| Search | About | Preferences | Interact | Help | |
| 150 million books. 1 search engine. | ||
› Find signed collectible books: 'Animal Farm'
Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Anne of Green Gables'
When Marilla Cuthbert's brother, Matthew, returns home to Green Gables with a chatty redheaded orphan girl, Marilla exclaims, "But we asked for a boy. We have no use for a girl." It's not long, though, before the Cuthberts can't imagine how they could ever do without young Anne of Green Gables--but not for the original reasons they sought an orphan. Somewhere between the time Anne "confesses" to losing Marilla's amethyst pin (which she never took) in hopes of being allowed to go to a picnic, and when Anne accidentally dyes her hated carrot-red hair green, Marilla says to Matthew, "One thing's for certain, no house that Anne's in will ever be dull." And no book that she's in will be, either. This adapted version of the classic, Anne of Green Gables, introduces younger readers to the irrepressible heroine of L.M. Montgomery's many stories. Adapter M.C. Helldorfer includes only a few of Anne's mirthful and poignant adventures, yet manages to capture the freshness of one of children's literature's spunkiest, most beloved characters. There's just enough to make beginning readers want more--luckily, there's a lot more in the originals! Illustrator Ellen Beier creates vibrant pictures to portray the beauty of the land around Green Gables and the spirited nature of Anne herself. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of Anne of Green Gables:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Arabian Nights' Entertainments'
The Sultan Schahriar's misguided resolution to shelter himself from the possible infidelities of his wives leads to an outbreak of barbarity in his realm and to a reign of terror in his court, stopped only by the resourceful Scheherazade. The tales with which she nightly postpones the Sultan's murderous intent have entered our language and our lives like no other collection of stories before or since. Sinbad, Ali Baba, Aladdin: all make their appearance in Arabian Nights' Entertainments. This edition is the only one to offer the complete text of the earliest English translation, and also provides full notes and plot summaries, especially important in a such a sprawling work of great complexity. [via]
More editions of Arabian Nights' Entertainments:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Arden Shakespeare Complete Works: Complete Series'
The Complete Arden Shakespeare, published for the first time in 1998, is now available in an updated hardback edition. The Complete Arden Shakespeare contains the texts of all Shakespeare's plays, edited by leading Shakespeare scholars for the renowned Arden Shakespeare series. The updated edition includes eight newly revised playtexts as published in the Arden Third Series since 1998.A general introduction by the three General Editors of the ongoing Arden Shakespeare series gives the reader an overall view of how and why Shakespeare has become such an influential cultural icon, and how perceptions of his work have changed in the intervening four centuries. The introduction summarises the known facts about the dramatist's life, his reading and use of sources, and the nature of theatrical performance during his lifetime.Brief introductions to each play, written specially for this volume by the Arden General Editors, discuss the date and contemporary context of the play, its position within Shakespeare's 'uvre, and its subsequent performance history. An extensive glossary explains vocabulary which may be unfamiliar to modern readers.A The sound, reliable, critical edition of Shakespeare's workA Updated and revised to include all of the editions currently available in the Arden Third SeriesA Includes The Two Noble Kinsmen, the Poems and the SonnetsA General introduction by the Arden General EditorsA Brief contextual introductions to each playA Glossary with about 400 entries [via]
More editions of Arden Shakespeare Complete Works: Complete Series:
› Find signed collectible books: 'As You Like It'
This wisely funny comedy, which contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest poetry, contrasts a country's world of envy and rivalry with a forest's world of compassion and harmony. In the Forest of Arden, the banished young heroine, Rosalind, disguised as a gentleman farmer, encounters an extraordinary assemblage of characters, including a fool, a malcontent traveler, her own banished father, and the banished young man she loves. Romantic happiness triumphs, even as we laugh at the excesses of love, at the ways of court and countryside, indeed, at everything, in this masterpiece of comic writing, [via]
More editions of As You Like It:
› Find signed collectible books: 'As You Like It'
In addition to the complete text of "As You Like it", this book includes: activities; a synopsis at the beginning of each act; notes opposite the text; photographs showing various productions of the play; and an introduction which places Shakespeare in context. [via]
More editions of As You Like It:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Black Beauty'
A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is Black Beauty. Animal-loving children have been devoted to Black Beauty throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next. Although Anna Sewell's classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.
