19th c.: books tagged “19th c.” (13/67) @ BookFinder.com

ISBN 9781580495837 (1-58049-583-4, 1580495834)

by Mark Twain

ISBN 1580495834 (1-58049-583-4)
Softcover, Prestwick House Inc

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Book summary:

A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published. [via]

More editions of Adventures of Huck Finn:

Adventures of Huck Finn: ISBN 1580495834 (1-58049-583-4)
Softcover, Prestwick House Inc

ISBN 9781566192958 (1-56619-295-1, 1566192951)

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

ISBN 1566192951 (1-56619-295-1)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble

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Book summary:

A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published. [via]

More editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

ISBN 9781562542504 (1-56254-250-8, 1562542508)

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Alexander Dumas

ISBN 1562542508 (1-56254-250-8)
Softcover, Saddleback Pub

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Book summary:

Written at a point of crisis in his life, A Tale of Two Cities is the embodiment of Dickens' own passions and fears: the revolution which engulfs the characters symbolizes his own psychological revolution, and the three main characters become projections of Dickens himself. [via]

More editions of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: ISBN 1562542508 (1-56254-250-8)
Softcover, Saddleback Pub

ISBN 9781402724992 (1-4027-2499-3, 1402724993)

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Oliver Ho, Dan Andreasen

ISBN 1402724993 (1-4027-2499-3)
Hardcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:

We said there was no home like a raft. Other places do seem so cramped up and smotherybut you feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. Sail down the Mississippi with Huck Finn and the runaway slave, Jim. Twains beloved tale, with its folksy language, creates an indelible image of antebellum America with its sleepy river towns, con men, family feuds, and a variety of colorful characters.

[via]

More editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: ISBN 1402724993 (1-4027-2499-3)
Hardcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

ISBN 9781400307531 (1-4003-0753-8, 1400307538)

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Alice's Adventure in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass

by Lewis Carroll

ISBN 1400307538 (1-4003-0753-8)
Softcover, Thomas Nelson Inc

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Book summary:

That Alice. When she's not traipsing after a rabbit into Wonderland, she's gallivanting off into the topsy-turvy world behind the drawing-room looking glass. In Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's masterful and zany sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she makes more eccentric acquaintances, including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Queen, and a somewhat grumpy Humpty Dumpty. Through a giant and elaborate chess game, Alice explores this odd country, where one must eat dry biscuits to quench thirst, and run like the wind to stay in one place. As in life, Alice must stay on her toes to learn the rules of this game. Through the Looking Glass immediately took its rightful place beside its partner on the shelf of eternal classics. And luckily for generations of enraptured children, Carroll was again able to persuade John Tenniel to create the fantastic woodblock engravings that have become so indelibly associated with the Alice stories. For almost 130 years, Alice's curious adventures have amused, perplexed, and delighted readers, young and old. This gorgeous, deluxe boxed set of both volumes contains engravings from Tenniel's original woodblocks that were discovered in a London bank in 1985, and reproduced for the first time here. "'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures?'" What indeed? (All ages) [via]

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ISBN 9781593080150 (1-59308-015-8, 1593080158)

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll, Tan Anthony Lin

ISBN 1593080158 (1-59308-015-8)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:

That Alice. When she's not traipsing after a rabbit into Wonderland, she's gallivanting off into the topsy-turvy world behind the drawing-room looking glass. In Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's masterful and zany sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she makes more eccentric acquaintances, including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Queen, and a somewhat grumpy Humpty Dumpty. Through a giant and elaborate chess game, Alice explores this odd country, where one must eat dry biscuits to quench thirst, and run like the wind to stay in one place. As in life, Alice must stay on her toes to learn the rules of this game. Through the Looking Glass immediately took its rightful place beside its partner on the shelf of eternal classics. And luckily for generations of enraptured children, Carroll was again able to persuade John Tenniel to create the fantastic woodblock engravings that have become so indelibly associated with the Alice stories. For almost 130 years, Alice's curious adventures have amused, perplexed, and delighted readers, young and old. This gorgeous, deluxe boxed set of both volumes contains engravings from Tenniel's original woodblocks that were discovered in a London bank in 1985, and reproduced for the first time here. "'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures?'" What indeed? (All ages) [via]

More editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

ISBN 9781582343631 (1-58234-363-2, 1582343632)

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

by Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake, Will Self, Zadie Smith

ISBN 1582343632 (1-58234-363-2)
Softcover, Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA

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Book summary:

That Alice. When she's not traipsing after a rabbit into Wonderland, she's gallivanting off into the topsy-turvy world behind the drawing-room looking glass. In Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's masterful and zany sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she makes more eccentric acquaintances, including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Queen, and a somewhat grumpy Humpty Dumpty. Through a giant and elaborate chess game, Alice explores this odd country, where one must eat dry biscuits to quench thirst, and run like the wind to stay in one place. As in life, Alice must stay on her toes to learn the rules of this game. Through the Looking Glass immediately took its rightful place beside its partner on the shelf of eternal classics. And luckily for generations of enraptured children, Carroll was again able to persuade John Tenniel to create the fantastic woodblock engravings that have become so indelibly associated with the Alice stories. For almost 130 years, Alice's curious adventures have amused, perplexed, and delighted readers, young and old. This gorgeous, deluxe boxed set of both volumes contains engravings from Tenniel's original woodblocks that were discovered in a London bank in 1985, and reproduced for the first time here. "'What is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures?'" What indeed? (All ages) [via]

More editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There:

ISBN 9781853260698 (1-85326-069-X, 185326069X)

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The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screw

by Henry James

ISBN 185326069X (1-85326-069-X)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc

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Book summary:

Introduction and Notes by Dr Claire Seymour, University of Kent at Canterbury The Turn of the Screw is the classic ghost story for which James is most remembered. Set in a country house, it is a chilling tale of the supernatural. The Aspern Papers is a tale of Americans in Europe, cleverly evoking the drama of comedie humaine against the settings of a Venetian palace. [via]

More editions of The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screw:

The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screw: ISBN 185326069X (1-85326-069-X)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc

ISBN 9781593083113 (1-59308-311-4, 1593083114)

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Bleak House

by Charles Dickens, Tatiana M. Holway

ISBN 1593083114 (1-59308-311-4)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:

Bleak House is a satirical look at the Byzantine legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents--a contemporary tale indeed. Dickens's tale takes us from the foggy dank streets of London and the maze of the Inns of Court to the peaceful countryside of England. Likewise, the characters run from murderous villains to virtuous girls, from a devoted lover to a "fallen woman," all of whom are affected by a legal suit in which there will, of course, be no winner. The first-person narrative related by the orphan Esther is particularly sweet. The articulate reading by the acclaimed British actor Paul Scofield, whose distinctive broad English accent lends just the right degree of sonority and humor to the text, brings out the color in this classic social commentary disguised as a Victorian drama. However, to abridge Dickens is, well, a Dickensian task, the results of which make for a story in which the author's convoluted plot lines and twists of fate play out in what seems to be a fast-forward format. Listeners must pay close attention in order to keep up with the multiple narratives and cast of curious characters, including the memorable Inspector Bucket and Mr. Guppy. Fortunately, the publisher provides a partial list of characters on the inside jacket. (Running time: 3 hours; 2 cassettes) [via]

More editions of Bleak House:

Bleak House: ISBN 1593083114 (1-59308-311-4)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

ISBN 9781561561421 (1-56156-142-8, 1561561428)

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Frankenstein

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

ISBN 1561561428 (1-56156-142-8)
Softcover, Kidsbooks

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Book summary:

Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelgänger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image & but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power ... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." Includes an illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates. [via]

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ISBN 9781402726668 (1-4027-2666-X, 140272666X)

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Frankenstein

by Deanna McFadden, Jamel Akib

ISBN 140272666X (1-4027-2666-X)
Hardcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:

Mary Shelleys tragic story of a scientist who created a monster is perhaps even more compelling and meaningful today than when it was written nearly two centuries ago. From the bits and pieces of dead bodies, and the power of electricity, the brilliant Victor Frankenstein fashions a new form of lifeonly to discover, too late, the irreparable damage he has caused.

