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› Find signed collectible books: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'
Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral or sense.
For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'
Our Miniature Edition "TM" collection continues to grow! Since 1989, when the first minis appeared, Running Press has offered an astonishing range of subjects, sure to find a place in any booklover's library! Visit the golf course for nine holes, head to the kitchen with the Silver Palate chefs, travel to the heavens above, or rediscover the wonders of nature in your own backyard. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'
Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral or sense.
For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Brave New World'
A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."[via]
--Saturday Review of Literature"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
--Forum"It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art...This is surely Huxley's best book."
--Martin Green
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Short Stories'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cheerfulness Breaks in'
Following the social event of the summer, the marriage of Rose Birkett (the county's scatterbrain heart-breaker), Fall brings WWII. The transition to war introduces unexpected elements into the Barsetshire milieu. Despite the newly somber atmosphere, evacuee children (see Nurse's "lust for power over babies"), nouveau riche migrs (Mr. Gissings' suspiciously shaped head), and the Mixo-Lydians (and their embroideries) afford opportunities for snatching humor from the jaws of bleakness. The Bissells, lower-middle-class heads of a billeted non-U school, share, with the gentry, a mutual bewilderment of values. Mrs. Morland muses on Mrs. Bissell's business-like acceptance of "the sinister implications of Adelina Cottage" shared by Miss Hampton and Miss Bent. The Keith family takes center stage as Lydia cares for the estate and her ailing mother while her friends pursue nursing and other war work. The young men pursue the young ladies and wartime accelerates the usual romantic coupling for a total of five, a record even for Thirkell. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch And the Wardrobe'
(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook). Eight piano/vocal/guitar selections from the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media hit movie, with music composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. Includes: Can't Take It In * Evacuating London * Father Christmas * Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus * A Narnia Lullaby * Where * Winter Light * Wunderkind. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Clockwork Orange'
The only American edition of the cult classic novel.
A vicious fifteen-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic, whose stark terror was captured in Stanley Kubrick's magnificent film of the same title. In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alex to "redeem" him the novel asks, "At what cost?" This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked." [via]More editions of A Clockwork Orange:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Close Quarters'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Coronation Summer'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'County Chronicle'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Double Affair'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dracula'
Faithfully reprinted from the 1897 classic, the chilling tale of Count Dracula and his insatiable thirst for blood follows a macabre trail from the lunatic asylum to the graveyard of the Un-Dead to the Count's eerie castle in Transylvania. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Dracula'
After discovering the double identity of the wealthy Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula, a small group of people vow to rid the world of the evil vampire. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Duke's Daughter'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Enter Sir Robert'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Europa'

› Find signed collectible books: 'Evelina'
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From front flap: Here is the story of beautiful, high spirited Lady Dona St. Columb, a favorite at the English Royal Court during the reign of Charles II. Yet the frivolity of 17th-century London is a source of irritation for Lady Dona. Leaving her husband to tend family interests in the city, she flees to the wild beauty and solitude of their estate on the Cornwall coast [via]
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› 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]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Glass of Blessings'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Green Darkness'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Growing Up'
Growing Up is the story of ladies, gentlemen, and their irrepressible children keeping the war at bay in their country town. Trying to do their part as World War II ravages Europe, Sir Harry and Lady Waring open their estate to convalescing soldiers - bringing romance, drama, and subtle life lessons to the Warings' young niece and her friends. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Happy Returns'
Thirkell welcomes us back to the beloved precinct of Barsetshire in this novel set in the mid-century. Old friends and new faces join the community conversation which ranges from Sir Cecil Waring's plans for a home for boys of naval men killed in the war to the relocation of the Priory Preparatory School; from Charles Belton's hesitant courtship and headlong marriage to the spoiled Clarissa Graham, and to Grace Grantley's betrothment to Lord Lufton, with much discussion in between of gardens, dogs, and other country matters.
