Penguin Black Spine

Passionate and perceptive, the three short novels that make up Balzac's History of the Thirteen are concerned in part with the activities of a rich, powerful, sinister and unscrupulous secret...

A collection of eight of Chekhov's finest early stories. This collection of Chekhov's finest early writing reveals a young writer mastering the art of the short story. 'The Steppe', which...

A provocative and astute portrayal of a world caught by the lure of progress Published in 1886, The Bostonians begins with the arrival in Boston of Basil Ransom, a young...

One of the most interesting and important poets of the seventeenth century. Member of Parliament, tutor to Oliver Cromwell's ward, satirist and friend of John Milton, Andrew Marvell was one...

Considered by many to be her masterpiece, Edith Wharton's second full-length work is a scathing yet personal examination of the exploits and follies of the modern upper class. As she...

Five of Euripides' boldest and most moving tragedies,all focussing on strong female characters Written during a period overshadowed by the fierce struggle for supremacy between Sparta and Euripides' native Athens,...

Scandinavia's best-loved children's classic from the first female writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature Nils Holgersson is a naughty boy who tortures animals and never listens to his...

With an introduction by Pankaj Mishra The Ramayana is, quite simply, the greatest of Indian epics - and one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytelling 'Almost every individual living...

A rich and unforgettable tragic-comic novel of sexual intrigue and political scheming in nineteenth-century Spain One of the greatest nineteenth-century Spanish novels, The House of Ulloa follows pure and pious...

Masterful versions of Ibsen's two great verse plays by one of our greatest living poets, Geoffrey Hill These two masterly and contrasting verse dramas by Ibsen made his reputation as...

Strange, macabre and utterly unsettling- the first great science fiction work of the twentieth century The Purple Cloud tells the grandly bleak story of Adam Jeffson- the first man to...

Stendhal's intensely personal and yet universal work on Love In 1818, when he was in his mid-thirties, Stendhal met and fell passionately in love with the beautiful Mathilde Dembowski. She,...

Set at the time of the Jacobite uprising, The Master of Ballantrae tells of a family divided. James Durie, Master of Ballantrae, abandons his ancestral home to support the Scottish...

A new edition of Christina Rossetti's poetry This new selection of Rossetti's poems brings together works by one of the most significant nineteenth-century English poets. It includes an illuminating introduction,...

The complete collection of Donne's poems, including his famous Holy Sonnets, 'The Flea' and 'The Sun Rising' No poet has been more wilfully contradictory than John Donne, whose works forge...

One of the most important essays on religious tolerance and freedom of thought In 1762 Jean Calas, a merchant from Toulouse, was executed after being falsely accused of killing his...

A new collection of Pushkin's great narrative and lyric verse, translated by Antony Wood WINNER OF THE READ RUSSIA PRIZE 2020 Alexander Pushkin established what we know as Russian literature....

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery When Theseus, Duke of Athens, learns that the ruler of Thebes has killed...

Conrad's last great novel, featuring one of his most fascinating heroes, Victory is a psychological thriller, a tragic romance and a commentary on the lies that we tell ourselves. Axel...

Kipling's masterpiece about a boy's journey through imperial India, edited by Harish Trivedi Kipling's epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Two men...

Part of a series of new editions of D.H. Lawrence's most famous novels, stories and poems These three novellas display D. H. Lawrence's brilliant and insightful evocation of human relationships...

First time in Black Classics for this famous Victorian retelling of the stories of Shakespeare's plays - sells 8-10,000/year in its PPC edition As children, Charles and Mary Lamb took...

Part of a series of new editions of Conrad's most famous novels in Black Classics This compact novel, completed in 1900, as with so many of the great novels of...

One of the great novels of the twentieth century, now in a wonderful new cover The Rainbow chronicles the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family over a period...

Part of a series of new editions of Henry James's most famous novels and short stories When Chadwick Newsome, a young American favoured with fortune and independence, becomes entangled in...

Rediscover H.G. Wells - what does he mean to you? When penniless businessman Mr Bedford retreats to the Kent coast to write a play, he meets by chance the brilliant...

Rediscover H.G. Wells - what does he mean to you? A troubled insomniac in 1890s England falls suddenly into a sleep-like trance, from which he does not awake for over...

Pygmalion both delighted and scandalized its first audiences in 1914. A brilliantly witty reworking of the classical tale of the sculptor Pygmalion, who falls in love with his perfect female...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery Pericles, Prince of Tyre, must solve a riddle in order to marry the...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery After squandering his wealth with prodigal generosity, a rich Athenian gentleman finds himself...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery A peerless general is offered the consulship of Rome after his triumph over...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery It is the seventh year of the Trojan War. The Greek army is...

A collection of controversial and galvanizing essays on literature, culture and politics from Matthew Arnold, one of the greatest Victorian thinkers 'One has often wondered whether upon the whole earth...

A new volume of the greatest tragedies of the seventeenth-century stage These four plays, written during the reigns of James I and Charles I, took revenge tragedy in dark and...

Jay Rubin's translation of Soseki's cherished novel, new to Penguin Classics One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshiro leaving the sleepy countryside for...

New translation of One of Plato's major dialogues, popular because of its subject-matter- love Phaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato's most profound and beautiful works. It takes the...

First time in Penguin Classics for Rostand's popular comedy about the love-sick swain with an ear for a fine phrase and an extravagantly large nose. Poet and soldier, brawler and...

New translation by Roger Whitehouse for this tale of murder, passion, and possession La Bete humaine (1890), the seventeenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, is one of Zola's most violent...

This volume includes Family Happiness; The Kreutzer Sonata; The Devil and Father Sergius. The four stories are all about love, but they take very different attitudes towards it. Tolstoy knows...

A collection of nine of Chekhov's short stories from the middle period of his life These stories from the middle period of Chekhov's career show him exploring complex, ambiguous and...

First complete translation into English of 'Maximem und Reflexionen' Throughout his long, hectic and astonishingly varied life, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) would jot down his passing thoughts on theatre...

Deeply sensitive and faithful to the original work, Guy Lee's verse translation is here paralleled by the original Latin text. Haunting and enigmatic, Virgil's Eclogues combined a Greek literary form...

An intriguing document giving insight into the founders of the Roman republic These nine biographies illuminate the careers, personalities and military campaigns of some of Rome's greatest statesmen, whose lives...

A new selection of the powerful and moving letters and poems Wilde wrote in prison, edited with an introduction by Colm T ibin At the start of 1895, Oscar Wilde...

Completes the set of six 'Palliser' novels available in Penguin Classics. In the fourth of the 'Palliser' stories, Trollope follows Phineas Finn's return to the dangerous world of Westminster politics....

A gripping melodrama from Wilkie Collins When the elderly Allan Armadale makes a terrible confession on his death-bed, he has little idea of the repercussions to come, for the secret...

This is the fifth volume of Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire Engaged to the ambitious and self-serving Adolphus Crosbie, Lily Dale is devastated when he jilts her for the aristocratic Lady...

A collection of three of the sharpest Restoration comedies The three plays collected in this volume demonstrate Sheridan's unerring ability to create unrivalled comedy out of ingenious plots, witty repartee,...