Black Beauty tells the story of the horse's own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman to a painfully overworked cab horse. Throughout, Sewell rails--in a gentle, 19th-century way--against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty's fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Signet Classic Shakespeare'
More editions of The Complete Signet Classic Shakespeare:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Pelican Shakespeare'
More editions of The Complete Pelican Shakespeare:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Pelican Shakespeare'
More editions of The Complete Pelican Shakespeare:

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Works'
More editions of The Complete Works:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Complete Works of Shakespeare'
More editions of Complete Works of Shakespeare:

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Works/Red Leather Edition'
More editions of The Complete Works/Red Leather Edition:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings'
This unique selection includes a number of texts not available elsewhere. [via]
More editions of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Cyrano De Bergerac'
More editions of Cyrano De Bergerac:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Fairy Tales'
Hans Christian Andersen was the profoundly imaginative writer and storyteller who revolutionized literature for children. He gave us the now standard versions of some traditional fairy taleswith an anarchic twistbut many of his most famous tales sprang directly from his imagination.
The thirty stories here range from exuberant early works such as "The Tinderbox" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" through poignant masterpieces such as "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling," to more subversive later tales such as "The Ice maiden" and "The Wood Nymph."
More editions of Fairy Tales:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden'
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
More editions of Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden'
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as truculent as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, cooped up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
More editions of Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden:

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Golden Treasury'
More editions of The Golden Treasury:

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Golden Treasury'
More editions of The Golden Treasury:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Golden Treasury: Of the Best Songs & Lyrical Poems in the English Language'
In the 1860s, Francis Turner Palgrave set out to collect the finest English lyrical poems in one volume. What he created was The Golden Treasury, an instant classic of verse anthologies. Over the last century, it has withstood the test of time as an immensely popular collection--becoming virtually synonymous with English verse for generations of readers.
Now available in a new edition for the first time in thirty years, The Golden Treasury is as delightful as ever, offering old classics together with the finest works of our own time. Here you can find priceless gems by Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson, Yeats, and other immortal lights of literature. This new edition also serves as a map to the changing landscape of today's British verse, presenting outstanding poetry by both famous and lesser-known writers of Ireland and Great Britain: Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Fleur Adcock, Carol Ann Duffy, Douglas Dunn, Gavin Ewart, Tony Harrison, Elizabeth Jennings, Derek Mahon, Peter Porter, Carol Rumens, Anne Stevenson, and Hugo Williams, among others. Editor John Press is himself an accomplished poet and translator, and he has taken care to preserve the spirit of the original Golden Treasury. The result is a marvelous collection of British verse--a source of unexpected delights and old favorites alike. [via]
More editions of The Golden Treasury: Of the Best Songs & Lyrical Poems in the English Language:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language'
In the 1860s, Francis Turner Palgrave set out to collect the finest English lyrical poems in one volume. What he created was The Golden Treasury, an instant classic of verse anthologies. Over the last century, it has withstood the test of time as an immensely popular collection--becoming virtually synonymous with English verse for generations of readers.
Now available in a new edition for the first time in thirty years, The Golden Treasury is as delightful as ever, offering old classics together with the finest works of our own time. Here you can find priceless gems by Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson, Yeats, and other immortal lights of literature. This new edition also serves as a map to the changing landscape of today's British verse, presenting outstanding poetry by both famous and lesser-known writers of Ireland and Great Britain: Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Fleur Adcock, Carol Ann Duffy, Douglas Dunn, Gavin Ewart, Tony Harrison, Elizabeth Jennings, Derek Mahon, Peter Porter, Carol Rumens, Anne Stevenson, and Hugo Williams, among others. Editor John Press is himself an accomplished poet and translator, and was editor of the previous edition, thus ensuring that the spirit of the original Golden Treasury is preserved. The result is a marvelous collection of British verse--a source of unexpected delights and old favorites alike. [via]
More editions of The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Grimm's Fairy Tales'
Product Details Mass Market Paperback: 64 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 1, 1995) Language: English [via]
More editions of Grimm's Fairy Tales:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Grimms' Fairy Tales'
Grimms' Fairy Tales is a charming new edition of one of the best-known collections of children's stories of all times. Peter Carter brings a novelist's flair for narrative pace and vivid imagery to these familiar tales while remaining faithful to the spirit and tone of the original orally transmitted stories. The authentic rhythm of spoken English is captured in Carter's clear and resonant style.
