CRW Publishing

This rare collection is a must for all Jane-ites. It represents what Richard Church regarded as Jane Austen's literary work-basket, and contains some Austen's earliest work — her hilarious brief History of England, illustrated by her favourite sister, which is a worthy forerunner of 1066 & All That, to the unfinished Sanditon, the novel of her maturity on which she was working at her death aged 42. Also included are the two epistolary novels, Lady Susan and Love and Friendship (sic), The Watsons, Catharine, Lesley Castle, Evelyn, Frederic and Elfrida, Jack and Alice, Edgar and Emma, Henry and Eliza and The Three Sisters.

Separated from her twin brother Sebastian after a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as a boy to serve the Duke of Illyria. Wooing a countess on his behalf, she is stunned to find herself the object of his beloved's affections. With the arrival of Viola's brother, and a trick played upon Malvolio, the countess' steward, confusion reigns in this romantic comedy of mistaken identity. The gentle melancholy and lyrical atmosphere of Twelfth Night, enlivened by a comic sub-plot of considerable accomplishment, have long made the play a favourite with Shakespearian audiences.

A young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children given into her charge by their uncle at his grand country house. «The Turn of the Screw» is probably the most famous, certainly the most eerily equivocal, of all ghostly tales. Is it a subtle, self-conscious exploration of the haunted house of Victorian culture, filled with echoes of sexual and social unease? Or is it simply 'the most hopelessly evil story of the son of a long line of military heroes who refuses to follow tradition, yet proves his bravery in a haunted room.

»The Pickwick Papers» is Charles Dickens' first novel, and his comic masterpiece. We are introduced not just to one of the greatest writers in the English language but to some of fiction's most endearing and memorable characters, starting with the 'illustrious, immortal and colossal-minded' Samuel Pickwick himself. It is a rollicking tour de force through an England on the brink of the Victorian era. Reform of government, justice and commercial life are imminent, as are rail travel, social convulsion and the death of deference, but Pickwick sails through on a tide of delirious adventure, fortifying us for the future — whatever it throws at us.

»The Collector's Colour Library» takes the favourite illustrated titles of «The Collector's Library» and presents them in full colour. Original colour illustrations are faithfully reproduced, and where illustrations and decorations were originally black and white they have been sensitively coloured by Barbara Frith, one of Britain's most accomplished colourists. «The Little Prince» is a wonderful and remarkable book which will enchant both children and adults alike. It is a strange and wonderful parable for all ages, championing the beauty and wisdom of childhood which fades when one becomes 'a grown up'. This is a specially commissioned new translation by Ros and Chloe Schwarz. St Exupery's original illustrations have had their colours carefully enhanced by Barbara Frith.

This edition of Shakespeare's Complete Works contains all the plays and poems. The plays are arranged in the chronological order of their composition rather than gathered into comedies, histories and tragedies, the traditional method dating from the first folio; the volume also contains a sketch of Shakespeare's life, a biography of Sir John Gilbert, and an extensive glossary. The book is bound in real cloth, with head and tail bands, a ribbon marker, top edge gilt with a gold-blocked jacket, and has been completely reset. It is illustrated throughout with Sir John Gilbert's superb woodcuts. As the Magazine of Art wrote when the edition was first published, 'It is a virtue of Gilbert's achievements in black and white that he takes his place among the few masters, not only of his own age and country, but of all time'.

These volumes represent each author's best and most famous writings. This finely crafted and affordable series offers the works of these world-renowned authors to a wider audience. Includes «Alice in Wonderland, «The Hunting of the Snark, «Sylvie and Bruno, and «Through the Looking Glass.

