- Table View
- List View
Letters to His Son, 1756-58 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Letters to His Son, 1759-65 / On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman
by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope ChesterfieldEarl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield was an 18th century British aristocrat best known for his wit and for being a man of letters. His works offer a great insight into what life was like during the time period in England.
Mark Twain's Letters -- Volume 1 (1853-1866)
by Mark TwainNowhere is the human being more truly revealed than in his letters. Not in literary letters-prepared with care, and the thought of possible publication-but in those letters wrought out of the press of circumstances, and with no idea of print in mind. A collection of such documents, written by one whose life has become of interest to mankind at large, has a value quite aside from literature, in that it reflects in some degree at least the soul of the writer. The letters of Mark Twain are peculiarly of the revealing sort. He was a man of few restraints and of no affectations. In his correspondence, as in his talk, he spoke what was in his mind, untrammeled by literary conventions. Review.
Mark Twain's Letters -- Volume 2 (1867-1875)
by Mark TwainHere is young Sam Clemens—in the world, getting famous, making love—in 155 magnificently edited letters that trace his remarkable self-transformation from a footloose, irreverent West Coast journalist to a popular lecturer and author of The Jumping Frog, soon to be a national and international celebrity. And on the move he was—from San Francisco to New York, to St. Louis, and then to Paris, Naples, Rome, Athens, Constantinople, Yalta, and the Holy Land; back to New York and on to Washington; back to San Francisco and Virginia City; and on to lecturing in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. Resplendent with wit, love of life, ambition, and literary craft, this new volume in the wonderful Bancroft Library edition of Mark Twain's Letters will delight and inform both scholars and general readers.
Mark Twain's Letters -- Volume 3 (1876-1885)
by Mark Twain"Don't scold me, Livy—let me pay my due homage to your worth; let me honor you above all women; let me love you with a love that knows no doubt, no question—for you are my world, my life, my pride, my all of earth that is worth the having." These are the words of Samuel Clemens in love. Playful and reverential, jubilant and despondent, they are filled with tributes to his fiancée Olivia Langdon and with promises faithfully kept during a thirty-four-year marriage. The 188 superbly edited letters gathered here show Samuel Clemens having few idle moments in 1869. When he was not relentlessly "banged about from town to town" on the lecture circuit or busily revising The Innocents Abroad, the book that would make his reputation, he was writing impassioned letters to Olivia. These letters, the longest he ever wrote, make up the bulk of his correspondence for the year and are filled with his acute wit and dazzling language. This latest volume of Mark Twain's Letters captures Clemens on the verge of becoming the celebrity and family man he craved to be. This volume has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and by a major donation to the Friends of The Bancroft Library from the Pareto Fund.
Mark Twain's Letters -- Volume 4 (1886-1900)
by Mark TwainAt the beginning of 1870, fresh from the success of The Innocents Abroad, Clemens is on "the long agony" of a lecture tour and planning to settle in Buffalo as editor of the Express. By the end of 1871, he has moved to Hartford and is again on tour, anticipating the publication of Roughing It and the birth of his second child. The intervening letters show Clemens bursting with literary ideas, business schemes, and inventions, and they show him erupting with frustration, anger, and grief, but more often with dazzling humor and surprising self-revelation. In addition to Roughing It, Clemens wrote some enduringly popular short pieces during this period, but he saved some of his best writing for private letters, many of which are published here for the first time.
Mark Twain's Letters -- Volume 5 (1901-1906)
by Mark TwainOn his first trip to England to gather material for a book and cement relations with his newly authorized English publishers, Samuel Clemens was astounded to find himself hailed everywhere as a literary lion. America's premier humorist had begun his long tenure as an international celebrity. Meanwhile, he was coming into his full power at home. The Innocents Abroad continued to produce impressive royalties and his new book, Roughing It, was enjoying great popularity. In newspaper columns he appeared regularly as public advocate and conscience, speaking on issues as disparate as safety at sea and political corruption. Clemens's personal life at this time was for the most part fulfilling, although saddened by the loss of his nineteen-month-old son, Langdon, who died of diphtheria. Life in the Nook Farm community of writers and progressive thinkers and activists was proving to be all the Clemenses had hoped for. The 309 letters in this volume, more than half of them never before published, capture the events of these years with detailed intimacy. Thoroughly annotated and indexed, they are supplemented by genealogical charts of the Clemens and Langdon families, a transcription of the journals Clemens kept during his 1872 visit to England, book contracts, his preface to the English edition of The Gilded Age, contemporary photographs of family and friends, and a gathering of all newly discovered letters written between 1865 and 1871. This volume is the fifth in the only complete edition of Mark Twain's letters ever attempted, and the twenty-fourth in the comprehensive edition known as The Mark Twain Papers and Works of Mark Twain.