The older generation observes the younger with affection and concern while the younger settles into its own middle age, its prospects still shadowed by the war and its aftermath. Thirkell's marshaling of story across generations show- to quote her own praise of Lady Lufton- "all her excellent qualities to the best advantage." [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'
What makes the Harry Potter series so successful? Maybe it's the fact that J.K. Rowling doesn't write children's books, she writes children's stories, more in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm than Dr. Seuss. The exploits of Harry and his friends captivate even the shortest attention spans by engaging the imagination with vivid characters and fast-moving action, instead of trying to merely catch the eye with colorful pictures or pop-up effects. Not surprisingly, the Potter tales sound wonderful read aloud, and adapt to the audiobook format extremely well. Broadway actor Jim Dale's impressive vocal range gives each character in the book its own distinctive voice--a considerable task, given the pantheon of witches, warlocks, ghosts, ghouls, dwarves, and elves that Harry encounters in his second outing. And thankfully, since the book is read unabridged, no one's favorite character is omitted. Engaging for children without being childish, the audio version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is worthy addition to the deservedly popular series. (Running time: 9 hours, 7 CDs) --Andrew Nieland [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'
For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.
As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected? Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately, there are four more in the works. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Headmistress'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Don't panic! You're not timetripping! It's the tenth anniversary of the publication of Douglas Adams's zany, best-selling novel, and to celebrate Harmony is reissuing a special edition of this cult classic!By now the story is legendary. Arthur Dent, mild-mannered, out-to-lunch earth-ling, is plucked from his planet by his friend Ford Prefect just seconds before it was demolished to make way for a hyper-space bypass. Ford, posing as an out-of-work actor, is a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Together the gruesome twosome begin their now-famous inter-galactic journey through time, space and best-sellerdom.For Hitchhiker fanatics (you know who you are!) who've read the books, seen the television program, and listened to the radio show, as well as newcomers to Douglas Adams's unique universe -- remember -- don't panic, don't forget to bring a towel, and don't forget to celebrate The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's tenth anniversary by wearing your bathrobe. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hound of the Baskervilles'
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]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes With, the Adventure of the Speckled Band'
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-02) is Arthur Conan Doyle's most celebrated Sherlock Holmes adventure. At the end of the yew tree path of his ancestral home, Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead. Close by are the footprints of a gigantic hound. Called to investigate, Holmes seems to face a supernatural foe. In the tense narration of the detective's efforts to solve the crime, Conan Doyle meditates on late Victorian and early twentieth-century ideas of ancestry and atavism, the possible biological determination of criminals, the stability of the British landed classes, and the place of the supernatural. Historical documents included with this fully-annotated Broadview edition help contextualize the novel's debates and reveal its cultural and literary significance as a supreme instance of early detective fiction. Also included is the Conan Doyle short story The Adventure of the Speckled Band. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'James Joyce's Dubliners'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Jungle Book'
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. This 80-page adaptation has been painstakingly edited to retain the integrity of the original work, and to convey a sense of the author's style and the novel's theme. A low reading level assures success and stimulates a desire for further exploration of this classic tale. [via]

› Find signed collectible books: 'Jutland Cottage'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Key to Rebecca'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Life and Loves of a She-Devil'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Love among the Ruins'