Sherlock Holmes is the greatest fictional detective in the world. The hero of 56 short stories and four novels, he is so convincing that letters still arrive at 221b Baker Street seeking his help, and when it was thought that he had died in his clash with the evil Professor Moriarty ('the Napoleon of Crime') young men in London wore black armbands. This handsome edition, bound in real cloth, with head and tail bands, a ribbon marker, top edge gilt and a gold-blocked jacket, presents all of the short stories, many illustrated by Sidney Paget, who prepared these drawings for the original publication in «The Strand Magazine». It also contains the four novels: «A Study in Scarlet» in which Holmes and Dr Watson first meet, «The Sign of the Four», «The Valley of Fear» and the chilling masterpiece «The Hound of the Baskervilles». This title features Introduction by David Stuart Davies, former editor of «Sherlock Holmes: The Magazine».

These volumes represent each author's best and most famous writings. This finely crafted and affordable series offers the works of these world-renowned authors to a wider audience.

The dictionary defines 'macabre' as something that is 'grim, gruesome and grotesque'. This definition sums up splendidly the flavour and the content of the excellent stories you will find in this collection. Here are tales written by masters of the genre which feature ghosts, monsters, magic, and horror — everything and anything which is out of kilter with the norm and challenges the imagination, while creating that special tingle of fear which is generated by uncertainty. In reading these pleasantly disturbing stories it is as though one is looking at the world through a glass darkly. This wonderfully potent brew of macabre titbits is guaranteed to entertain and enthral.

»The Beautiful and Damned», F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1920s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune, the relationship with his wife Gloria, his service in the army, and alcoholism. The novel provides an excellent portrait of the Eastern elite as the Jazz Age begins its ascent, engulfing all classes into what will soon be known as Cafe Society. As with all of his other novels, it is a brilliant character study and is also an early account of the complexities of marriage and intimacy, largely based on Fitzgerald's relationship and marriage with Zelda Fitzgerald.

»The Collector's Colour Library» takes the favourite illustrated titles of «The Collector's Library» and presents them in full colour. Original colour illustrations are faithfully reproduced, and where illustrations and decorations were originally black and white they have been sensitively coloured by Barbara Frith, one of Britain's most accomplished colourists. When Alice tumbles down a rabbit hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit she finds herself in Wonderland. Wonderland is no ordinary place and the characters that populate it are quite unlike anybody young Alice has ever met. «Through the Looking-Glass» continues her bizarre adventures, and she meets more outlandish creations including the Red and the White Queens, Humpty Dumpty and the White Knight. Sir John Tenniel's magical illustrations have been delicately coloured by Barbara Frith.

Full of mischief, valour, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved Shahrazad whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Shahrazad always withheld the ending — a thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever. This volume contains the most famous stories from Sir Richard F. Burton's multi-volume translation, and unlike many editions, the more adult narratives are completely unexpurgated. These tales, including Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves have entered into the popular imagination throughout the world. William Harvey, Thomas Bewick's most famous pupil, illustrated The Arabian Nights with his delightful back and white woodcuts from which these images are taken.

This terrifying tale of Joseph K, a respectable functionary in a bank who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information, is the origin of the adjective 'Kafkaesque'. K is never told what he is on trial for, and when he says he is innocent, he is immediately asked 'innocent of what'? Is he perhaps on trial for his innocence? Could he have freed himself from the proceedings by confessing his guilt as a human being? The Trial describes a nightmare vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the mad agendas of totalitarian regimes.

Robinson Crusoe is among the first novels written in English. Thanks to its extraordinary realism and drama, it is easily the longest-enduring work of popular fiction in the language. The story, probably based on the Pacific-island ordeal of castaway Alexander Selkirk, was presented by Daniel Defoe as a true account, and is utterly convincing in its topography, action and character, even 300 years after its first publication. Robinson Crusoe is a true page-turner: Dr Samuel Johnson said it was one of only three books he had read that would have been better for being longer. This new edition includes over thirty illustrations by George Cruikshank specially engraved for the 1831 edition.

