Robert Greene was, by the best accounts available, born in Norwich in 1558 and baptised on July 11th.Greene is believed to have been a pupil at Norwich Grammar School and then attended Cambridge receiving his B.A. in 1580, and an M.A. in 1583. He then moved to London and began an extraordinary chapter in his life as a widely published author. His literary career began with the publication of the long romance, 'Mamillia', (1580). Greene's romances were written in a highly wrought style which reached its peak in 'Pandosto' (1588) and 'Menaphon' (1589). Short poems and songs incorporated in some of the romances attest to his ability as a lyric poet. In 1588, he was granted an MA from Oxford University, almost certainly as a courtesy degree. Thereafter he sometimes placed the phrase Utruisq. Academiae in Artibus Magister', "e;Master of Arts in both Universities"e; on the title page of his works.The lack of records hinders any complete biography of Greene but he did write an autobiography of sorts, but where the balance lies between facts and artistic licence is not clearly drawn. According to that autobiography 'The Repentance of Robert Greene', Greene is alleged to have written 'A Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance' during the month prior to his death, including in it a letter to his wife asking her to forgive him and stating that he was sending their son back to her. His output was prolific. Between 1583 and 1592, he published more than twenty-five works in prose, becoming one of the first authors in England to support himself with his pen in an era when professional authorship was virtually unknown.In his 'coney-catching' pamphlets, Greene fashioned himself into a well-known public figure, narrating colourful inside stories of rakes and rascals duping young gentlemen and solid citizens out of their hard-earned money. These stories, told from the perspective of a repentant former rascal, have been considered autobiographical, and to incorporate many facts of Greene's own life thinly veiled as fiction. However, the alternate account suggests that Greene invented almost everything, merely displaying his undoubted skills as a writer.In addition to his prose works, Greene also wrote several plays, none of them published in his lifetime, including 'The Scottish History of James IV', 'Alphonsus', and his greatest popular success, 'Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay', as well as 'Orlando Furioso', based on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.His plays earned himself the title as one of the 'University Wits', a group that included George Peele, Thomas Nashe, and Christopher Marlowe.Robert Greene died 3rd September 1592.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is regarded by many readers and literary critics to be THE major English novelist of the Victorian Age. He is remembered today as the author of a series of weighty novels which have been translated into many languages and promoted to the rank of World Classics. The latter include, but are not limited to, The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, Hard Times, Great Expectations and The Old Curiosity Shop. His talents extended to many other forms including short stories, poetry, letters and his serial magazines. Of course being such a talent he also wrote plays. We are very pleased to present his fourth of four plays: The Lamplighter

John Fletcher was born in December, 1579 in Rye, Sussex. He was baptised on December 20th. As can be imagined details of much of his life and career have not survived and, accordingly, only a very brief indication of his life and works can be given. Young Fletcher appears at the very young age of eleven to have entered Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University in 1591. There are no records that he ever took a degree but there is some small evidence that he was being prepared for a career in the church. However what is clear is that this was soon abandoned as he joined the stream of people who would leave University and decamp to the more bohemian life of commercial theatre in London. The upbringing of the now teenage Fletcher and his seven siblings now passed to his paternal uncle, the poet and minor official Giles Fletcher. Giles, who had the patronage of the Earl of Essex may have been a liability rather than an advantage to the young Fletcher. With Essex involved in the failed rebellion against Elizabeth Giles was also tainted. By 1606 John Fletcher appears to have equipped himself with the talents to become a playwright. Initially this appears to have been for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars Theatre. Fletcher's early career was marked by one significant failure; The Faithful Shepherdess, his adaptation of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, which was performed by the Blackfriars Children in 1608. By 1609, however, he had found his stride. With his collaborator John Beaumont, he wrote Philaster, which became a hit for the King's Men and began a profitable association between Fletcher and that company. Philaster appears also to have begun a trend for tragicomedy. By the middle of the 1610s, Fletcher's plays had achieved a popularity that rivalled Shakespeare's and cemented the pre-eminence of the King's Men in Jacobean London. After his frequent early collaborator John Beaumont's early death in 1616, Fletcher continued working, both singly and in collaboration, until his own death in 1625. By that time, he had produced, or had been credited with, close to fifty plays.