Mark Twain's Letters -- Volume 6 (1907-1910)
by Mark TwainMark Twain's letters for 1874 and 1875 encompass one of his most productive and rewarding periods as author, husband and father, and man of property. He completed the writing of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published the major collection Sketches, New and Old, became a leading contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, and turned The Gilded Age, the novel he had previously coauthored with Charles Dudley Warner, into one of the most popular comedies of the nineteenth-century American stage. His personal life also was gratifying, unmarred by the family tragedies that had darkened the earlier years of the decade. He and his wife welcomed a second healthy daughter and moved into the showplace home in Hartford, Connecticut, that they occupied happily for the next sixteen years. All of these accomplishments and events are vividly captured, in Mark Twain's inimitable language and with his unmatched humor, in letters to family and friends, among them some of the leading writers of the day. The comprehensive editorial annotation supplies the historical and social context that helps make these letters as fresh and immediate to a modern audience as they were to their original readers. This volume is the sixth in the only complete edition of Mark Twain's letters ever attempted. The 348 letters it contains, many of them never before published, have been meticulously transcribed, either from the original manuscripts (when extant) or from the most reliable sources now available. They have been thoroughly annotated and indexed and are supplemented by genealogical charts, contemporary notices of Mark Twain and his works, and photographs of him, his family, and his friends.
A Man of Business
by Honoré De BalzacThough a relatively short story, "A Man of Business" is an important component of Honore de Balzac's vast story cycle The Human Comedy, involving many of the recurring characters from the series and tying up a number of loose ends. <P> <P> As a fete thrown at the home of his mistress begins to wind down, Cardot invites the lingering merrymakers to settle around the table and begins telling a story about a clever debt-collection scheme.
A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53
by Mrs Charles ClacyA Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53 is an account of Clacy's visit with her brother to the Victorian goldfields. <P> <P> It combines detailed description with features of real dramatic interest and gives a lively impression of the times. Ellen Clacy (Mrs Charles) 1830-? was the author of Light and Shadows of Australian Life (1854) and A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53 (1853)
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE POSITION OF MR. DARWIN'S WORK, "ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES,"
by Thomas Henry HuxleyA Critical Examination of the Position of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On the Origin of Species," in Relation to the Complete Theory of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature Lecture VI. (of VI.), "Lectures to Working Men", at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, on Darwin's Work: "Origin of Species"
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
by UnknownHarald Fairhair was king of Norway when this tale begins. There was a chief in the kingdom in those days and his name was Cormac; one of the Vik-folk by kindred, a great man of high birth. He was the mightiest of champions, and had been with King Harald in many battles. He had a son called Ogmund, a very hopeful lad; big and sturdy even as a child; who when he was grown of age and come to his full strength, took to sea-roving in summer and served in the king's household in winter. So he earned for himself a good name and great riches. One summer he went roving about the British Isles and there he fell in with a man named Asmund Ashenside, who also was a great champion and had worsted many vikings and men of war. These two heard tell of one another and challenges passed between them. They came together and fought. Asmund had the greater following, but he withheld some of his men from the battle: and so for the length of four days they fought, until many of Asmund's people were fallen, and at last he himself fled...At that time Norway was very disturbed. Harald Shockhead, the son of Halfdan the Black, till then king of the Upplands, was aiming at the supreme kingship. victorious. Then he marched harrying through the territories to the South, bringing them into subjection wherever he came. On reaching Hordland he was opposed by a motley multitude led by Kjotvi the Wealthy, Thorir Long-chin, and Soti and King Sulki from South Rogaland. Geirmund Swarthyskin was then away in the West, beyond the sea, so he was not present at the battle, although Hordland belonged to his dominion. Onund and his party had arrived that autumn from the western seas, and when Thorir and Kjotvi heard of their landing they sent envoys to ask for their aid, promising to treat them with honor
Life Is a Dream
by Pedro Calderón de la BarcaConsidered one of the outstanding Spanish dramas of all time, this 17th-century allegory explores the mysteries of human destiny, the illusory nature of existence, and the struggle between predestination and free will. On the basic plot structure of king's suspicions of his son's role in an impending revolution, the playwright builds a dramatic edifice of theatricality, rich in symbolism and metaphor, expressed in magnificent poetry. This edition presents an excellent new English translation, with an informative introduction and footnotes.