A cast of characters quickly gathers around the Winters, including many faces familiar from Thirkell's earlier Barsetshire chronicles. Among the young and unattached are Charles Belton, newly-hired school master at the Priory School, and his elder brother, Captain Freddy Belton of the Royal Navy; Susan Dean, the Red Cross Depot Librarian and her sister, Jessica, an actress in thrall to the theatre; Lucy Marling, and her brother Oliver. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Love at All Ages'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Loved One'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Miss Bunting : A Novel'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Moonstone'
Intrigue, investigations, thievery, drugs and murder all make an appearance in Collins's classic who-done-it, The Moonstone. Published in serial form in 1868, it was inspired in part by a spectacular murder case widely reported in the early 1860s. Collins's story revolves around a diamond stolen from a Hindu holy place. On her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder receives the diamond, but by the following morning the stone has been stolen again. As the story unravels through multiple eyewitness accounts, the elderly Sergeant Cuffwith a face "sharp as a hatchet"looks for the culprit. One of Collins's best-loved novels, with an exciting plot moved along by deftly-drawn characters and elegant pacing, The Moonstone Was also turned into a play by Collins; the play appears as an appendix to this edition. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Never Too Late'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Northbridge Rectory'
Bartsetshire during wartime finds Mr. Downing, Miss Pemberton, and Mrs. Turner engaged in a love triangle; a chorus of officers raucously quartered at the rectory; and village ladies with violent leanings. In Mrs. Major Spender, Thirkell offers a devastating sketch of the good-natured egoist, and readers will be pleased that the less-than-articulate Betty finds a soulmate in Captain Copham. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Of Human Bondage'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Old Bank House'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Orchard on Fire'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Peace Breaks Out'
Even drama settles into circumstance, as the denizens of Barsetshire have learned through the private and public worries the Second World War has delivered to the home front. When peace breaks out, it surprises and unsettles familiar wartime routines, and the residents of Angela Thirkell's fictional world of town and country seem nearly as disconcerted as they are overjoyed. Nevertheless, as the county's eligible young men return home, the social round regains its old momentum. Before long, everyone- especially Anne Fielding, now quite grown up at nineteen- is spinning in a sweet flurry of misunderstandings and engagements. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pilgrim's Progress'
Journey with Christian on the most incredible adventure ever imagined. Reaching the Celestial City is a little more difficult than our hero bargained for! Will he pass safely through the Valley of the Shadow of Death?. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pilgrim's Progress'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Point Counter Point'
When it was published in 1928, Point Counter Point no doubt shocked its readers with frank depictions of infidelity, sexuality, and the highbrow high jinks of Aldous Huxley's arty characters. What's truly remarkable, however, is how his novel continues to shock today. True, we may hardly lift an eyebrow at poor Marjorie Carling leaving her husband to live in sin with--and get pregnant by--her lover Walter Bidlake. And the sexual exploits of Lady Edward Tantamount or her daughter, Lucy, seem quite in keeping with the behavior expected of such exalted persons by readers inured to the exploits of the British Royals. If the varieties of sexual experience on display in Huxley's novel seem tame by current standards, his clear-eyed dissection of the motives behind them are thrillingly fresh--and his commentaries on everything from politics to ecology sometimes chillingly prescient. Take for example, the wisdom of amateur biologist Lord Edward Tantamount on the subject of non-renewable resources:
"No doubt," he said, "you think you can make good the loss with phosphate rocks. But what'll you do when the deposits are exhausted?" He poked Everard in the shirt front. "What then? Only two hundred years and they'll be finished. You think we're being progressive because we're living on our capital Phosphates, coal, petroleum, nitre--squander them all. That's your policy. And meanwhile you go round trying to make our flesh creep with talk about revolutions."When his interlocutor, the fascist politician Everard Webley, demands to know whether Lord Edward wants a revolution, Tantamount first asks whether such an event would reduce the population and check production and then, when assured it would, he responds, "'Then certainly I want a revolution.' The Old Man thought in terms of geology and was not afraid of logical conclusions."