All the favorite characters are here--Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood--along with others less well-known in gripping tales such as The Singing Bone and The Carrion Crows. Haunting and powerful, sad and humorous, these stories remain as fresh and fascinating as the first day they were told. [via]
More editions of Grimms' Fairy Tales:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales'
This collection of twenty-six tales features reproductions of the original illustrations by Vilhelm Pedersen and Lorenz Frolich, especially photographed from the drawings in the Hans Andersen Museum at Odense. [via]
More editions of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales'
"Far out to sea the water is as blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest glass, but it is very deep, deeper than any anchorage chain can reach, and many church towers would have to be put one on top of another to reach from the bottom to the surface of the water. Down there live the mer-folk." From the very beginning of "The Little Mermaid" we know we are in the hands of a master storyteller. Hans Andersen wrote over one hundred sixty fairy tales and stories and this collection features twenty-six of his very best tales.
Chosen and translated by L.W. Kingsland, the stories in this collection are perfect for reading aloud. They include all the old favorites, along with some less familiar stories, such as The Travelling Companion and Soup on a Sausage Stick.
In Hans Andersen's world you will encounter the dog with eyes as big as towers, tiny Thumbelina who sleeps in a walnut shell, the terrifying Snow Queen and the sad little Mermaid, the steadfast tin soldier, the ugly duckling, and a throng of other characters, all touched by the special charm of their creator. As Andersen himself says, "Well, now, let's begin and when we come to the end of the story we shall know more than we do now!" [via]
More editions of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Henry 6th'
More editions of Henry 6th:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Henry VI. Part 3'

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Iliad'
More editions of The Iliad:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Iliad of Homer'
"Odysseus and his men put out to sea in twelve ships of fifty oars, their white sails unfurled and their blue-painted prows thrusting through the waves as the wind filled the sails: nigh on sixty men on board each ship. And the heart of every man was happy as he thought how at last, after ten weary years of battle, he would once again see Ithaca, which was his home."
Skillfully retold as clear, unencumbered narratives while retaining the dignity and excitment of Homer's original epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey were critically acclaimed as highly accessible editions for all ages when first published by Oxford in 1952. Now we are proud to reissue them in handsome paperback editions as part of the Oxford Myths and Legends series.
The Iliad describes the last years of the war between the Trojans and the Greeks with tales of heroes, battles, quarrels, and especially of Achilles--the greatest warrior among all the Greeks. The Odyssey continues the story after the fall of Troy, as Odysseus begins his exciting journey home. His voyage to Circe's enchanted island, down to the underworld, to the land of the Sirens, and finally home to patient Penelope remains one of the best adventure stories ever told.
All of the pride, daring, love, and revenge of these two enduring tales is captured in a way that spans ages and levels of familiarity with the works. Adults will find them the perfect complement to the originals for clarification or for pure reading pleasure. Younger children will love hearing the daring adventures read aloud, and young adults will appreciate a text that does not talk down to them, but is clear, understandable, and enjoyable. Joan Kiddell-Monroe's exquisite black and white illustrations blend a contemporary style with the classical and add to the timeless appeal of the stories.
Homer's great epics are brought to life in an immediate and engaging way for every member of the family and for all ages of students of classical literature in these two classic reissues. [via]
More editions of Iliad of Homer:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Iliad: The Epic Story of Troy'
More editions of The Iliad: The Epic Story of Troy:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'
Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English language.
@ImNotGilligan Youd think in a diary about solitude Id write something emotional, but nah, thatd be so emo. Im not in the mood.