[via]

More editions of Frankenstein:

Frankenstein: ISBN 140272666X (1-4027-2666-X)
Hardcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

ISBN 9781562548988 (1-56254-898-0, 1562548980)

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Frankenstein

by Mary . Shelley

ISBN 1562548980 (1-56254-898-0)
Softcover, Saddleback Pub

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Book summary:

The epic battle between man and monster reaches its greatest pitch in the famous story of Frankenstein. In trying to create life the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor himself to the very brink. How he tries to destroy his creation as it destroys everything Victor loves is a powerful story of love friendship and horror. Grades: 4 - 12. Level(s): Intermediate Middle School High School. Author: Mary Shelly. Binding: Paperback. Publishing Date: Jan 2005. Number of Pages: 61. Language: English. [via]

More editions of Frankenstein:

Frankenstein: ISBN 1562548980 (1-56254-898-0)
Softcover, Saddleback Pub

ISBN 9781551113081 (1-55111-308-2, 1551113082)

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Frankenstein (Original 1818 Text)

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

ISBN 1551113082 (1-55111-308-2)
Softcover, Broadview Pr

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Book summary:

Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelgänger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image & but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power ... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." Includes an illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates. [via]

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ISBN 9781406821680 (1-4068-2168-3, 1406821683)

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Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (Clear Print)

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

ISBN 1406821683 (1-4068-2168-3)
Softcover, Echo Library

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Book summary:

This clear print title is set in Tiresias 13pt font for easy reading [via]

More editions of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (Clear Print):

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (Clear Print): ISBN 1406821683 (1-4068-2168-3)
Softcover, Echo Library

Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Lynd Ward

ISBN 1850790701 (1-85079-070-1)
Hardcover, New Orchard Editions

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Jude the Obscure

by Thomas Hardy

ISBN 1417937114 (1-4179-3711-4)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co

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Book summary:

When Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure appeared in 1895, it immediately caused scandal and controversy. Its frank treatment of Jude's sexual relationships with Arabella and Sue, its scathing criticisms of late-Victorian hypocrisy, its depiction of the "New Woman," and its attacks on "holy wedlock" and religious bigotry outraged numerous reviewers; one called the book "Jude the Obscene." Others saw it as brilliantly progressive in its ideas and techniques. Vivid and complex, satiric and harrowing, this novel marked the culmination of Hardy's development as a leading novelist of the cultural transition from the Victorian to the Modernist era. The Broadview edition restores the original, controversial 1895 text. [via]

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ISBN 9781405468152 (1-4054-6815-7, 1405468157)

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Little Women

by Parragon

ISBN 1405468157 (1-4054-6815-7)
Hardcover, Parragon Inc

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Book summary:

Back cover text:
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and its sequel Through the Looking Glass, tell the fantastic story of the dream-like adventures of a young girl.

With unabridged text. [via]

More editions of Little Women:

Little Women: ISBN 1405468157 (1-4054-6815-7)
Hardcover, Parragon Inc

ISBN 9781419131912 (1-4191-3191-5, 1419131915)

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Madame Bovary

by Gustave Flaubert

ISBN 1419131915 (1-4191-3191-5)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co

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Book summary:

Provided in Spanish only. [via]

More editions of Madame Bovary:

ISBN 9780940450073 (0-940450-07-0, 0940450070)

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Mark Twain

by Mark Twain

ISBN 0940450070 (0-940450-07-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA

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Here for the first time in one volume are the most famous and characteristic of Mark Twain's works. Through each of them runs the powerful and majestic Mississippi. The river represented for Twain the complex and contradictory possibilities in his own and the nation's life: the place where civilization's comforts meet the violence and promise of freedom of the frontier. It was the place, too, where Twain's youthful innocence confronted the grim reality of slavery. The nostalgic re-creation of childhood in "Tom Sawyer"--"simply a hymn put into prose form to give it a worldly air," said Twain--and the richly anecdotal memoir of his days as a riverboat pilot in "Life on the Mississippi" give way to the realism and often dark comedy of "Huckleberry Finn" and the troubled exploration of slavery in his mystery, "Pudd'nhead Wilson." Together, these four books trace the central trajectory of his life and career, and they can be read as a single masterpiece. [via]