Huxley fills his novel with a multitude of characters, from the obscenely wealthy Tantamounts to the priapic painter John Bidlake, his children Walter and Elinor, and their respective mates, Marjorie Carling and Philip Quarles. There is also the venomous Maurice Spandrell, the revolutionary Illidge, the unctuous Burlap, and the happily married (a rarity in this novel) Mark and Mary Rampion, who are the book's moral center--theirs is the one relationship that combines reason and passion in proper measure. They are purportedly in part based on well-known figures of the time such as D.H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield. Love, loss, infidelity, and murder are the subjects under discussion as Huxley juxtaposes one point of view against its opposite, and mixes in a healthy dollop of science, politics, religion, and art, as well. Point Counter Point is an intelligent novel about the intellectual world, and one that bears up gracefully under the test of time. --Alix Wilber [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pomfret Towers'
This novel centers around the weekend party that Alice Barton, a shy English girl, attends at Pomfret Towers, the magnificent seventeenth-century home of Lord Pomfret. Alice's mother, Mrs. Barton, has decided that now is the time that timid, home-centered Alice, must learn to socialize. Alice, mustering all of her courage, agrees to join the gathering at the elegant Towers. Though painfully shy at first, Alice soon breaks out of her shell. She begins to mingle with the other young guests, develops friendships, and even falls in love. The story also portrays the competition between two mothers (Phoebe's and Alice's), both authors. Mrs. Rivers comes up short. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: Library Edition'
The classic bestselling book--the subject of a play, movie, and a song--that tells the darkly fascinating story of a young, unorthodox teacher and her special, and ultimately dangerous, relationship with six of her students. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Private Enterprise'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen'
We owe 1902's The Hound of the Baskervilles to Arthur Conan Doyle's good friend Fletcher "Bobbles" Robinson, who took him to visit some scary English moors and prehistoric ruins, and told him marvelous local legends about escaped prisoners and a 17th-century aristocrat who fell afoul of the family dog. Doyle transmogrified the legend: generations ago, a hound of hell tore out the throat of devilish Hugo Baskerville on the moonlit moor. Poor, accursed Baskerville Hall now has another mysterious death: that of Sir Charles Baskerville. Could the culprit somehow be mixed up with secretive servant Barrymore, history-obsessed Dr. Frankland, butterfly-chasing Stapleton, or Selden, the Notting Hill murderer at large? Someone's been signaling with candles from the mansion's windows. Nor can supernatural forces be ruled out. Can Dr. Watson--left alone by Sherlock Holmes to sleuth in fear for much of the novel--save the next Baskerville, Sir Henry, from the hound's fangs?
Many Holmes fans prefer Doyle's complete short stories, but their clockwork logic doesn't match the author's boast about this novel: it's "a real Creeper!" What distinguishes this particular Hound is its fulfillment of Doyle's great debt to Edgar Allan Poe--it's full of ancient woe, low moans, a Grimpen Mire that sucks ponies to Dostoyevskian deaths, and locals digging up Neolithic skulls without next-of-kins' consent. "The longer one stays here the more does the spirit of the moor sink into one's soul," Watson realizes. "Rank reeds and lush, slimy water-plants sent an odour of decay ... while a false step plunged us more than once thigh-deep into the dark, quivering mire, which shook for yards in soft undulations around our feet ... it was as if some malignant hand was tugging us down into those obscene depths." Read on--but, reader, watch your step! --Tim Appelo [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Smiley's People/Audio Cassettes'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'
The young Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from repeated nightmares of living a double life, in which by day he worked as a respectable doctor and by night he roamed the back alleys of old-town Edinburgh. In three days of furious writing, he produced a story about his dream existence. His wife found it too gruesome, so he promptly burned the manuscript. In another three days, he wrote it again. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886, and became an instant classic. In the first six months, 40,000 copies were sold. Queen Victoria read it. Sermons and editorials were written about it. When Stevenson and his family visited America a year later, they were mobbed by reporters at the dock in New York City. Compulsively readable from its opening pages, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is still one of the best tales ever written about the divided self.
This University of Nebraska Press edition is a small, exquisitely produced paperback. The book design, based on the original first edition of 1886, includes wide margins, decorative capitals on the title page and first page of each chapter, and a clean, readable font that is 19th-century in style. Joyce Carol Oates contributes a foreword in which she calls Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a "mythopoetic figure" like Frankenstein, Dracula, and Alice in Wonderland, and compares Stevenson's creation to doubled selves in the works of Plato, Poe, Wilde, and Dickens.
This edition also features 12 full-page wood engravings by renowned illustrator Barry Moser. Moser is a skillful reader and interpreter as well as artist, and his afterword to the book, in which he explains the process by which he chose a self-portrait motif for the suite of engravings, is fascinating. For the image of Edward Hyde, he writes, "I went so far as to have my dentist fit me out with a carefully sculpted prosthetic of evil-looking teeth. But in the final moments I had to abandon the idea as being inappropriate. It was more important to stay in keeping with the text and, like Stevenson, not show Hyde's face." (Also recommended: the edition of Frankenstein illustrated by Barry Moser) --Fiona Webster [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde'
The young Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from repeated nightmares of living a double life, in which by day he worked as a respectable doctor and by night he roamed the back alleys of old-town Edinburgh. In three days of furious writing, he produced a story about his dream existence. His wife found it too gruesome, so he promptly burned the manuscript. In another three days, he wrote it again. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886, and became an instant classic. In the first six months, 40,000 copies were sold. Queen Victoria read it. Sermons and editorials were written about it. When Stevenson and his family visited America a year later, they were mobbed by reporters at the dock in New York City. Compulsively readable from its opening pages, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is still one of the best tales ever written about the divided self.
