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Selected Poems of William Blake
Introduction, Notes and Bibliography by Dr Bruce Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Hull. William Blake was an engraver, painter and visionary mystic as well as one of the most revolutionary of the Romantic poets. His writing attracted the astonished admiration of authors as diverse as Wordsworth, Ruskin, W.B.Yeats, and more recently beat poet… Read More
Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov
With an Introduction and Notes by Joe Andrew, Professor of Russian Literature, Keele University. Anton Chekhov is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of short stories. He constructs stories where action and drama are implied rather than described openly, and which leave much to the reader’s imagination.This collection contains some of the most… Read More
Wind in the Willows
With an Introduction by A.A. Milne. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham Far from fading with time, Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale of fantasy has attracted a growing audience in each generation. Rat, Mole, Badger and the preposterous Mr Toad (with his ‘Poop-poop-poop’ road-hogging new motor-car), have brought delight to many through the years with their odd adventures… Read More
Christmas Carol
With a new Introduction by Dr Cedric Watts, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Sussex. Illustrations by Arthur Rackham A Christmas Carol has become a phenomenal touchstone of English festive fiction and an enduring favourite internationally. Repeatedly adapted, parodied, stages and filmed, this richly influential novella is powerfully vivid and infallibly moving. Scrooge… Read More
London Labour and the London Poor
With an Introduction by Rosemary O’Day. London Labour and the London Poor is a masterpiece of personal inquiry and social observation. It is the classic account of life below the margins in the greatest Metropolis in the world and a compelling portrait of the habits, tastes, amusements, appearance, speech, humour, earnings and opinions of the… Read More
Essential Kafka
Translated and with an Introduction by John R. Williams Like George Orwell, Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of nightmare, but in Kafka’s world, it is never completely clear just what the nightmare is. The Trial, where the rules are hidden from even the highest officials, and if there is any help… Read More
Tales of Mystery & the Macabre
With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. ‘In the great mirror opposite I saw myself, and right behind, another wicked fearful self, so like me my soul seemed to quiver within me, as though not knowing to which similitude of body it belonged’. Elizabeth Gaskell is better known today for her pioneering social novels such… Read More
Orlando
With an Introduction and Notes by Merry M. Pawlowski, Professor and Chair, Department of English, California State University, Bakersfield. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando ‘The longest and most charming love letter in literature’, playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf’s close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens… Read More
Portrait of a Lady
With an Introduction and Notes by Lionel Kelly, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Reading. Transplanted to Europe from her native America, Isabel Archer has candour, beauty, intelligence, an independent spirit and a marked enthusiasm for life. An unexpected inheritance apparently gives her freedom, but despite all her natural advantages she makes one disastrous error… Read More