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Mark Twain: ISBN 0940450070 (0-940450-07-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA

ISBN 9780939766758 (0-939766-75-2, 0939766752)

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Mary Wollstonecraft Frankenstein

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

ISBN 0939766752 (0-939766-75-2)
Softcover, Marvel Enterprises

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Book summary:

graphic novel [via]

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Mary Wollstonecraft Frankenstein: ISBN 0939766752 (0-939766-75-2)
Softcover, Marvel Enterprises

ISBN 9781551111223 (1-55111-122-5, 1551111225)

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The Mayor of Casterbridge

by Thomas Hardy, Norman Page

ISBN 1551111225 (1-55111-122-5)
Softcover, Broadview Pr

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Book summary:

The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Thomas Hardys first masterpiece, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a scene of such heartlessness and cruelty that it still shocks readers today. A poor workman named Michael Henchard, in a fit of drunken rage, sells his wife and baby daughter to a stranger at a country fair. Stricken with remorse, Henchard forswears alcohol and works hard to become a prosperous businessman and the respected mayor of Casterbridge. But he cannot erase his past. His wife ultimately returns to offer Henchard the choice of redemption or a further descent into his own self-destructive nature. A dark, complex story, The Mayor of Casterbridge brims with invention, vitality, and even wit.

Phillip Lopate, a professor at Hofstra University in New York City, is best known as an essayist (Bachelorhood, Against Joie De Vivre, Portrait of My Body). He is the editor of the anthology Art of the Personal Essay and has written a novel, The Rug Merchant, and a book of poetry, The Daily Round.

[via]

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ISBN 9781853260742 (1-85326-074-6, 1853260746)

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The Mill on the Floss

by George Eliot

ISBN 1853260746 (1-85326-074-6)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc

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Book summary:

Literary Studies, Classic Literature [via]

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ISBN 9781404319356 (1-4043-1935-2, 1404319352)

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The Moonstone

by Wilkie Collins

ISBN 1404319352 (1-4043-1935-2)
Softcover, IndyPublish.com

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Book summary:

A gift that keeps on giving. [via]

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ISBN 9781420925333 (1-4209-2533-4, 1420925334)

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Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen

ISBN 1420925334 (1-4209-2533-4)
Softcover, Digireads.Com

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Book summary:

Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.

Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber [via]

More editions of Northanger Abbey:

ISBN 9781551110783 (1-55111-078-4, 1551110784)

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Northanger Abbey

by Claire Grogan

ISBN 1551110784 (1-55111-078-4)
Softcover, Broadview Pr

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Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.

Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber [via]

More editions of Northanger Abbey:

Northanger Abbey: ISBN 1551110784 (1-55111-078-4)
Softcover, Broadview Pr

ISBN 9781404325791 (1-4043-2579-4, 1404325794)

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The Portrait of a Lady

by Henry James

ISBN 1404325794 (1-4043-2579-4)
Softcover, IndyPublish.com

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Book summary:

The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Widely regarded as Henry Jamess greatest masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady features one of the authors most magnificent heroines: Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American who becomes a victim of her provincialism during her travels in Europe.

As the story begins, Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, has turned down two eligible suitors. Her cousin, who is dying of tuberculosis, secretly gives her an inheritance so that she can remain independent and fulfill a grand destiny, but the fortune only leads her to make a tragic choice and marry Gilbert Osmond, an American expatriate who lives in Florence. Outwardly charming and cultivated, but fundamentally cold and cruel, Osmond only brings heartbreak and ruin to Isabels life. Yet she survives as she begins to realize that true freedom means living with her choices and their consequences.

Richly complex and nearly aesthetically perfect, The Portrait of a Lady brilliantly portrays the clash between the innocence and exuberance of the New World and the corruption and wisdom of the Old.

