The Ultimate Classics Collection features ten classic titles at an unbeatable value! Each title in the series presents a classic work in an attractively designed edition bound in genuine bonded leather. These books make elegant, eye-catching additions to any home library. The collection includes: The Iliad & The Odyssey by Homer The Divine Comedy by Dante Jane Austen: Seven Novels The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Arabian Nights Charles Dickens: Five Novels The Complete Works of William Shakespeare The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis Grimm s Complete Fairy Tales Jules Verne: Seven Novels Homer's two epics of the ancient world, The Iliad & The Odyssey, tell stories as riveting today as when they were written between the eighth and ninth century B.C. The Iliad,, which tells of the siege of Troy by the Greeks, is an unforgettable tale of nations at war and of the courage and compassion heroic soldiers show upon the field of battle. The Odyssey is the story of the Greek hero Odysseus and the many marvels and challenges he encounters during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. This edition employs Samuel Butler's classic translations of both texts. A landmark of world literature, The Divine Comedy tells of the poet Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise in search of salvation. Before he is redeemed by his love for the heavenly Beatrice, he learns the meaning of evil, sin, damnation, and forgiveness through a series of unforgettable experiences and encounters. This edition of The Divine Comedy features Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's renowned and 135 full-page reproductions of Gustave Dore's classic engravings from the 1867 edition. Jane Austen revolutionized the literary romance, using it as a stage from which to address issues of gender politics and class-consciousness rarely expressed in her day. The seven novels included in this collectionSense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susanrepresent all of Austen's mature work as a novelist, and provide the reader with an introduction to the world she and her memorable characters inhabited. Here, in one volume are all four full-length novels and fifty-six short stories about the colorful adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Every word Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote about Baker Street's most famous resident. Also included is an introduction by lifetime Sherlockians, Christopher and Barbara Roden. It's a story that has enthralled readers for centuries. The Arabian Nights are the tales that saved the life of 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. Many readers know Victorian England through the writings of Charles Dickens. Not only did Dickens put a face on the era through his memorable characters, he also captured the spirit of his age in entertaining fiction spun from its social concerns and historical events. This literary omnibus brings together five of Dickens s best-known novels: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. Prolific, energetic, and committed to social change, no other novelist of the time did so much as Charles Dickens to rally his readers to action, and no other writer at any time has created such an extraordinary collection of well-loved novels. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare has long been established as one of the most authoritative editions of the works of William Shakespeare. This updated edition includes a brief biography of Shakespeare by Germaine Greer and an introduction to his theater by Anthony Burgess; new introductions to the plays and poems written by a team from Glasgow University; an essay on the significance of the Alexander text; and a glossary with 2,500 words and phrases. The Chronicles of Narnia have enchanted millions of readers over the last fifty years, and the magical events described in C. S. Lewis' immortal prose have left many a lasting memory. For here is a world where a witch decrees eternal winter, where there are more talking animals than people, and where children can become royalty. All of the magic and wonder of The Chronicles of Narnia is brought to you in this elegant leatherbound edition. Featuring beautiful full-color illustrations and eye-catching end papers, you'll want to keep this book where everyone can see it. With the words Once upon a time, the Brothers Grimm transport readers to a timeless realm where witches, giants, princesses, kings, fairies, goblins, and wizards fall in love, try to get rich, quarrel with their neighbors, and have magical adventures of all kindsand in the process reveal essential truths about human nature. A cornerstone of Western culture since the early 1800s, Grimm s Fairy Tales is now beloved the world over. This collection of more than 120 of the Grimms best tales includes such classics as Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Frog Prince, as well as others that are no less delightful. This new edition features beautiful full-color illustrations throughout to provide even more magic to these beloved tales. Jules Verne expressed the universal fascination with adventure and exploration. Collecting Five Weeks in a Balloon, Around the World in Eighty Days, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Round the Moon, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and The Mysterious Island, this omnibus offers a unique compilation of seven of Verne s stories in which he extrapolated developing technology and invention into marvelous fiction. This volume offers readers a generous introduction to Jules Verne, whose books are as alive today as they were for readers new to the ideas expressed in them during his time.
Author
Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the comic story-teller, Boccaccio, and the poet, Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors. Dante Alighieri was born in the city-state Florence in 1265. He first saw the woman, or rather the child, who was to become the poetic love of his life when he was almost nine years old and she was some months younger. In fact, Beatrice married another man, Simone di' Bardi, and died when Dante was 25, so their relationship existed almost entirely in Dante's imagination, but she nonetheless plays an extremely important role in his poetry. Dante attributed all the heavenly virtues to her soul and imagined, in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy, that she was his guardian angel who alternately berated and encouraged him on his search for salvation. Politics as well as love deeply influenced Dante's literary and emotional life. Renaissance Florence was a thriving, but not a peaceful city: different opposing factions continually struggled for dominance there. The Guelfs and the Ghibellines were the two major factions, and in fact that division was important in all of Italy and other countries as well. The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor were political rivals for much of this time period, and in general the Guelfs were in favor of the Pope, while the Ghibellines supported Imperial power. By 1289 in the battle of Campaldino the Ghibellines largely disappeared from Florence. Peace, however, did not insue. Instead, the Guelf party divided between the Whites and the Blacks (Dante was a White Guelf). The Whites were more opposed to Papal power than the Blacks, and tended to favor the emperor, so in fact the preoccupations of the White Guelfs were much like those of the defeated Ghibellines. In this divisive atmosphere Dante rose to a position of leadership. in 1302, while he was in Rome on a diplomatic mission to the Pope, the Blacks in Florence seized power with the help of the French (and pro-Pope) Charles of Valois. The Blacks exiled Dante, confiscating his goods and condemning him to be burned if he should return to Florence. Dante never returned to Florence. He wandered from city to city, depending on noble patrons there. Between 1302 and 1304 some attempts were made by the exiled Whites to retrieve their position in Florence, but none of these succeeded and Dante contented himself with hoping for the appearance of a new powerful Holy Roman Emperor who would unite the country and banish strife. Henry VII was elected Emperor in 1308, and indeed laid seige to Florence in 1312, but was defeated, and he died a year later, destroying Dante's hopes. Dante passed from court to court, writing passionate political and moral epistles and finishing his Divine Comedy, which contains the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. He finally died in Ravenna in 1321.
