Penguin Black Spine

Translated by Sylvia Raphael, this edition fully captures the wit and elegance of the original stories One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter...

Sue Bridehead, his last heroine, is an extaordinarily complex woman - an English Emma Bovary or Anna Karenina. Jude Fawley, the stonemason excluded not by his wits but by poverty...

New to Penguin Classics In 1933 Robert Byron began a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Teheran to Oxiana--the country of the Oxus, the ancient name...

The greatest classic of Vietnamese literature in a stunning new verse translation. "This manuscript is ancient, priceless, bamboo-rolled, perfumed with musty spices. Sit comfortably by this good light, that you...

A new translation of Simone Weil's best-known work- a political, philosophical and spiritual treatise on what human life could be An icon of twentieth-century French philosophy, Simone Weil was described...

A satirical, witty text from the greatest humanist of the Renaissance Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466-1536) is one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance humanist movement, which abandoned medieval...

Penguin Classics relaunch A penetrating account of Greek tragedy, it demonstrates how the elements of plot, character and spectacle combine to produce 'pity and fear' - and why we derive...

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school headmaster and model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder...

One of the great masterpieces of 17th century English prose, with a major new introduction Thomas Hobbes lived through the Thirty Years War and Britain's civil wars, and the trauma...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery A popular soldier and newly married man, Othello seems to be in an...

Penguin Classics relaunch At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break...

No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the class...

The complete collection of the poetry of Walt Whitman, one of the most influential American voices In 1855 Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass, the work which defined him as...

Timaeus and Critias has a central place in Western thought and is best known to many for the story of Atlantis Timaeus and Critias is a Socratic dialogue in two...

Two of Nietzsche's final and most devastating works 'Twilight of the Idols', an attack on all the prevalent ideas of his time, offers a lightning tour of his whole philosophy....

A new selection and translation of the best of de Maupassant's short stories Set in the Paris of society women, prostitutes and small-minded bourgeousie, and the isolated villages of rural...

The Comic masterpiece that catapulted the 24 year old Dickens to fame THE PICKWICK PAPERS began as a literary spoof centred around sketches of stock sporting fops by caricaturist Robert...

An exciting new selection of poems exploring faith, the divine and doubt, written by poets across the world from antiquity to the present Poets have always looked to the skies...

First new English translation since 1959 by acclaimed translator Robin Buss When Meaulnes first arrives at the local school in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good looks, daring and...

A key anthology of early Western thought The works collected in this volume form the true foundation of Western philosophy - the base upon which Plato and Aristotle and their...

Returns to the text of the first volume edition of 1848. Dombey and Son is both a firm and a family and the ambiguous connection between public and private life...

The story in which Watson meets Holmes, and the famous partnership is formed Convalescing in London after a disastrous experience of war in Afghanistan, Dr John Watson finds himself sharing...

First time in Black Classics 'Nonsense is the breath of my nostrils', wrote Edward Lear (1812-88), and this collection demonstrates the wonderfully varied ways in which he pursued his philosophy...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery Separated from her twin brother Sebastian after a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as...

Penguin Classics relaunch This is the second of a new two-volume edition of the works of Descartes in Penguin Classics. This volume is designed for students who approach Descartes from...

The story of a life-long infatuation, which is seen by many as Flaubert's masterpiece Sentimental Education begins with the hero - Frederic Moreau - leaving Paris and returning to the...

With an introduction that discusses Blake's life and career, his reputation and the major themes of his work, and explores the relationship between the poetry and the illustrations. Writer and...

This edition includes a list of suggestions for further reading, a glossary of important philosophical words and phrases, notes Exploring the question of what exactly makes good people good, Protagoras...

Contains new introduction to second edition by volume editor. Boethius was an eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, and an exceptional Greek scholar. When he became involved in...

Pushkin's masterpieces in prose, translated by the award-winning Pevear and Volokhonsky The father of Russian literature, Pushkin is beloved not only for his poetry but also for his brilliant stories,...

A wonderful edition of Herbert's poetry, edited by his acclaimed biographer John Drury, and including elegant new translations of his Latin verse by Victoria Moul George Herbert wrote, but never...

Andrei Bely's masterpiece; a vivid, memorable and striking story set at the heart of the 1905 Russian revolution Andrei Bely's Petersburg is a colourful evocation of Russia's capital during the...

Penguin Classics brings this seminal work by Engels back in to print, with a new introduction by historian Tristram Hunt The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State...

Plato's example of utopia In the Laws, Plato describes in fascinating detail a comprehensive system of legislation in a small agricultural utopia he named Magnesia. His laws not only govern...

This poems has been called ' the Qu'ran of the Persian language' Begun in 1262 AD, Masnavi-ye Ma 'navi, or 'spiritual couplets', is thought to be the longest single-authored 'mystical'...

Ford's great masterpiece set in the First World War, now in Penguin Black Classics with an introduction by Julian Barnes Consisting of four novels - Some Do Not..., No More...

The perennially popular book of advice on how to achieve personal and professional success, new to Penguin Classics Written over 350 years ago, The Pocket Oracle and the Art of...

Published alongisde other Conrad's works, on the 150th anniversary of his death Heart of Darkness has been considered for most of this century as a literary classic, and also as...

Penguin Classics relaunch During an eventful season at Bath, young, naive Catherine Morland experiences the joys of fashionable society for the first time. She is delighted with her new acquaintances-...

One of Japan's most treasured novels, new to Penguin Classics Botchan is a modern young man from the Tokyo metropolis, sent to the ultra-traditional Matsuyama district as a Maths teacher...

A light revision of our definitive collection, translated with an introduction by Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite Poetry remains a living part of the culture of Japan today. The cliches...

Three stories that form Flaubert's last complete work and reveal him as a master of the short story form. First published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions...

Penguin Classics relaunch Blaise Pascal, the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, was a gifted mathematician and physicist, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his...

Penguin Classics relaunch. In A Discourse on Inequality Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man's natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth,...

Only widely-available edition of Khayyam's lyrical poetry Revered in eleventh-century Persia as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Omar Khayyam is now known first and foremost for his Ruba'iyat. The short...

Colin Burrow's engaging (even amusing) introduction asks what the term metaphysical means and includes A Very Short History of Metaphysical Poetry from Donne to Rochester. Spanning the Elizabethan age to...

The first of the well-loved Chronicles of Barsetshire, The Warden reveals Trollope's ability to write satirically and hopefully about his society The tranquil atmosphere of the cathedral town of Barchester...

A selection of ground-breaking short stories, from the author of Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf tested the boundaries of fiction in these short stories, developing a new language of sensation, feeling...