From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less
More editions of Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York. Mariner'
Son of a middle-class Englishman, Robinson Crusoe takes to the sea to find adventure. And find it he does when on one of his voyages he is shipwrecked on a deserted South American island for thirty-five years. After scavenging his broken ship for useful items, he had only his skills and ingenuity to keep him alive as there was to be no one else on the island for the next twenty-four years. In the middle of that twenty-fourth year he rescued a native about to be eaten by cannibals who were using his island for a place of feasting. Crusoe named this man Friday, after the day of his rescue. Friday became his faithful servant and friend, even returning with him to England after their deliverance by an English ship. Listeners will enjoy Crusoe's determination for survival against all odds and admire the spirituality that gave him the strength to survive. A hero through the ages, he richly deserves the admiration that has endured over three centuries. [via]
More editions of Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Life of Charlotte Bronte'
Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another. Gaskell was a friend of Bronte's and, having been invited to write the official life, determined to both tell the truth and honor her friend. This edition collates all three previous editions, as well as the manuscript, offering fuller information about the process of writing and a more detailed explanation of the text than any previous edition. [via]
More editions of The Life of Charlotte Bronte:
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Little Princess'
More editions of A Little Princess:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Macbeth'
Shakespeares classic play of deception and murder is reinvented in the Japanese manga style and set on a vast ringworld encircling a sun. Artist Tony Tamais unique vision and style breathe new life into a captivating classic. [via]
More editions of Macbeth:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Merchant of Venice'
"Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" Shylock's impassioned plea in the middle of The Merchant of Venice is one of its most dramatic moments. After the Holocaust, the play has become a battleground for those who argue that the play represents Shakespeare's ultimate statement against ignorance and anti-Semitism in favour of a liberal vision of tolerance and multiculturalism. Other critics have pointed out that the play is, after all, a comedy that ultimately pokes fun at a 16th-century Jew. In fact, the bare outline of the plot suggests that the play is far more complex than either of these characterisations. Bassanio, a feckless young Venetian, asks his wealthy friend, the merchant Antonio, for money to finance a trip to woo the beautiful Portia in Belmont. Reluctant to refuse his friend (to whom he professes intense love), Antonio borrows the money from the Jewish moneylender. If he reneges on the deal, Shylock jokingly demands a pound of his flesh. When all Antonio's ships are lost at sea, Shylock calls in his debt, and the love and laughter of the first scenes of the play threaten to give way to death and tragedy. The final climactic courtroom scene, complete with a cross-dressed Portia, a knife-wielding Shylock, and the debate on "the quality of mercy" is one of the great dramatic moments in Shakespeare. The controversial subject matter of the play ensures that it continues to repel, divide but also fascinate its many audiences. --Jerry Brotton [via]
More editions of The Merchant of Venice:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Merchant of Venice: Texts and Contexts'
"Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" Shylock's impassioned plea in the middle of The Merchant of Venice is one of its most dramatic moments. After the Holocaust, the play has become a battleground for those who argue that the play represents Shakespeare's ultimate statement against ignorance and anti-Semitism in favour of a liberal vision of tolerance and multiculturalism. Other critics have pointed out that the play is, after all, a comedy that ultimately pokes fun at a 16th-century Jew. In fact, the bare outline of the plot suggests that the play is far more complex than either of these characterisations. Bassanio, a feckless young Venetian, asks his wealthy friend, the merchant Antonio, for money to finance a trip to woo the beautiful Portia in Belmont. Reluctant to refuse his friend (to whom he professes intense love), Antonio borrows the money from the Jewish moneylender. If he reneges on the deal, Shylock jokingly demands a pound of his flesh. When all Antonio's ships are lost at sea, Shylock calls in his debt, and the love and laughter of the first scenes of the play threaten to give way to death and tragedy. The final climactic courtroom scene, complete with a cross-dressed Portia, a knife-wielding Shylock, and the debate on "the quality of mercy" is one of the great dramatic moments in Shakespeare. The controversial subject matter of the play ensures that it continues to repel, divide but also fascinate its many audiences. --Jerry Brotton [via]
More editions of The Merchant of Venice: Texts and Contexts:
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
Traditionally seen as one of Shakespeare's more romantic and enchanting plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream has more recently been seen as a darker and more sinister play than generations of schoolchildren have ever imagined. The play has usually been seen as a comical tale with confused identities and the fickleness of youthful love, as the young lovers, Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena escape parental control and the "sharp Athenian law" of their elders by eloping into the forest outside the city. Unfortunately they stumble into civil war in fairyland, where King Oberon and Queen Titania fight over possession of a beautiful young Indian "changeling" boy. The appearance of the "rude mechanicals", a group of Athenian workers, including the weaver Nick Bottom, compounds the confusion. Chaos, confusion and "shaping fantasies" reign before the final settlement of the play, but underneath all the hilarity many critics have discerned more ambivalent attitudes towards coercive parental control, bestial sexuality and the destructive power of desire. These approaches in no way detract from the exquisite lyricism of many sections of the play, but make it a more complex and effective comedy than has often been appreciated. --Jerry Brotton [via]
More editions of A Midsummer Night's Dream:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Old Curiosity Shop'
The sound of Little Nell clattering hurriedly over cobblestones immediately sets the stage by bringing to mind the narrow and dangerous streets of Victorian London. No fewer than 20 performers are called upon to conjure up the Dickensian world of wanderers, ne'er-do-wells, con artists, and kind Samaritans--and each performance is excellent. Tom Courtenay plays the sadistic Quilp, "the ugliest dwarf that could be seen anywhere for a penny" with magnificent sarcastic glee, and Teresa Gallagher's silvery, childlike voice is ideally suited for the role of the angelic Little Nell.
