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First published in 1815, The Devil's Elixirs is a macabre masterpiece of German literature, and is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Romantic movement, or the genres of fantasy and horror which it spawned.

O'Brien's few surviving stories give him an important place in the development of American fiction and remain as fresh today as when they first written more than a hundred and fifty years ago.

Mörike's vivid and imaginative depiction of a day in the life of Mozart captures both the humorous and the more fragile and pensive side of the Austrian genius.

One of the main forces in early nineteenth-century literature, Sir Walter Scott was not only among the greatest novelists of his time, but influenced generations of writers, including literary giants such as Stendhal and Tolstoy. Though chiefly remembered for his historical epics Ivanhoe, Rob Roy and Guy Mannering, Scott penned a number of short stories which have been unjustly eclipsed by the enduring fame of his longer works.This volume brings together some of Scott's best short stories, each containing an element of the supernatural - a ghostly apparition in ?The Tapestried Chamber', a tale of magic in ?My Aunt Margaret's Mirror', grotesque diablerie in ?Wandering Willie's Tale', the power of second sight in ?The Two Drovers' and the inevitability of Fate in ?The Highland Widow' - all revealing the author's great talent in the shorter-fiction form.

From the stark depictions of rural Russia in 'Provincial Life' to the vivid portrayal of an artillery unit in 'At the End of the Earth', from stories such as 'The Cave' and 'Mamai', describing the terrible conditions endured by the citizens of Petrograd in the years of the civil war, to 'X', a light-hearted, slightly absurdist example of metafiction, through to the sombre tones of the final story in this volume, 'Flood', this volume collects some of the best fiction by the celebrated author of We.Presented in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin, these stories - some of them never translated before into English - show why Zamyatin's oeuvre as a whole is worthy of greater recognition today, not just for the context it affords readers of his most famous novel, but also for the light it can shed on Russian literature, culture and society of its time - as well as, most importantly, for its own intrinsic merit.

In The Chinese Conundrum, Vince Cable provides an answer to these and many other topical questions of global politics and economy, examining the long history of relationships between China and the West, as well as the change in attitudes on both sides of the divide.

Summoned from London, journalist Edward Malone, narrator of Arthur Conan Doyle's prehistoric-adventure novel The Lost World, finds himself reunited with his erstwhile travelling companions at the country home of their leader, the indomitable Professor Challenger, who, confining his guests in a sealed room with the cylinders of oxygen they have brought at his request, informs them that the Earth is passing through an immense miasma of poisonous ether that will likely extirpate all life. And so the isolated inmates begin a grim and terrifying vigil - but will the toxic vapour dissipate before their limited supply of oxygen is exhausted?Presented here with two short stories representing further thrilling episodes in the illustrious career of Conan Doyle's other great anti-hero, Professor Challenger - ?The Disintegration Machine' and ?When the World Screamed' - The Poison Belt is a tour de force of speculative fiction that is the equal of any of the author's best-known works.

In late 1927, at the age of twenty-four, George Orwell relocated to a tiny flat on London's Portobello Road, and from there embarked on a series of exploratory "tramping? expeditions to the city's East End, then a place of great squalor and deprivation. Later he moved to Paris's bohemian Latin Quarter, where, in early 1929, during a bout of serious illness, he was the victim of a robbery that left him in a state of near destitution, forcing him to work punishing hours in a series of menial jobs, including as a restaurant dishwasher. These real-life experiences laid the foundations for what would be the young writer's first full-length work.Populated by a troupe of colourful characters, replete with penetrating observations and cast in the limpid prose that would become Orwell's hallmark, Down and Out in Paris and London - published by Victor Gollancz in 1933 - provides both an invaluable historical snapshot and an insight into the perennial social evils of inequality, poverty and alienation.

Embodying his passion for nonsense, Lear's limericks, stories, poems, alphabets and miscellaneous pieces, each accompanied by one of the author's beguiling original illustrations, are fun, lyrical, lively and hilarious, and have enchanted children and adults since their first appearance in print.

Happily engaged to the poet Amandus, Fräulein Anna is horrified to discover that a beautiful ring, mysteriously deposited upon her finger whilst tending her kitchen garden, forces her into marriage with the gnome Corduanspitz. Can Anna find any way of removing the ring? Will her poet lover shake off his passive demeanour and come to her aid? And has Corduanspitz truly relinquished all ties to his gnome heritage?Around a love story very much of its time, Hoffman arranges a narrative that brings to mind the most successful elements of contemporary magical realism and surreal comedy. Always entertaining, yet capable of a focused though subtle morality, The King's Bride brings disparate elements into a masterful harmony.