This collection of Poe's work contains some of the most exciting and haunting tales ever written. They range from the poetic to the mysterious and the darkly comic, yet all possess the genius of the grotesque that defines Poe's writing. The stories are so alive with compelling mysteries, vibrant images and unforgettably tormented characters, that it is easy to associate Edgar Allan Poe solely with entertainment and forget that he was also one of the greatest innovators in modern literature. This volume contains all of Poe's Tales of mystery and imagination and Tales of the grotesque and arabesque, and a selection of his poetry. The book is illustrated by several artists, including Aubrey Beardsley, Gustave Dore and Harry Clarke.

William Blake is a poet without parallel, who remains a source of wisdom and inspiration to countless individuals throughout the world. This selection was commissioned in 1905 by the firm of George Routledge from W.B. Yeats, who had previously been one of the pioneer editors of Blake's prophetic books. Yeats, one of the few poets whose work could be compared with that of Blake, prepared a unique selection of his poetic and prose writings. There is no better way to encounter the work of one poetic genius than as it is presented by another, and Yeats understood Blake in a way few others did.

Science and adventure are electrifying accomplices in Jules Verne's classic «Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea». This epic and enduring tale anticipates not just wonders such as electric light and submarine navigation, but the obsession with technology and travel that today so shapes our lives. It is Verne's inspired foresight, combined with his extraordinary talent for storytelling, that continue to make this novel such a compelling read. The excitement this adventure caused around the world when it was first published 150 years ago can still be very easily imagined indeed in the 21st century.

This title presents the sweeping love story of two people who defy the conventions of their age to follow the dictates of their hearts. Trapped in a stifling marriage, Anna Karenina is swept off her feet by the dashing Count Vronsky. When the truth about their passionate liaison comes out, Anna's husband is more concerned with keeping up appearances than anything else, but at last he seeks a reluctant divorce. Rejected by society, the two lovers flee to Italy, where Anna finds herself isolated from all except the man she loves, and who loves her. But can they live by love alone? In this novel of astonishing scope and grandeur, Leo Tolstoy, the great master of Russian literature, charts the course of the human heart.

Some of the most exciting and haunting stories ever written are to be found in this collection of Poe's work, ranging from the poetic to the mysterious to the darkly comic, and all with the quality of the grotesque that defined Poe's writing. 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Fall of the House of Usher' are key works in the horror canon, while in the 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' and 'The Mystery of Marie Roget' we find the origins of modern detective fiction.

A young prince meets with his father's ghost, who alleges that his own brother, now married to his widow, murdered him. The prince devises a scheme to test the truth of the ghost's accusation, feigning wild madness while plotting a brutal revenge. But his apparent insanity soon begins to wreak havoc on innocent and guilty alike. Hamlet's combination of violence and introspection is unusual among Shakespeare's tragedies. It is also full of curious riddles and fascinating paradoxes, making it one of his most widely discussed plays.

Over the centuries Ireland has preserved a magical, mystical aura that lends itself to tales of the supernatural — from leprechauns and fairies to ghosts and hauntings. Stories and storytelling have always been central to Irish folk culture, and this anthology of the best ghost stories from Ireland and Irish writers includes contributions from Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, Patrick Kennedy, George Moore and W. B. Yeats. The result is a collection of tingling tales of poltergeists, supernatural experiences, haunted houses, death warnings and banshees that will chill the blood of readers and listeners alike.

Dark and violent, Macbeth is also the most theatrically spectacular of Shakespeare's tragedies. Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king to ensure his ambitions come true. But he soon learns the meaning of terror — killing once, he must kill again and again, and the dead return to haunt him. A story of war, witchcraft and bloodshed, Macbeth also depicts the relationship between husbands and wives, and the risks they are prepared to take to achieve their desires.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakespeare's plays. It brings together aristocrats, workers, and fairies in a wood outside Athens, and from there the magic begins. A young woman flees Athens with her lover, only to be pursued by her would-be husband and by her best friend. Unwittingly, all four find themselves in an enchanted forest where fairies and sprites soon take an interest in human affairs, dispensing magical love potions and casting mischievous spells. In this dazzling comedy, confusion ends in harmony, as love is transformed, misplaced, and ultimately restored.