobiographical. As David recounts his experience from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, D

A collection of stories on morality, this volume includes: "The Raid", "Woodfelling", "Three Deaths", "Polikushka", "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", "After the Ball", and "The Forged Coupon".

In "The Decay of Lying", Oscar Wilde uses his decadent ideology in an attempt to reverse and therefore reject his audiences' 'normal' conceptualizations of nature, art and morality. Wilde's views of life and art are

When the Ibbotson sisters, Hester and Margaret, arrive at the village of Deerbrook to stay with their cousin Mr Grey and his wife, speculation is rife that one of them might marry the local apothecary Edward Hope. Alt

In 1831 Tocqueville set out from post-revolutionary France on a journey across America that would take him nine months and cover 7000 miles. The result was "Democracy in America", a subtle and prescient analysis of the li

Dante finds himself at the gates to the underworld. He dares to enter the Circles of Hell, where the damned lie in torment. He encounters the three-headed, howling hound Cerberus, and meets a long-dead prophet who fo

The five, irreverant, satirical and imaginative stories contained in Diaboliad caused an uproar upon the book's first publication in 1925. Full of invention, they display Bulgakov's breathtaking stylistic range, movi

The 1660s represent a turning point in English history, and for the main events - the Restoration, the Dutch War, the Great Plague and the Fire of London - Pepys provides a definitive eyewitness account, along with livel

In this carefully argued commentary on Livy's history of republican Rome, Niccolo Machiavelli proposes a system of government that would uphold civic freedom and security by instilling the virtues of active citizenship, encouragi

Beginning with Dante's liberation from Hell, "Purgatory" relates his ascent, accompanied by Virgil, to the Mount of Purgatory - a mountain of nine levels, formed from rock forced upwards when God threw Satan into depth

This rendering of "Paradise" is distinguised by the same flexible iambic verse, the same understatement, and the same clarity that characterize Dante's own complex style. The notes to each canto make the diverse elements o

This translation of Dante's "Inferno" preserves the original simple, natural style while capturing the swift movement of the Italian verse. Mark Musa's blank verse rendition of the poet's journey through the circle

Having climbed the Mount of Purgatory, Dante ascends to Heaven, continuing his soul's search for God and guided by his beloved, Beatrice. As he progresses through the spheres of Paradise he grows in understanding, until he

This title chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. Unless you read Spanis

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with a house purchase, he makes horrific discoveries about his client. Bram Stoker's classic novel created one of the great masterpieces of the horror

Count Dracula's castle is a hellish world where night is day, pleasure is pain and the blood of the innocent prized above all. Young Jonathan Harker approaches the gloomy gates with no idea what he is about to face. And back

In his first work since his best-selling The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger returns with this spectacular, lavishly illustrated homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula. With a daring conceit, Klinger accepts Stoker's conte

Presents a report on the trial of German Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in the "New Yorker" in 1963. This book also contains factual material that came to light after the trial and i

Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. But when she attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her

This magical and poignant evocation of coming of age in the countryside describes lovers in secluded lanes, cricket and church bells, cherry trees hung with snow and woods full of bluebells. Yet in "A Shropshire Lad" the fiel

The beautiful and peaceful heart of the Lake District, Grasmere was an inspiration to both Dorothy and William Wordsworth. Hills, lakes and orchards, letter writing, walks and welcome visitors (including fellow poet Samuel Ta

Stargazey pie, Cheshire cheese, toffee apples, fish and chips, Sussex pond pudding, Cumberland sausages, pasties, gingerbread, dumplings and Cox's orange pippins are just some of the edible delights in this glorious celebrat

Journeying through England on horseback, the intrepid seventeenth-century traveller Celia Fiennes recorded every sight and experience of her adventure in her journal, from her delight at countryside cakes and the beauty of re

Reading his own acclaimed translations, the author's insightful rendition takes advantage of the rhythms and other poetic resources of everyday speech. The result provides cinematic and performance qualities to the time-honoured poetr

A European-bred baroness and her artist brother receive an uncertain welcome from their staid and proper relatives in 19th-century New England.