The Life of St. Declan of Ardmore
by Reverend PowerThe date or period at which the Lives (Latin and Irish) were written is manifestly, for half a dozen good reasons, a question of the utmost importance to the student of the subject. Alas, that the question has to some extent successfully defied quite satisfactory solution. We can, so far, only conjecture—though the probabilities seem strong and the grounds solid. The probabilities are that the Latin Lives date as a rule from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when they were put into something like their present form for reading (perhaps in the refectory) in the great religious houses. They were copied and re-copied during the succeeding centuries and the scribes according to their knowledge, devotion or
Damaged Goods / The great play "Les avariés" by Brieux, novelized with the approval of the author
by Eugène Brieux Upton SinclairSynopsis not available
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 17: Return to Italy
by Giacomo CasanovaN/A
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 04: Return to Venice
by Giacomo CasanovaN/A
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 12: Return to Paris
by Giacomo CasanovaN/A
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 18: Return to Naples
by Giacomo CasanovaN/A
A Prince of Bohemia
by Honoré De BalzacThis short vignette from Honore de Balzac, a key figure in French realism, is a story within a story. <P> <P> The narrator, Nathan, regales a pair of aristocratic ladies with stories about the Rusticoli family and its most prominent member, La Palferine. At first, his audience is unappreciative, but over time, they become wrapped up in the multi-generational saga.
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms / Being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline
by FaxianLittle is known about the 5th-century Chinese monk Fâ-hien beyond what he himself tells us in the journals of his travels in India and Ceylon from the years 399 to 414 in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. <P> <P> But as he follows in the footsteps of the Buddha, revisiting the legendary places of the faith, his wise observations reveal an enlightenment that transcends time. Traveling from China to India and back again to China via Ceylon and the South East Asian Islands. Among the places visited by the monk are Khotan, Skardu, Crossings of the Indus, Udyana, Gandhara, Takshashila, Peshawar, Nagara, Mathura, Kosala, Kapilavastu, Vaishali, Rejagriha, Gaya, Patna and Ceylon. <P> <P> An important primary source on the traditions and beliefs of Buddhism, this 1886 translation -- complete with copious notes on Buddhist ideas and rituals, particular translations, illustrated with drawings, poetic idioms, and annotations -- is still considered the best English-language version available. Spiritual seekers will find a deeper understanding of Buddhism; students of Asian history will discover a glorious travelogue of an ancient culture. <P> <P> Scottish scholar James Legge (1815-1897) was the first professor of Chinese language and literature at Oxford University, serving from 1876 to 1897. Among his many books are The Life and Teaching of Confucius (1867), The Religions of China (1880), and the 50-volume Sacred Books of the East (1879-1891).
A Start in Life
by Honoré De BalzacThe novel A Start in Life is part of the Scenes of Private Life section of Honore de Balzac's masterpiece of nineteenth-century realism, The Human Comedy. <P> <P> In much of Balzac's work, the aristocracy is portrayed as vain, duplicitous, and greedy. But in this novel, it is members of the working class who are mercilessly skewered when what starts out as a harmless prank rapidly snowballs into a comedy of errors with profound consequences.
A Second Home
by Honoré De BalzacUne double famille (A Second Home) is a lengthy short story by Honoré de Balzac, which first appeared in 1830 under the title La femme vertueuse (The Virtuous Woman). <P> <P> It was subsequently published in 1832 by Mame et Delaunay as part of Balzac's Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes from Private Life). In 1835 it appeared, in an edition by Madame Béchet, in the collection Études de mœurs (Studies of Manners). The novel only acquired its present title in 1842, when the fifth edition appeared in Volume I of the Scenes from Private Life, which was also the first volume of Balzac's La Comédie humaine. <P> <P> The novel comprises two parts, two stories, which are really two sides of the same story. The plot revolves around an act of adultery - a double life, a second family - which is in some sense justified. From the beginning, the setting recalls the atmosphere of Balzac's Ferragus. In a squalid house, in a sordid neighbourhood, an old woman offers an angelic creature - her own daughter - to passers by. The Comte de Granville, unhappily married to a sanctimonious woman, falls in love with this grisette. An aristocrat and a magistrate of integrity, he had made a name for himself in the Gondreville affair, which Balzac would later recount in Une ténébreuse affaire (A Murky Affair). <P> <P> In this work, the author protests against the excesses of bigotry and, according to a principle dear to him, he contrasts the interior design of an aristocratic house with both the grime of a squalid Parisian neighbourhood and the cheerful décor of a grisette's apartment (another familiar theme in the works of Balzac). Madame du Granville's home is, in his eyes: a place of cold, arid solemnity, of moral rectitude and narrow-mindedness. Whereas the grisette's flat, like that of La Torpille (Esther Van Gobseck), is a place of delights.