James Shirley was born in London in September 1596. His education was through a collection of England's finest establishments: Merchant Taylors' School, London, St John's College, Oxford, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in approximately 1618. He first published in 1618, a poem entitled Echo, or the Unfortunate Lovers. As with many artists of this period full details of his life and career are not recorded. Sources say that after graduating he became "e;a minister of God's word in or near St Albans."e; A conversion to the Catholic faith enabled him to become master of St Albans School from 1623-25. He wrote his first play, Love Tricks, or the School of Complement, which was licensed on February 10th, 1625. From the given date it would seem he wrote this whilst at St Albans but, after its production, he moved to London and to live in Gray's Inn. For the next two decades, he would write prolifically and with great quality, across a spectrum of thirty plays; through tragedies and comedies to tragicomedies as well as several books of poetry. Unfortunately, his talents were left to wither when Parliament passed the Puritan edict in 1642, forbidding all stage plays and closing the theatres. Most of his early plays were performed by Queen Henrietta's Men, the acting company for which Shirley was engaged as house dramatist. Shirley's sympathies lay with the King in battles with Parliament and he received marks of special favor from the Queen. He made a bitter attack on William Prynne, who had attacked the stage in Histriomastix, and, when in 1634 a special masque was presented at Whitehall by the gentlemen of the Inns of Court as a practical reply to Prynne, Shirley wrote the text-The Triumph of Peace. Shirley spent the years 1636 to 1640 in Ireland, under the patronage of the Earl of Kildare. Several of his plays were produced by his friend John Ogilby in Dublin in the first ever constructed Irish theatre; The Werburgh Street Theatre. During his years in Dublin he wrote The Doubtful Heir, The Royal Master, The Constant Maid, and St. Patrick for Ireland. In his absence from London, Queen Henrietta's Men sold off a dozen of his plays to the stationers, who naturally, enough published them. When Shirley returned to London in 1640, he finished with the Queen Henrietta's company and his final plays in London were acted by the King's Men. On the outbreak of the English Civil War Shirley served with the Earl of Newcastle. However when the King's fortunes began to decline he returned to London. There his friend Thomas Stanley gave him help and thereafter Shirley supported himself in the main by teaching and publishing some educational works under the Commonwealth. In addition to these he published during the period of dramatic eclipse four small volumes of poems and plays, in 1646, 1653, 1655, and 1659. It is said that he was "e;a drudge"e; for John Ogilby in his translations of Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey, and survived into the reign of Charles II, but, though some of his comedies were revived, his days as a playwright were over. His death, at age seventy, along with that of his wife, in 1666, is described as one of fright and exposure due to the Great Fire of London which had raged through parts of London from September 2nd to the 5th. He was buried at St Giles in the Fields, in London, on October 29th, 1666.

The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. Gilbert's sharp, funny words and Sullivan's deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience. Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time. However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That's quite an achievement. To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible. The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre - The Savoy Theatre. Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

John Dryden was born on August 9th, 1631 in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire. As a boy Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar. Dryden obtained his BA in 1654, graduating top of the list for Trinity College, Cambridge that year. Returning to London during The Protectorate, Dryden now obtained work with Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe. At Cromwell's funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden was in the company of the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell. The setting was to be a sea change in English history. From Republic to Monarchy and from one set of lauded poets to what would soon become the Age of Dryden. The start began later that year when Dryden published the first of his great poems, Heroic Stanzas (1658), a eulogy on Cromwell's death. With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 Dryden celebrated in verse with Astraea Redux, an authentic royalist panegyric. With the re-opening of the theatres after the Puritan ban, Dryden began to also write plays. His first play, The Wild Gallant, appeared in 1663 but was not successful. From 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company, in which he became a shareholder. During the 1660s and '70s, theatrical writing was his main source of income. In 1667, he published Annus Mirabilis, a lengthy historical poem which described the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It established him as the pre-eminent poet of his generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts of Poet Laureate (1668) and then historiographer royal (1670). This was truly the Age of Dryden, he was the foremost English Literary figure in Poetry, Plays, translations and other forms. In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by subscription. It was a national event. John Dryden died on May 12th, 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.