This University of Nebraska Press edition is a small, exquisitely produced paperback. The book design, based on the original first edition of 1886, includes wide margins, decorative capitals on the title page and first page of each chapter, and a clean, readable font that is 19th-century in style. Joyce Carol Oates contributes a foreword in which she calls Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a "mythopoetic figure" like Frankenstein, Dracula, and Alice in Wonderland, and compares Stevenson's creation to doubled selves in the works of Plato, Poe, Wilde, and Dickens.
This edition also features 12 full-page wood engravings by renowned illustrator Barry Moser. Moser is a skillful reader and interpreter as well as artist, and his afterword to the book, in which he explains the process by which he chose a self-portrait motif for the suite of engravings, is fascinating. For the image of Edward Hyde, he writes, "I went so far as to have my dentist fit me out with a carefully sculpted prosthetic of evil-looking teeth. But in the final moments I had to abandon the idea as being inappropriate. It was more important to stay in keeping with the text and, like Stevenson, not show Hyde's face." (Also recommended: the edition of Frankenstein illustrated by Barry Moser) --Fiona Webster [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Suitable Vengeance'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Summer Half'
The denouement of Philip Winter's ill-begotten engagement to featherbrained Rose Birkett is enacted in full view of Southbridge School's extended family during a holiday break. Everyone, including her parents, is rooting for Philip's escape which occurs when Rose breaks it off as the utter dullness of being engaged overwhelms her. Along the way, we enjoy the tea party where Rose, "through sheer want of personality bring(s) the talk to her own level" and confounds her audience by insisting that Hamlet and Shakespeare are both names of plays (and probably the same one). As in many of Thirkell books, the characters refer to a body of literature, both classic and modern, with a casualness that would be improbable today; the assumption of a shared background and culture having been lost. The ceremony of the "Cleaning of the Pond" by Lydia, Eric Swan and a much improved Tony Morland brings the holiday to a satisfactory conclusion as does a match between Kate Keith and Everard Carter. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sweet Dove Died'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Talisman'
"Of late, they have been chiefly restricted to the cure of persons bitten by mad dogs; and as the illness in such cases frequently arises from imagination, there can be no reason for doubting that water which has been poured on the Lee-penny furnishes a congenial cure..." [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Temples of Delight'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Three Score And Ten'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke'
Undoubtedly the most famous of all of Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet remains one of the most enduring but also enigmatic pieces of western literature. The story of Hamlet, the young Prince of Denmark, his tortured relationship with his mother, and his quest to avenge his father's murder at the hand of his brother Claudius has fascinated writers and audiences ever since it was written around 1600.