After one of their own people repeatedly fails to live up to a pact with the Devil, a petty and morally bankrupt village community is plagued by a swarm of deadly black spiders. Using a complex narrative structure, Gotthelf's cautionary novella shrewdly dissects the iniquitous social dynamics of rural life.First published in 1842, The Black Spider displays its author's talent for dark satire and realism, as well as the visionary powers of his imagination.

Although its author never experienced the horrors of the Civil War at first hand, The Red Badge of Courage has often been praised for its realism and the authenticity of its settings and battle scenes, as well as for the nuanced psychology of its protagonist's internal struggles.

Martin Arrowsmith, a young medical student at the University of Winnemac, is driven by a sincere passion and a desire to make a positive contribution to the world. But events get in the way, and a series of personal vicissitudes, love interests and societal pressures threaten to lead him away from the path of pure science - until he is forced, in the face of a humanitarian crisis, to decide between scientific rigour and compassion, between maintaining his medical principles and saving lives.First published in 1925 to great critical acclaim, Arrowsmith is the third major novel by Sinclair Lewis, author of Main Street and Babbitt, and arguably his most ambitious work. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1926 - which the author famously declined - it contributed to Lewis's growing reputation as a master storyteller, social commentator and the unsurpassed satirist of his time.

Following the critical and commercial success of A Literary Tour of Italy, acclaimed novelist Tim Parks presents a new selection of his latest essays on Italian literature, offering a lively, accessible and stimulating diorama of the cultural landscape of Italy.

The Cross and the Arrow - first published in 1944, during the latter stages of the war it describes - portrays a man's struggle to retain his dignity in defiance of state-sponsored cruelty and explores the role and responsibility of the individual in the face of tragic global events.

Published in 1891, and described by Orwell as "Gissing's masterpiece", New Grub Street is a powerful, haunting exploration of the plight of the professional writer in a philistine age, and of the perennial dichotomy between literary merit and commercial success. Now presented in a new annotated edition.

A brand-new translation of Jules Verne's classic adventure story which has been adapted numerous times for the stage and the screen. Illustrated by Ross Collins. Contains extra material for young readers.

Now presented in a new annotated edition, The Road to Wigan Pier represents a unique record of a society riven by class inequality and plagued by unemployment, inadequate housing, unsafe working conditions and other social ills, as well as providing an invaluable insight into the evolution of Orwell's political consciousness.

Based on a true story, The Jew's Beech centres on two brutal murders in rural Westphalia - the first of a local forester and the second of a Jewish moneylender near a beech tree - and the impact these events have on the life of Friedrich Mergel, a local herdsman with a turbulent family history.A prototype of the murder mystery and a thoughtful examination of village society, this intriguing novella contains hints of the Gothic and the uncanny - ominous thunderstorms, mysterious disappearances, eerie doppelgängers and grisly discoveries in the depths of the forest - as well as a famously ambiguous climax.

'The Willow' is here accompanied by thirty-two other short stories - some of them never or rarely translated into English - which are representative of the three main phases of the author's career.

New annotated edition of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog by Dylan Thomas. It has proven to be second only in popularity to the author's masterpiece, Under Milk Wood, demonstrating that Thomas was as much a master of prose as he was of poetry.

This collection brings together in a single volume the four books that feature the famous young rabbit with the blue jacket and a penchant for mischief and disobedience: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and The Tale of Mr Tod.From Peter's early adventures in the kitchen garden of Mr McGregor to his late exploits in the rescue of his cousin Benjamin's baby bunnies, these stories show why Beatrix Potter remains one of the most beloved children's authors this country has ever produced.

As time ticks along with indifference, the inmates of the Washington District Jail drag on their daily routine behind bars. Innocent at their birth, these frail creatures who have lost their way now spend their lives shut out of society, deprived of all freedom, with little prospect of being readmitted into the human fold.Each prisoner has a story: some of them are charged with crimes of assault, murder and manslaughter, others of forgery, robbery and larceny - others still are not guilty of anything other than having been born to certain parents at a certain time in a certain country. A Long Day in a Short Life - Maltz's first novel to be published in the UK - is a powerful indictment of the penal system and a strong reminder about the underlying humanity of each individual.

The most celebrated of French medieval poets, François Villon makes poetry out the basest material the raw urban life of Paris with its petty officials, students, clergy, tradesmen, pimps, whores and thieves. Despite successful studies, the young Villon immersed himself in this world, embarking on a career of petty crime that brought him repeated imprisonment. Condemned to death, but then reprieved and banished from Paris, he disappears from history in 1463, leaving behind a legend of poète maudit that has never lost its fascination.Violent, indignant, ribald and often brutally physical, Villon s verse has a formidable satiric thrust, and yet it also encompasses passages of poignant nostalgia and haunting lyric expression, culminating in his digressive autobiographical masterpiece, The Testament, which counts among the most popular texts of French poetry.