The life of William Shakespeare, arguably the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, is relatively unknown. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565, possibly on the 23rd April, St. George's Day, and baptised there on 26th April. Little is known of his education and the first firm facts to his life relate to his marriage, aged 18, to Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and from the nearby village of Shottery. Anne gave birth to their first son six months later. Shakespeare's first play, The Comedy of Errors began a procession of real heavyweights that were to emanate from his pen in a career of just over twenty years in which 37 plays were written and his reputation forever established. This early skill was recognised by many and by 1594 the Lord Chamberlain's Men were performing his works. With the advantage of Shakespeare's progressive writing they rapidly became London's leading company of players, affording him more exposure and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, a royal patent by the new king, James I, at which point they changed their name to the King's Men. By 1598, and despite efforts to pirate his work, Shakespeare's name was well known and had become a selling point in its own right on title pages. No plays are attributed to Shakespeare after 1613, and the last few plays he wrote before this time were in collaboration with other writers, one of whom is likely to be John Fletcher who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King's Men. William Shakespeare died two months later on April 23rd, 1616, survived by his wife, two daughters and a legacy of writing that none have since yet eclipsed.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. His early career was unremarkable. After failing to enter West Point he enlisted in the 7th Calvary but was discharged after heart problems were diagnosed. A series of short term jobs gave no indication as to a career path but finally, in 1911, married and with two young children, he turned his hand to writing. He aimed his works squarely at the very popular pulp serial magazines. His first effort 'Under The Moons Of Mars' ran in Munsey's Magazine in 1912 under the pseudonym Norman Bean. With its success he began writing full time. A continuing theme of his work was to develop series so that each character had ample opportunities to return in sequels. John Carter was in the Mars series and there was another on Venus and one on Pellucidar among others. But perhaps the best known is Tarzan. Indeed Burroughs wanted so much to capitalise upon the brand that he introduced a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies and merchandise. He purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles, California, which he named "e;Tarzana."e; The surrounding communities outside the ranch voted in 1927 to adopt the name as their own. By 1932 Burroughs set up his own company to print his own books. Here we publish the second in the Barsoom series and its enduring hero John Carter 'The Gods of Mars'. Another cultural classic.

Thomas Patrick Betterton was born around 1635 in London.As can be understood exact records of much of his early life do not exist.We know he was apprenticed to John Holden, Sir William Davenant's publisher, and later John Rhodes, a bookseller, whose previous career was that of wardrobe-keeper at the Blackfriars Theatre. In 1659, Rhodes obtained a license to set up a company of players at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane; and when the theatre re-opened the following year Betterton made his first stage appearance.By all accounts he was talented and was soon performing the leads. In 1661 a new theatre opened in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Davenant, the patentee of the Duke's Company, engaged Betterton and Rhodes's company to perform his 'The Siege of Rhodes'. Betterton was by now a public favourite and a royal favourite and keen on improving the presentation of plays and the management of theatres. Charles II sent him to Paris to examine stage improvements and then introduced the shifting scenes that replaced the tapestry backgrounds of English theatre.In 1662 Betterton married the actress Mary Saunderson. She and Betterton played opposite each other in a production of Hamlet' she played Ophelia, to his Hamlet. They were also invited to teach the children from noble and royal families to perform John Crowne's 'Calisto', 1675, in the last Stuart court Masque.Betterton was taller than average, athletic, with a strong rather melodious voice which was wonderfully dexterious. His repertory included Shakespearian roles, in versions adapted by Davenant, Dryden, Shadwell and Nahum Tate. In them his performances were praised. He played Lear opposite Elizabeth Barry's Cordelia in Tate's modified version of Shakespeare's 'King Lear'. Betterton was also the author of several popular adaptations.After Davenant's death in 1668, Betterton was the manager and director of the Duke's Company, and from the merger of London's two theatre companies in 1682, he continued these functions in the new United Company. However, in 1695, as this theatrical monopoly worsened conditions of the actors they all walked out. They set up a co-operative company in Lincoln's Inn Fields under Betterton's leadership. The first production was the premiere of Congreve's 'Love for Love' with Betterton as Valentine and Anne Bracegirdle as Angelica. After several years, audiences dwindled, profits fell and Betterton now older and stricken with gout decided to retire from the stage. At his benefit performance, where he again played Valentine in 'Love for Love, the profits are said to have been over GBP500.Betterton's career behind the stage was almost transformative. He invented new stage machines at Dorset Garden Theatre, transposed 'The Prophetess' into an opera, and introduced French singers and dancers to the Restoration stage. He also built the first permanent theatre fully equipped with Italianate machinery. Additionally, he invested in remodeling the tennis court in the Lincoln's Inn Fields and built a new theatre there. His salary was now topped up by a small "e;rent"e; fees for each performance played there.Betterton worked with all of the most significant playwrights of his age and performed with the first generation of English actresses. It is said that Betterton had more than 120 different roles at his command from heroic drama, Jonsonian comedy, comedies of manners, tragicomedies by Beaumont and Fletcher, and tragedies, comedies and histories by Shakespeare. At the age of seventy-five, he claimed, "e;He was yet learning to be an actor."e; Three days before his death at seventy-five, he made his last appearance on the stage in 1710, as Melantius in 'The Maid's Tragedy'. Thomas Betterton died on April 28th 1710. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