For many years interest focused on both Hamlet's inability to avenge his father's death, claiming that "the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought", and, according to none other than Freud, his oedipal fixation with his mother. However, more recently critics have turned their attention to Hamlet's bold theatrical self-reflexivity (most famously reflected in the performance of "The Mousetrap"), its fascination with issues of theology and Renaissance humanism, and its dense, complex poetic language. What is so remarkable about the play is the way in which it tends to uncannily reflect the concerns of different epochs. As a result, Hamlet has been at different moments defined as a romantic rebel, an angst-ridden existentialist, a paralysed intellectual and an ambivalent New Man. Whatever subsequent generations make of Hamlet, they are unlikely to exhaust the possibilities of this most extraordinary play. --Jerry Brotton [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Truelove'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Warden'
The first of Trollope's Barsetshire novels, The Warden concerns the moral dilemma of the Reverend Septimus Harding, who finds himself at the centre of a bitter conflict between defenders of Church privilege and the reforming impulses of the mid-Victorian period. Appointed warden of an almshouse, he is given a comfortable salary from its founder's will to oversee the institution and the small weekly incomes given to the men who live there. Mr. Harding's disproportionate salary, however, becomes a source of concern for a local reformer who denounces the allocation of funds as a Church abuse. Interweaving the complexities of the Victorian world, the novel draws on ecclesiastical scandals, criticizes the power of the press, satirizes the law, and examines the growing influence of London on provincial life. Based on the most authoritative text published during Trollope's life, that of 1878, the Broadview edition also includes appendices with material relating to the novel's genesis, Trollope's revisions, the sources of his literary parody, the historical background to the novel's topical references, its reception by contemporary critics, and Trollope's views on the Church of England. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Well Schooled in Murder'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What Did It Mean?'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What Maisie Knew'
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ...Mrs. Wix's, during these hours, Sir Claude was--and most of all through long pauses--the perpetual, the insurmountable theme. It all took them back to the first flush of his marriage and to the place he held in the schoolroom at that crisis of love and pain; only he had himself blown to a much bigger balloon the large consciousness he then filled out. They went through it all again, and indeed while the interval dragged by the very weight of its charm they went, in spite of defences and suspicions, through everything. Their intensified clutch of the future throbbed like a clock ticking seconds; but this was a timepiece that inevitably, as well, at the best, rang occasionally a portentous hour. Oh there were several of these, and two or three of the worst on the old city-wall where everything else so made for peace. There was nothing in the world Maisie more wanted than to be as nice to Mrs. Wix as Sir Claude had desired; but it was exactly because this fell in with her inveterate instinct of keeping the peace that the instinct itself was quickened. From the moment it was quickened, however, it found other work, and that was how, to begin with, she produced the very complication she most sought to avert. What she had essentially done, these days, had been to read the unspoken into the spoken; so that thus, with accumulations, it had become more definite to her that the unspoken was, unspeakably, the completeness of the sacrifice of Mrs. Beale. There were times when every minute that Sir Claude stayed away was like a nail in Mrs. Beale's coffin. That brought back to Maisie--it was a roundabout way--the beauty and antiquity of her connexion with the flower of the Overmores as well as that lady's own grace and charm, her peculiar prettiness and... [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet/Macbeth/Hamlet/Othello/The Taming of the Shrew/A Midsummer Night's Dream/The Merchant of Venice'
FROM THE WORLD FAMOUS ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, THE FIRST AUTHORITATIVE, MODERNIZED, AND CORRECTED EDITION OF SHAKESPEARES FIRST FOLIO IN THREE CENTURIES.
Skillfully assembled by Shakespeares fellow actors in 1623, the First Folio was the original Complete Works. It is arguably the most important literary work in the English language. But starting with Nicholas Rowe in 1709 and continuing to the present day, Shakespeare editors have mixed Folio and Quarto texts, gradually corrupting the original Complete Works with errors and conflated textual variations.
Now Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of todays most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, have edited the First Folio as a complete book, resulting in a definitive Complete Works for the twenty-first century.
Combining innovative scholarship with brilliant commentary and textual analysis that emphasizes performance history and values, this landmark edition will be indispensable to students, theater professionals, and general readers alike.
For more information on this Modern Library edition, visit www.therscshakespeare.com [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wind in the Willows'
If you ever feel like falling into a beautiful comic-book story--in the same way one falls back into a warm field of grass--reach for Michel Plessix's lush adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows. The artwork is an aquarelle, with thin, precise, detailed lines. It's no wonder he received numerous awards for his previous effort, Julien Boisvert, a contemporary take on the Tintin character type. In Wind in the Willows, Plessix breathes life into Mole, Rat, and Toad (of Toad Hall) as they picnic on the riverbank, indulge in Toad's latest fad, and get lost in Wild Wood. The pacing is masterful: each panel lingers just long enough to make you appreciate the simple pleasures of life.
This review refers to ISBN 1561631965. [via]

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