Gabriel Brownstein is the author of a collection of storiesThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt 3Wwhich won the 2002 PEN/Hemingway Award. His essays, reviews, and criticism have appeared in the Boston Globe, the New Leader, Scribners British Writers, and on Nerve.com.

[via]

More editions of The Portrait of a Lady:

ISBN 9781593082864 (1-59308-286-X, 159308286X)

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The Red and the Black

by Stendhal, Bruce Robbins, Horace Barnett Samuel

ISBN 159308286X (1-59308-286-X)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:

The Red and the Black, by Stendhal, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

After Napoleons defeat, the French aristocracy tried to reassert its power in a government known as the Restoration. Venal and corrupt, the Restoration fell in 1830. Later that year, Stendhal published his scathing satire of Restoration society, The Red and the Black. Its title refers to the military and the clergy, the two career paths open to young men of intelligence and ambition but no social standing.

Stendhals hero, Julien Sorel, is such a young man. A seminary student, he is nevertheless an admirer of Napoleon, and dreams of military glory. When he is hired to tutor the mayors children, he quickly seduces the mayors wife, then moves on to Paris where he conquers a noblemans daughter. Sorel comes to believe that the secret of success is to outperform the hypocrites and vicious opportunists who surround himand hes right. But when the rich and powerful he so admires align against him, his downfall becomes unavoidable.

A master of characterization, Stendhal paints a fascinating, multi-layered portrait of Julien Sorel, who endures as one of literatures most complex and surprisingly sympathetica would-be manipulator out of his depth in a sea of sharks.

Bruce Robbins is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of Feeling Global: Internationalism in Distress, The Servants Hand: English Fiction from Below, and Secular Vocations: Intellectuals, Professionalism, Culture.

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More editions of The Red and the Black:

The Red and the Black: ISBN 159308286X (1-59308-286-X)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

ISBN 9781591940487 (1-59194-048-6, 1591940486)

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Silas Marner

by George Elliot

ISBN 1591940486 (1-59194-048-6)
Softcover, Townsend Pr

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This Townsend Library classic has been carefully edited to be more accessible to today's students. It includes a background note about the book, an author's biography, and a lively afterword. Acclaimed by educators nationwide, the Townsend Library is helping millions of young adults discover the pleasure and power of reading. [via]

More editions of Silas Marner:

Silas Marner: ISBN 1591940486 (1-59194-048-6)
Softcover, Townsend Pr

ISBN 9781414209722 (1-4142-0972-X, 141420972X)

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Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe

by George Eliot

ISBN 141420972X (1-4142-0972-X)
Softcover, Indypublish.Com

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Enduring Literature Illuminated by Practical Scholarship

A young orphan transforms the life of a lonely, embittered man in this novel about faith and society set in nineteenth-century rural England.

Each Enriched Classic Edition includes:

" A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

" A chronology of the author's life and work

" A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

" An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

" Detailed explanatory notes

" Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

" Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

" A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson [via]

More editions of Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe:

ISBN 9781420922448 (1-4209-2244-0, 1420922440)

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Turn of the Screw

by Henry James

ISBN 1420922440 (1-4209-2244-0)
Softcover, Digireads.Com

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THE TURN OF THE SCREW is the greatest and most subtle of all English-language ghost stories. H.P. Lovecraft praised its "truly potent air of sinister menace" and "mounting tide of fright" and subsequent critics have argued long and hard over the central "problem" of the story: if the motifs of the traditional ghost story, in the hands of a master, are used to probe the deepest depths of the human psyche, do the resultant terrors spring from the objective return of the spirits of the dead, or from the fears, memories, and guilt the expectation of such apparitions may evoke? Are there any ghosts in this story at all? James himself might have been puzzled by that question. His own remarks make it clear that what he had in mind was a "sinister romance," inspired by a ghostly story he had heard from an Archbishop of Canterbury. He wrote of the "portentous evil" of the "demon-spirits" in the story, but it was his genius to make them so profoundly mysterious that THE TURN OF THE SCREW will survive any number of interpretations, and go on to chill and delight readers for centuries to come. THE TURN OF THE SCREW was memorably filmed as THE INNOCENTS (1961), arguably the finest cinematic ghost story of all time. [via]

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