Nell is on her way home to the dusty shop where she and her grandfather live a rather mysterious life. The old man disappears every night--visiting gambling dens with the naive hope of winning a fortune. Instead he sinks deeper and deeper into debt. Enter Daniel Quilp, moneylender, who becomes furious upon learning that the grandfather is a pauper and will never be able to repay his tremendous debt. Quilp seizes the curiosity shop and begins making lecherous overtures to Nell, so she and her grandfather steal away one morning to seek their fortunes elsewhere. But the demonic dwarf is never far behind.
Sound effects are employed judiciously and serve mainly as a springboard for the listener's imagination. The sound of a crying baby is enough to convey the image of crowded lodgings and genteel Victorian poverty, while raucous laughter and high-pitched squawks evoke the barely controlled chaos of an outdoor Punch and Judy show. The dramatization pares Dickens's weighty novel down to two and one-half hours, but does so skillfully, retaining Dickens's wit, marvelous dialogue, and delightful characterizations. (Running time: 155 minutes, 2 cassettes) --Elizabeth Laskey [via]
More editions of The Old Curiosity Shop:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Othello'
If anything, Othello has increased its stature as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies ever since it was first written, between 1603 and 1604, due to the victimisation suffered by its tragic hero, Othello, as a result of his skin colour. Othello is a "noble Moor", a North African Muslim who has converted to Christianity and is deemed one of the Venetian state's most reliable soldiers. However, his ensign Iago harbours an obscure hatred against his general, and when Othello secretly marries the beautiful daughter of the Venetian senator Brabanzio, Iago begins his subtle campaign of vilification, which will inevitably lead to the deaths of more than just Othello and Desdemona.
An extraordinary play, both for its dramatic economy and power as well as its remarkable language, from Othello's bombastic "traveller's history" to Desdemona's elegiac "willow song", the play raises uncomfortable questions about ongoing questions of not only racial identity but also sexuality, as Othello and Desdemona's sexual relationship becomes the voyeuristic site of Iago's attempt to destroy them. Particularly fascinated with the question of what it means to "see", Othello also contains one of the greatest tragic death scenes in all of Shakespeare, with Othello's final identification with "a malignant and a turbaned Turk". --Jerry Brotton [via]
More editions of Othello:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Our Mutual Friend'
Our Mutual Friend was the last novel Charles Dickens completed and is, arguably, his darkest and most complex. The basic plot is vintage Dickens: an inheritance up for grabs, a murder, a rocky romance or two, plenty of skullduggery, and a host of unforgettable secondary characters. But in this final outing the author's heroes are more flawed, his villains more sympathetic, and the story as a whole more harrowing and less sentimental. The mood is set in the opening scene in which a riverman, Gaffer Hexam, and his daughter Lizzie troll the Thames searching for drowned men whose pockets Gaffer will rifle before turning the body over to the authorities. On this particular night Gaffer finds a corpse that is later identified as that of John Harmon, who was returning from abroad to claim a large fortune when he was apparently murdered and thrown into the river.
