Penguin Black Spine

New selection and translation of the great epic story of ancient India, revealing a mythic world of bloody conflict, magic and beauty The Mahabharata is one of the two major...

A lively and enchanting collection of much-loved tales, new to Penguin Classics Mystery and excitement abound in this lively collection of fairy tales, folklore and legends, which celebrate Scotland's enormously...

A new translation by Valerie Roebuck of this seminal work of Buddhist literature One of the best-known and best-loved works of Buddhist literature, the Dhammapada forms part of the oldest...

One of the great books in Western history and the very first work of non-fiction, in Tom Holland's compelling new translation The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half...

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 new edition of James's chilling novella, edited by David Bromwich 'The apparition had reached the landing half-way up and was therefore on the spot nearest the window where, at...

Rediscover H.G. Wells - what does he mean to you? With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin -...

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...

Reflecting the voices of poets, soldiers, the families they left behind and their comrades who would never return, The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, previously published as In...

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...

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...

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...

Jhumpa Lahiri's rich and varied selection of the greatest Italian writing of the twentieth century, now a Penguin Classics paperback This landmark collection brings together forty writers that reflect over...

New translation of a compelling work which stands alongside The Cloud of Unknowing and Langland's Piers Plowman as a classic from this golden age of literature. Coming from a society...

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...

The complete collection of Blake's symbolic and revolutionary poems, from the deceptive simplicity of Songs of Innocence, to the grandeur of Jerusalem One of the great English Romantic poets, William...

Penguin Classics relaunch. Laurence Sterne's great masterpiece of bawdy humour and rich satire defies any attempt to categorize it. Part novel, part digression, its gloriously disordered narrative interweaves the birth...

Influential writings on the possibility of synthesising Greek thought and Christian faith Composed during a critical time in the evolution of European intellectual life, the works of Meister Eckhart (c....

First time in Black Classics for Forster's autobiographical novel of homosexual love. Maurice Hall is a young man who grows up confident in his privileged status and well aware of...

Penguin Classics Relaunch. Wrongly accused of theft and exiled from a religious community many years before, the embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe, living only for work and...

One of the great figures of English Romanticism, Coleridge's poems show diversity and imaginative genius One of the major figures of English Romanticism, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) created works of...

A major new translation by Dominic Baker-Smith of More's perenially popular Latin text 'Even if you can't eradicate harmful ideas or remedy established evils, that's no reason to turn your...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

The essential writings of ancient Egypt, from songs to stories, newly translated 'Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away. But writings make him remembered.' The...

Penguin Classics relaunch. In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside. They amuse themselves by each telling a...

A fine collection of the greatest French tales about the legend of Arthur Taking the legends surrounding King Arthur and weaving in new psychological elements of personal desire and courtly...

Monsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Mademe Vauquer's dingy Parisian boarding house. At first his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced...

New to Penguin Classics, these two Japanese texts are timeless reflections on Buddhism, nature and the value of being idle These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist...

Penguin Classics relaunch Mary Barton, the daughter of disillusioned trade unionist, rejects her working-class lover Jem Wilson in the hope of marrying Henry Carson, the mill owner's son, and making...

A collection of Schopenhauer's powerful and inventive philosophy One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by...

A spectacular verse translation of one the most foundational texts in world literature Beowulf is the greatest surviving work of literature in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and...

This is a lightly revised edition of Mattingly's original translation plus a new introduction, new notes, a chronology and further reading, by James Rives The Agricola is both a portrait...

Penguin Classics relaunch 'Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains' These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate...

First time in Penguin Classics This was the most popular novel of Radcliffe's time and Radcliffe's portrayal of her heroine's inner life raised the Gothic romance to a new level....

Anne Bronte's first novel, offering a compelling insight into the world of the Victorian governess When her family becomes impoverished after a disastrous financial speculation, Agnes Grey determines to find...

Penguin Classics relaunch. When her father leaves the Church, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially...

A revelatory and richly varied collection of Korea's greatest short stories This eclectic, moving and wonderfully enjoyable collection is the essential introduction to Korean literature. Journeying through Korea's dramatic twentieth...

A tale of princely jealousy and vengeance, the Saga has been an inspiration for Wagner and J.R.R. Tolkien Based on Viking Age poems, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology,...

A rich and exquisite anthology that illuminates Japanese travel over a thousand years Shortlisted for the NSW Translation Prize Discover a realm of travel writing undreamed of in the West...

The next in our rejacketing of a crucial Classics author Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John...

A Russian heir to Charles Dickens, Leskov is one of the great, underrated voices of nineteenth-century Russia An outsider from the literary establishment of his day, Nikolai Leskov is one...

A richly enthralling and evocative account of King Arthur Le Morte D'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's richly evocative and enthralling version of the Arthurian legend. Recounting Arthur's birth, his ascendancy...

Asser's revealing account of one of the great medieval kings Asser's Life of King Alfred, written in 893, is a revealing account of one of the greatest of medieval kings....

Regarded as the founder of Neo-Platonism, Plotinus (AD 204-70) was the last great philosopher of antiquity, producing 0works that proved in many ways a precursor to Renaissance thought. Plotinus was...