Eugenia is the morganatic wife of a German prince who is repudiated by her husband in favour of a state marriage. With her artist brother Felix she goes to Boston to live with relatives whom she has never seen before, with hopes of

A civil servant stands accused of not understanding the rules of punctuation. He begins to go through the correct use of commas and semicolons before arriving at the exclamation mark, which, he realises, in forty years of w

Published in 1872, "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" was a book at the very heart of Darwin's research interests - a central pillar of his 'human' series. This book engaged some of the hardest questions in

Led by the mighty Titus, the Roman army besieges Jerusalem. Arrows rain over the city day and night, and battering rams assault its defensive walls. After days of rebellion, at last their city falls. The citizens plead for m

Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene comes to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her presence draws three suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seduc

"Father and Son" is the record of Gosse's struggle to "fashion his inner life for himself" - a record of whose full and subversive implications the author was unaware, as Peter Abbs notes in his introduct

When Arkady Petrovich comes home from college, his father finds his eager, naive son changed almost beyond recognition, for the impressionable Arkady has fallen under the powerful influence of the friend he has broug

A brief analysis of the development, style, and protagonists of the play is included with Goethe's masterpiece about a troubled man who sells his soul to the devil.

In the final volume of Proust's classic work, Marcel discovers his world destroyed by war and those he knew transformed by the march of time. The book describes the paradox of facing mortality, yet overcoming it through the

At the end of a dinner party, the remaining guests drink wine and tell stories of their first love. For one of them, it will be a dark journey into his past, reawakening unbearable memories of his obsession with th

Rufus Dawes, condemned to transportation for a crime he did not commit, is an important character in Australian literature. Set in convict Australia, this colonial novel is a narrative of great suffering - of whips, chains a

Set in Australia during the gold-mining boom, this trilogy is comprised of the novels "Australia Felix", "The Way Home" and "Ultima Thule". It follows the fortunes of Mahony, a man increasingly dissatisfied with hi

When Anthony Lammas, minister of the Kirk and Professor of Logic at St Andrews University, leaves his home town for London on business, he little imagines that within two days he will be deeply entangled in a web of

Vivid, enjoyable and comprehensible, the poet and pre-eminent translator Stephen Mitchell makes the oldest epic poem in the world accessible for the first time. Gilgamesh is a born leader, but in an attempt to control his growing arro

When David meets the sensual Giovanni in a bohemian bar, he is swept into a passionate love affair. But his girlfriend's return to Paris destroys everything. Unable to admit to the truth, David pretends the liaison never

Written towards the end of the second century AD, "The Golden Ass" tells the story of the many adventures of a young man whose fascination with witchcraft leads him to be transformed into a donkey. The bewitched Lucius passes from owner

This story of the alliance between Italian aristocracy and American millionaires is 'a work unique among all [James'] novels: it is [his] only novel in which things come out right for his characters...he had finally

Vividly imagining the second coming and capture of Christ during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, this parable recounted in "The Brothers Karamazov" is a profound, nuanced exploration of faith, suffering, human nature

This text is a revised edition of Charles Dickens' classic tale. As Pip eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman, his education and development through adversity are depicted and he di

Immanuel Kant was one of the most influential philosophers in the whole of Europe, who changed Western thought with his examinations of reason and the nature of reality. In these writings he investigates human progress, c

An irresistible invitation to reject the work ethic and enjoy life's simple pleasures (such as laughing, drinking and lying in the open air), Robert Louis Stevenson's witty and seminal essay on the joys of idleness is acc

Whether calling for an end to the capitalist system, addressing the crowds after the Russian Revolution, or attacking Stalin during his years of exile, Trotsky's speeches give an extraordinary insight into a man whose wor

Beginning with a dilemma about whether he spends more money on reading or smoking, George Orwell's entertaining and uncompromising essays go on to explore everything from the perils of second-hand bookshops to the dubious