Harmon's death is the catalyst for everything else that happens in the novel. It seems the fortune was left to the young man on the condition that he marry a girl he'd never met, Bella Wilfer. His death, however, brings a new heir onto the scene, Nicodemus Boffin, the kind-hearted but low-born assistant to Harmon's father. Boffin and his wife adopt young Bella, who is determined to marry money, and also hire a mysterious young secretary, John Rokesmith, who takes an uncommon interest in their ward. Not content with just one plot, Dickens throws in a secondary love story featuring the riverman's daughter, Lizzie Hexam; a dissolute young upper-class lawyer, Eugene Wrayburn; and his rival, the headmaster Bradley Headstone. Dark as the novel is, Dickens is careful to leaven it with secondary characters who are as funny as they are menacing--blackmailing Silas Wegg and his accomplice Mr. Venus, the avaricious Lammles, and self-centered Charlie Hexam. Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens's most satisfying novels, and a fitting denouement to his prolific career. --Alix Wilber [via]
More editions of Our Mutual Friend:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Our Mutual Friend'
Our Mutual Friend was the last novel Charles Dickens completed and is, arguably, his darkest and most complex. The basic plot is vintage Dickens: an inheritance up for grabs, a murder, a rocky romance or two, plenty of skullduggery, and a host of unforgettable secondary characters. But in this final outing the author's heroes are more flawed, his villains more sympathetic, and the story as a whole more harrowing and less sentimental. The mood is set in the opening scene in which a riverman, Gaffer Hexam, and his daughter Lizzie troll the Thames searching for drowned men whose pockets Gaffer will rifle before turning the body over to the authorities. On this particular night Gaffer finds a corpse that is later identified as that of John Harmon, who was returning from abroad to claim a large fortune when he was apparently murdered and thrown into the river.
Harmon's death is the catalyst for everything else that happens in the novel. It seems the fortune was left to the young man on the condition that he marry a girl he'd never met, Bella Wilfer. His death, however, brings a new heir onto the scene, Nicodemus Boffin, the kind-hearted but low-born assistant to Harmon's father. Boffin and his wife adopt young Bella, who is determined to marry money, and also hire a mysterious young secretary, John Rokesmith, who takes an uncommon interest in their ward. Not content with just one plot, Dickens throws in a secondary love story featuring the riverman's daughter, Lizzie Hexam; a dissolute young upper-class lawyer, Eugene Wrayburn; and his rival, the headmaster Bradley Headstone. Dark as the novel is, Dickens is careful to leaven it with secondary characters who are as funny as they are menacing--blackmailing Silas Wegg and his accomplice Mr. Venus, the avaricious Lammles, and self-centered Charlie Hexam. Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens's most satisfying novels, and a fitting denouement to his prolific career. --Alix Wilber [via]
More editions of Our Mutual Friend:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Oxford Worlds Classics Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe'
Robinson Crusoe (1719) is one of the most famous adventure stories ever written. The account of a sailor shipwrecked on a desert island for twenty-eight years, it is also a tale of mythic proportions, an allegory, and a spiritual autobiography. [via]
More editions of Oxford Worlds Classics Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Pride and Prejudice'
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Next to the exhortation at the beginning of Moby-Dick, "Call me Ishmael," the first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice must be among the most quoted in literature. And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground.
Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber [via]
More editions of Pride and Prejudice:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Qur'an'
One of the most influential books in the history of literature, recognized as the greatest literary masterpiece in Arabic, the Qur'an is the supreme authority and living source of all Islamic teaching, the sacred text that sets out the creed, rituals, ethics, and laws of Islam. Yet despite the growing interest in Islamic teachings and culture, there has never been a truly satisfactory English translation of the Qur'an, until now.
This superb new translation of the Qur'an is written in contemporary language that remains faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original, making the text crystal clear while retaining all of this great work's eloquence. The translation is accurate and completely free from the archaisms, incoherence, and alien structures that mar existing translations. Thus, for the first time, English-speaking readers will have a text of the Qur'an which is easy to use and comprehensible. Furthermore, Haleem includes notes that explain geographical, historical, and personal allusions as well as an index in which Qur'anic material is arranged into topics for easy reference. His introduction traces the history of the Qur'an, examines its structure and stylistic features, and considers issues related to militancy, intolerance, and the subjection of women.
Clearly written and filled with helpful information and guidance, this brilliant translation of the Qur'an is the best available introduction to the faith of Moslems around the world. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'
Author Jack London wrote Kate Douglas Wiggin a letter about her classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm from the headquarters of the First Japanese Army in Manchuria in 1904: "May I thank you for Rebecca?... I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday.... Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn't it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?" Mark Twain called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm "beautiful and warm and satisfying."
