Books in COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY OF THE UNKNOWN series

This edition includes all the short stories, many of which are illustrated by Sidney Paget, who prepared these inspired black and white 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 edition has an Introduction by David Stuart Davies, Editor of Sherlock Magazine.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 continue to 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.

Oscar Wilde is remembered today primarily as a brilliant and witty playwright and the author of the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. As a result, his shorter pieces of fiction have tended to be neglected, which is a shame for they not only display the same kind of scathing wit, imaginative flourish, and engaging narratives as his other work, but present a wider range of subjects and ideas. As well as such comic tales as “The Canterville Ghost” and “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,” there are the marvelous fairy stories and fantasies such as “The Selfish Giant,” “The Happy Prince,” and “The Star Child.” The challenge and pleasure of these stories is the simultaneous appeal to both child and adult with their themes of love, truth, and sacrifice, which are as relevant today as when they were written. In this collection are found some of the brightest gems from the treasure trove of Oscar Wilde’s writings.

This re-set edition of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare contains all the plays and poems; the plays are arranged in the chronological order of their composition, not gathered into comedies, histories and tragedies - the traditional method dating from the first folio.The text is taken from the Shakespeare Head Press edition edited by Arthur Henry Bullen, and this volume also contains John Aubrey's Brief Life of Shakespeare, a biography of Sir John Gilbert, an account of The Shakespeare Head Press edition, a glossary, and a bibliography.This volume is illustrated throughout with 500 of Sir John Gilbert's (1817-97) superb drawings, engraved on steel by Thomas Dalziel (1823-I906) and Edward Dalziel (1817-1905). With his prolific historical paintings, John Gilbert was often referred to as 'The Scott of Painting', although he was equally active as a book illustrator, producing cuts for editions of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Sir Walter Scott, and other writers venerated during the Victorian era, as well as such contemporary and popular writers as Dickens.

Madame Bovary tells the tragic tale of a beautiful young woman who tries to escape the narrow confines of her life and marriage through a series of passionate affairs--all in hopes of finding the romantic ideal she has always longed for. But her recklessness comes back to haunt her, and the strong-willed and independent Emma finds herself in a desperate fight for existence. Flaubert's daring depiction of adultery caused a national scandal when it was first published, and the author was put on trial for offending public morality. One hundred and fifty years later, this masterpiece of realist literature has lost none of its impact. The world's greatest works of literature are now available in these beautiful keepsake volumes. Bound in real cloth, and featuring gilt edges and ribbon markers, these beautifully produced books are a wonderful way to build a handsome library of classic literature. These are the essential novels that belong in every home. They'll transport readers to imaginary worlds and provide excitement, entertainment, and enlightenment for years to come. All of these novels feature attractive illustrations and have an unequalled period feel that will grace the library, the bedside table or bureau.

John Leech’s original, magnificent illustrations to A Christmas Carol have been beautifully hand-coloured by Barbara Frith in this wonderful gift edition from Collector’s Library. A celebration of Christmas, a tale of redemption and a critique on Victorian society, Dickens' atmospheric novella follows the miserly, penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooge who views Christmas as 'humbug'. It is only through a series of eerie, life-changing visits from the ghost of his deceased business partner Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future that he begins to see the error of his ways. With heart-rending characters, rich imagery and evocative language, the message of A Christmas Carol remains as significant today as when it was first published.

The Good Soldier is a masterpiece of twentieth-century fiction, an inspiration for many later, distinguished writers, including Graham Greene. Set before the First World War, it tells the tale of two wealthy and sophisticated couples, one English, one American, as they travel, socialise, and take the waters in the spa towns of Europe. They are 'playing the game', in style. That game has begun to unravel, however, and with compelling attention to the comic, as well as the tragic, results the American narrator reveals his growing awareness of the sexual intrigues and emotional betrayals that lie behind its facade.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is the second anthology of the adventures of the best-known detective of all time (letters are still received at his fictional address in London). It consists of twelve stories and there is an admirable afterword by David Stuart Davies, who is regarded as an authority on Sherlock Holmes and has written all the afterwords for the Collector’s Library Holmes volumes.

This collection of Poe's work contains some of the most exciting and haunting stories ever written. They range from the poetic to the mysterious to the darkly comic, yet all possess the genius for the grotesque that defines Poe's writing. They are peopled with neurotics and social outcasts, obsessed with unknown terrors or preoccupied with seemingly insoluble mysteries. The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher are key works in the horror canon, while in The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Mystery of Marie Roget we find the origins of modern detective fiction. Collectively, these tales represent the best of Edgar Allan Poe’s prose work before his premature death in 1849. The world's greatest works of literature are now avaialble in these beautiful keepsake volumes. Bound in real cloth, and featuring gilt edges and ribbon markers, these beautifully produced books are a wonderful way to build a handsome library of classic literature. These are the essential novels that belong in every home. They'll transport readers to imaginary worlds and provide excitement, entertainment, and enlightenment for years to come. All of these novels feature attractive illustrations and have an unequalled period feel that will grace the library, the bedside table or bureau.

Throughout his illustrious writing career, Charles Dickens often turned his hand to fashioning short pieces of ghostly fiction. Even in his first successful work, Pickwick Papers, you will find five ghost stories, all of which are included in this collection. Dickens began the tradition of the "ghost story at Christmas" and many of his tales in this genre are presented here including the brilliant novella, "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain," which deserves to be as well known as A Christmas Carol. While all his supernatural tales aim to chill the spine, they are not without the usual traits of Dickens' flamboyant style, his subtle wit, biting irony, humorous incidents, and moral observations. It is a mixture which makes these stories fascinating and entertaining as well as unsettling. To paraphrase the Fat Boy in Pickwick Papers: Charles Dickens "wants to make your flesh creep."

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, nineteenth-century manner—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.

<div><DIV>Presented together in one volume, these are two of the greatest and most popular animal stories ever written. Even to designate them as "animal stories" seems to undervalue them, because these tremendous works are so much more than mere children's tales, although they are admittedly still greatly loved by the young. Penned by Jack London at the beginning of the twentieth century, the first, The Call of the Wild, tells the story of Buck, a domestic dog who is kidnapped from his home in California and forced to pull sleds in the Arctic wastes. In the second, White Fang, a cross-breed that is three-quarters wolf and one quarter dog, endures considerable suffering in the Arctic before being tamed by a white American and taken to live in California. The two narratives are remarkable for the vividness of their descriptions and the success with which London imagines life from a nonhuman perspective.</div></div>