Describing the surreal hallucinations, insomnia and nightmarish visions, he experienced while consuming daily large amounts of laudanum, Thomas De Quincey's legendary account of the pleasures and pains of opium forged a l

In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as

In these timeless and witty essays George Orwell explores the English love of reading about a good murder in the papers (and laments the passing of the heyday of the 'perfect' murder involving class, sex and poisoning), a

Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary thinkers in Western philosophy. Here he sets out his subversive views in a series of aphorisms on subjects ranging from art to arrogance, boredom to passion, science to

Originally published anonymously, "Nature" was the first modern essay to recommend the appreciation of the outdoors as an all-encompassing positive force. Emerson's writings were recognized as uniquely American in style a

John Locke was one of the greatest figures of the Enlightenment, whose assertion that reason is the key to knowledge changed the face of philosophy. These writings on thought, ideas, perception, truth and language are som

William James' strong beliefs in a pragmatic theory of truth - that truth is only as relevant as its effect on us - lead to these absorbing essays on fact and belief. Within them is a fascinating theory of reality that su

This work includes Shakespeare's writing on power: in love, war, government and the family. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have

Blending intellectual speculation with anecdote and personal reflection, the Renaissance thinker and writer Montaigne pioneered the modern essay. This selection contains his idiosyncratic and timeless writings on subjects

Written during Karl Marx's brilliant career as a polemical journalist, these blazing pieces tackle subjects ranging from the strikes of angry British workers to insurrection in Europe, from the American Civil War to the m

Fundamental to Chinese philosophy and religion, the "Tao Te Ching" is a simple guidebook for virtue, encouraging peace, understanding and humility. Ranging from political advice to common wisdom, it has also served as an

Since their first publication in 1821, de Maistre's dark writings have fascinated and appalled critics, with their relentless hatred of the Enlightenment and view of humans as murderous beasts who can only be controlled b

This investigation of religion by greatest psychoanalyst of the twentieth-century explores the role faith can take in the life of man, what it can mean to us and why as a species we are inclined towards it. Throughout his

The Address was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four and a half months after the

A fascinating examination of ethics, religion and psychology, this selection of Schopenhauer's works contains scathing attack on the nature and logic of religion, and an essay on ethics that ranges from the American slave

Adam Smith's landmark treatise on the free market paved the way for modern capitalism, arguing that competition is the engine of a productive society, and that self-interest will eventually come to enrich the whole commun

John Ruskin overturned Victorian society's ideas about art and architecture, arguing that ancient buildings must be conserved for their deep, mystical links with the past and that creative design is essential - not for fi

'The Germans were over this house last night and the night before that. Here they are again. It is a queer experience, lying in the dark and listening to the zoom of a hornet, which may at any moment sting you to death. I

Visionary English Socialist and pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris argued that all work should be a source of pride and satisfaction, and that everyone should be entitled to beautiful surroundings - n

In "Utopia" Thomas More painted a fantastical picture of a distant island where society is perfected and people live in harmony, yet its title means 'no place', and More's hugely influential work was ultimately an attack

John Berger broke new ground with his penetrating writings on life, art and how we see the world around us. Here he explores how the ancient relationship between man and nature has been broken in the modern consumer age,

One of the most important works of cultural theory ever written, Walter Benjamin's groundbreaking essay explores how the age of mass media means audiences can listen to or see a work of art repeatedly - and what the troub

These are unique stories of timeless wisdom and understanding from the Zen Masters. With rich and fascinating tales of swords, tigers, tea, flowers and dogs, the writings of the Masters challenge every perception - and se

In "Greenmantle" (1916) Richard Hannay, hero of "The Thirty-Nine Steps", travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan's heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer S

The third volume of Proust's classic work opens up a vast, dazzling landscape of fashionable Parisian life in the late 19th century, as the narrator enters the brilliant, shallow world of the literary and aristocractic salon