Who is this beguiling creature? The irrepressible 10-year-old Rebecca Rowena Randall burst into the world of children's book characters (and her new life in Maine) in 1903 when storybook girls were gentle and proper. A "bird of a very different feather," she had "a small, plain face illuminated by a pair of eyes carrying such messages, such suggestions, such hints of sleeping power and insight, that one never tired of looking into their shining depths.... " Soon enough, she wins over her prim Aunt Miranda, the whole town, and thousands of readers everywhere with her energetic, indomitable spirit. This beautiful trade edition features the artwork of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm's original illustrator Helen Mason Grose, with 6 full- color plates and 32 pen-and-ink drawings. (Ages 9 and older) [via]
More editions of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Robinson Crusoe'
Daniel Defoe's enthralling story-telling and imaginatively detailed descriptions have ensured that his fiction masquerading as fact remains one of the most famous stories in English literature. On one level a simple adventure story, the novel also raises profound questions about moral and spiritual values, society, and man's abiding acquisitiveness. This new edition includes a scintillating Introduction and notes that illuminate the historical context. [via]
More editions of Robinson Crusoe:

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Secret Garden'
More editions of The Secret Garden:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Shakespeare'
Book viii, 1164 p. 20 cm. ; Edited with a glossary by W.J. Craig. ; "The Oxford Standard Authors edition of Shakespeare's works was first published in 1905 ... reset in 1943 ... "--T.p. verso. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'To the Lighthouse'
"Radiant as [To the Lighthouse] is in its beauty, there could never be a mistake about it: here is a novel to the last degree severe and uncompromising. I think that beyond being about the very nature of reality, it is itself a vision of reality."-Eudora Welty, from the Introduction The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women. [via]
More editions of To the Lighthouse:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice'
More editions of The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'
A monumental work of American literature, Uncle Tom's Cabin charts the progress to freedom of fugitives who escape the chains of slavery, and of a martyr who transcends all earthly ties. This edition firmly locates the novel within the context of African-American writing, the issues of race, and the role of women. Its appendices include the most important contemporary African-American literary responses to the glorification of Uncle Tom's Christian resignation, as well as excerpts from popular slave narratives, quoted by Stowe in her justification of the dramatization of slavery, Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. [via]
More editions of Uncle Tom's Cabin:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Vanity Fair'
No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the social ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia, however, longs for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of English society in the early 1800s, battles-military and domestic-are fought, fortunes made and lost. The one steadfast and honorable figure in this corrupt world is Dobbin, devoted to Amelia, bringing pathos and depth to William Thackeray's gloriously satirical epic of love and social adventure. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Vanity Fair'
This edition of one of the greatest social satires of the English language reproduces the text of the Oxford Thackeray and includes all of Thackeray's own illustrations. [via]
More editions of Vanity Fair:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Walden'
Walden is Thoreau's classic autobiographical account of his experiment in solitary living, his refusal to play by the rules of hard work and the accumulation of wealth, and above all the freedom it gave him to adapt his living to the natural world around him. This new edition traces the sources of Thoreau's reading and thinking and considers the author in the context of his birthplace and sense of history--social, economic, and natural. An ecological appendix provides modern identifications of the myriad plants and animals to which he gave close attention as he became acclimated to his life in the woods by Walden Pond. [via]
More editions of Walden:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wizard of Oz'
For many of us, the adventures of Dorothy in Oz will forever be associated not with Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" but with W. W. Denslow's exceedingly odd line drawings for the original editions of Baum's Oz series. The Viennese artist Lisbeth Zwerger, however, goes a long way toward providing a new and refreshed set of images for the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the humbug wizard. These illustrations are often cockeyed, with occasional realistic details thrown in, like a crow with a corncob in its beak in the first portrait of the Scarecrow. The characters have a poignance and oddity that escaped the makers of the Oz movie. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'
In spite of the fact that L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) is one of the most popular stories in America, relatively few people have actually read the book. It's well worth the effort! Young readers expecting rainbows, Munchkin songs, and wicked witches with burning brooms will instead find a complex country populated with mocking Hammerhead men, dainty people made out of china, and fierce monsters with heads of tigers and bodies of bears. Through the fantastic land of Oz ramble Dorothy and her trusty companions--Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion--each seeking his or her heart's desire. Although the premise of the book and the 1939 movie is the same, the book--as so often is the case--delivers a far more subtle and intricate plot. A child's imagination will run rampant in these pages as one extraordinary creature after another leads the motley crew into strange and magical adventures. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wonderful World of Oz'
More editions of The Wonderful World of Oz:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Wordsworth'
