Penguin Black Spine

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky's powerful meditation on faith, meaning and morality, The Brothers Karamazov is translated with an introduction and notes by David McDuff in Penguin Classics. When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov...

The acclaimed new translation of Tolstoy's masterpiece, for the first time in Black Classics after the successful hardback and Red Classics editions - 10,000+ hbks and by time of BC...

Penguin Classics relaunch The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by...

Basho's beautifully-written and closely observed descriptions of his travels in Japan In his perfectly crafted haiku poems, Basho described the natural world with great simplicity and delicacy of feeling. When...

Tim Parks's celebrated new translation of this classic text, now in paperback As a diplomat in turbulent fifteenth-century Florence, Niccol Machiavelli (1469-1527) knew how quickly political fortunes could rise and...

Rilke's powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet, now in Penguin Classics At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a...

Aristotole's examination of the nature of happiness In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle sets out to examine the nature of happiness. He argues that happiness consists in 'activity of the soul...

A new translation of the oldest non-canonical Christian gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Judas In the early years of Christianity, several...

Eusebius is regarded as *the* historian of Christian antiquity Eusebius's account is the only surviving historical record of the Church during its crucial first 300 years. Bishop Eusebius, a learned...

Traditionally attributed to Lao Tzu, an older contemporary of Confucius (551 - 479 BC), it is now thought that the work was compiled in about the fourth century BC. An...

When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and...

Reissued with a new cover and lower price as part of Penguin Classics overhaul of Jane Austen's editions The culmination of Jane Austen's genius, a sparkling comedy of love and...

A major anthology of great Japanese short stories, now in Penguin Classics This fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the great Japanese short story, from its modern origins in the...

Beyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche's position as the towering European philosopher of his age. The work dramatically rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and...

In a new translation by Ronald Wilks 'Notes from Underground' (1864) is a study of a single character, 'the real man of the Russian majority', and a revelation of Dostoyevsky's...

The definitive translation of the world's oldest known epic, now revised in a second edition (2020) and updated with newly discovered material. The definitive translation of the world's oldest known...

First paperback publication of this acclaimed new translation of The Qur'an Considered in Islam to be the infallible word of God, The Qur'an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad by...

A major new translation of one of Dostoyevsky's four great novels Pyotr and Stavrogin are the leaders of a Russian revolutionary cell. Their aim is to overthrow the Tsar, destroy...

Fairy tales, ghost stories, detective fiction and comedies of manners - the stories collected in this volume made Oscar Wilde's name as a writer of fiction, showing breathtaking dexterity in...

New translation of one of the central texts of Sanskrit The Bhagavad Gita is an early epic poem that recounts the conversation between Arjuna the warrior and his charioteer Krishna,...

A new translation by Richard Pevear Young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris to join the King's elite guards, but almost immediately finds he is duelling with some of the very men...

The classic dystopian novel from Sweden, written at the midpoint between Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four Leo Kall is a zealous, middle-ranking scientist in the totalitarian World State who...

One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer's Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its centre is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of...

Robin Kirkpatrick's superb translation of the most famous work of Italian literature, in a one-volume edition The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his...

One of the key works of existentialist thought One of the most remarkable philosophical works of the nineteenth century, The Sickness Unto Death is also famed for the depth and...

A magical, substantially true narrative of piracy, zoology, anthropology, danger and adventure in the seventeenth-century Caribbean, Pacific and East Indies The first great English-language travel book, A New Voyage Round...

The most influential political statement of the twentieth century The Communist Manifesto (1848), Marx and Engels's revolutionary summons to the working classes, is one of the most important and influential...

This Penguin Classics edition of Louisa May Alcott's inspiring tale of sisterhood, Little Women, is edited with an introduction by Elaine Showalter. One of the best loved books of all...

A new translation of Sade's most notorious, shocking and influential novel This horrible but hugely important text has influenced countless individuals throughout history- Flaubert and Baudelaire both read Sade; the...

Elegant and rich Persian poetry Thirteenth-century Persian philosopher, mystic, scholar and founder of the order of the Whirling Dervishes, Jelaluddin Rumi was also a poet of transcendental power. His inspirational...

Penguin Classics relaunch. As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people- Ada and Richard...

The definitive version of Jane Austen's timeless novel of love's triumph over adversity When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is...

Written in 1908, A Room With A View is one of E.M. Forster's earliest and most celebrated works. Forster's social comedy is a witty observation of the English middle classes...

One of the greatest theological works, and is one of the most influential Christian documents. St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of...

This foundational work on architecture is brought to Penguin Classics for the first time in a new illustrated edition In De architectura (c.40 BC), Vitruvius discusses in ten encyclopedic chapters...

Penguin Classics relaunch Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and his companion Enkidu are the only heroes to have survived from the ancient literature of Babylon, immortalized in this epic poem that...

A compelling argument for the necessity of art in life. A compelling argument for the necessity for art in life, Nietzsche's first book is fuelled by his enthusiasms for Greek...

A unique and enchanting collection of Russian folk tales collected over the last two centuries In these tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children...

One of the greatest works of philosophy, political theory, and literature ever produced, Plato's Republic has shaped Western thought for thousands of years, and remains as relevant today as when...

Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's...

A new selection of seven of Dostoyevsky's best short stories, translated by Ronald Meyer The Gambler and Other Stories is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's collection of one novella and six short stories...

"I think this version is terrific. The light enjambed English hexameters are a great success. The effect is properly propulsive." - Prof A D Nuttall, Oxford Ovid's deliciously witty and...

A new edition of Henry James's great masterpiece about a spirited young American in Europe, edited by Philip Horne When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe...

Contains The Cloud of Unknowing, The Mystical Theology of Saint Denis, The Book of Privy Counselling, and An Epistle on Prayer. Against a tradition of devotional writings which focussed on...

Three sparkling short works showcasing Austen's range and humour, in a clean new setting These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama...

New translation of a book that has sold over 100,000 in its previous version A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along...

Penguin Classics relaunch. With Robinson Crusoe, Defoe wrote what is regarded as the first English novel, and created one of the most popular and enduring myths in literature. Written in...