Shipwrecked and cast adrift, Lemuel Gulliver wakes to find himself on Lilliput, an island inhabited by little people, whose height makes their quarrels over fashion and fame seem ridiculous. His subsequent encounters give

In the persons of Gradgrind and Bounderby, Dickens stigmatized the prevalent philosophy of utilitarianism which, whether in school or factory, allowed human beings to be caged in a dreary scenery of brick terraces

Henri de Monfried is inextricably linked to the Red Sea and the raffish ports between Suez and Aden in the early years of the twentieth century. This book is an account of how de Monfried becomes a collector and merchant of

Horror lies waiting. A sinister Countess is driven mad by a dark secret. An innocent woman is made the instrument of retribution. A murdered man's fury reaches beyond the grave. When Countess Narona marries Agnes Loc

All the favourites are here, essential selections from the books While the billy boils', On the Track', Over the Sliprails', Joe Wilson', Joe Wilson's Mates The Romance of the Swag', The Rising of the Court', and Send Round the

A masterpiece of Russian prose, Lermontov's only novel was influential for many later nineteenth-century authors, including Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov. Lermontov's hero, Pechorin, is a dangerous man, Byronic in

In AD68 Nero's suicide marked the end of the first dynasty of imperial Rome. The following year was one of drama and danger, though not of chaos. In the surviving books of his "Histories" the barrister-historian Taci

"The Histories" describes how a small band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic struggle forms the core of his work, Herodotus' natural curiosity frequently gives rise

Unveils the English character, exploring the underlying class warfare involving three distinct groups - a wealthy family bound by the rules of tradition and property, two independent, cultured sis

Created by the seventeenth-century philosopher and mathematician Pascal, the essays contained in "Human Happiness" are a curiously optimistic look at whether humans can ever find satisfaction and real joy in life - or whe

'They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; they pursued it with forks and hope; they threatened its life with a railway share; they charmed it with smiles and soap'. Ever since Lewis Carroll's nonsense epic

In this literary classic, saintly Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from a Swiss sanitorium and finds himself a stranger in a society obsessed with wealth, power and sexual conquest. He soon becomes entangled in a l

Homer's "Iliad" tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its centre is Achilles' withdrawal from the fighting and his return to kill the Trojan hero, Hector. The tragic events are interwoven wit

This poem recounts the story of the Trojan wars, conveying the horror and heroism of men and gods battling amidst devastation and destruction. In his introduction, Knox observes that although the violence is relent

Lattimore Translation

A glorious boxed set featuring Robert Fagles's award-winning translations of the three great epics of Western literature
ONE OF THE PREEMINENT translators of our time, Robert Fagles's interpretations of thes

This book contains some of Oscar Wilde's best known plays - "Lady Windermere's Fan", "A Woman of No Importance", "An ideal Husband" and "The Importance of Being Earnest".

Volume One of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", in a revised and updated edition of the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation. It also contains notes, addenda and synopses.

Volume Three of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", in a revised and updated edition of the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation. It also contains notes, addenda and synopses.

Volume Four of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", in a revised and updated edition of the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation. It also contains notes, addenda and synopses.

Volume Five of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", in a revised and updated edition of the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation. It also contains notes, addenda and synopses.

Volume Six of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", in a revised and updated edition of the Moncrieff and Kilmartin translation. It also contains notes, addenda and synopses, and a guide to the complete work.

Describing Dante's descent into Hell midway through his life with Virgil as a guide, this work depicts a cruel underworld in which desperate figures are condemned to eternal damnation for committing one or more of sev

The volume comprises lightly annotated translation of a key medieval Arabic text that bears directly on the Crusades and Crusader society and the Muslim experience of them.

The authoritative edition of Melvilles only historical novel Based on the life of an actual soldier who claimed to have fought at Bunker Hill, "Israel Potter" is unique among Herman Melvilles books: a novel

Ivanhoe returns home from the Holy Wars to claim Princess Rowena for his bride. In his absence, Prince John has rallied Norman troops to take his brother's throne, and Ivanhoe must demonstrate his strength to protect the