　　《威尼斯商人》 是莎士比亚早期的重要作品，是一部具有极大讽刺性的喜剧。主要讲述了威尼斯商人安东尼奥为了帮助好友巴萨尼奥成婚，向犹太人高利贷者夏洛克借了三千金币。夏洛克因为安东尼奥借给别人钱不要利息，影响了他的生意，又侮辱过他，所以借机报复，在借约上戏言三个月期满还不上钱，就从安东尼奥身上割下一磅肉抵债。安东尼奥因船失事，不能如期还钱，夏洛克就提起公诉，要安东尼奥履行借约。 为救安东尼奥的性命，巴萨尼奥的未婚妻鲍西亚假扮律师，利用智慧巧妙地让夏洛克无法执行割一磅肉而败诉，害人不成反而失去财产。

本书作为我社“经典英语文库”第15辑中的一种，精选由英国著名作家D.H劳伦斯劳伦斯创作的长篇小说《虹》。本书通过一家三代人的遭遇，描述了工业革命给传统的乡村带来的巨大变化，同时以巨大的热情和深度，探索有关性的心理问题。代人的生活带有田园诗的色彩，同时也预示古老文明即将结束。第二代人精神的苦闷和呆滞的目光，是令人窒息的工业化社会的好注解。第三代人的探索具有积极的社会意义，表达了人们要冲破狭窄的生活圈子，渴望一种自然和谐的生活。

“事情并不简单，而是错综复杂的。如果它咬了布朗宁先生，那是因为他也咬了她。仇恨并非只是仇恨；仇恨也可以是爱。” 弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫为诗人伊丽莎白·巴雷特·勃朗宁（Elizabeth Barrett Browning）的西班牙猎犬所著的传记，令人愉悦，探讨了作为人类以及作为狗的意义。

本书作为我社“经典英语文库”第15辑中的一种，精选法国十九世纪著名作家大仲马所作长篇小说《十年以后》。本书是《三个火枪手》的续集。为“达塔尼昂浪漫三部曲”之一。三部曲的故事发展到《十年以后》一书中的阶段，个中的场景已不再是三十年前的刀光剑影、血雨腥风，取而代之的是法王路易十四挥金如土、宫闱暧昧、官场明争暗斗以及贵妇人之间争风吃醋等情节。其中，柔弱质朴、胆小怕事的路易丝·德拉瓦利埃小姐如何一步步被设局沦落为路易十四情妇的经过，为下来《路易丝·德拉瓦利埃》的展做足了铺垫。

本书作为我社“经典英语文库”第15辑中的一种，精选由英国著名作家弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙的经典作品《雅各的房间》。作品讲述了一位年轻人短暂的一生。海边的童年、剑桥求学、独立成长、与不同女性的情感、到法国及希腊游学、及后丧生于次世界大战中。此书通常被认为是伍尔夫在文学创新方面次较大规模的探索和实验，是她创作过程中的一个转折，是她尝试用意识流手法创作的一个端。这本小说时间背景设置在英格兰，始于雅各的童年。

本书作为我社“*经典英语文库”第14辑中的一种，精选法国著名作家维克多·雨果的经典作品《悲惨世界 （五卷之第五卷）》（前四卷已出）。作品讲述了主人公土伦苦刑犯冉·阿让（Jean Valjean）的个人经历，并融了法国的历史、革命、战争、道德哲学、法律、正义、宗教信仰。《悲惨世界》以冉·阿让出狱后的种种经历贯穿全书，深刻反映了时代的问题。雨果在作品中融了从拿破仑在滑铁卢的失败到反对“七月王朝”的人民起义这一阶段的历史，反映了当时的社会生活和政治状况。作品不仅描述了获释犯人冉·阿让和流浪妇女芳汀的不幸生活以及芳汀的私生女柯赛特的悲惨遭遇，而且揭示了当时社会中勤劳善良的劳动人民却受歧视和压迫的不公平命运。雨果还在作品中揭露了当时残酷不公的法典和秩序，猛烈抨了那种人们饿死可以而偷面包却要坐牢的社会制度，谴责了那些安于现状和铁石心肠的市民在面对处于困境中的他人时的那种袖手旁观的冷漠态度。

本书作为我社“经典英语文库”第15辑中的一种，精选由英国著名作家D. H. 劳伦斯的作品《无意识幻想曲》。D.H.劳伦斯被称为“英国文学伟大的人物之一”，长期以来受到大家的广泛关注。与任意时期任何国家的作家相比，劳伦斯有一极其鲜明，他的写作形式相当广泛，包括小说，短篇故事诗，意大利和俄国文学的英译，新建文学评论，社会评论，编史心理学笔记游记，他的游记覆盖了以上诸多的写作形式本书是其在心理学方面的代表作。

本书作为我社“经典英语文库”第15辑中的一种，精选由英国著名作家弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙的经典作品《夜与日》。故事发生在爱德华七世时期的伦敦，将两位女主人公——凯瑟琳·希尔伯里和玛丽·达切特的日常生活和浪漫情怀行了对比，探讨了爱情、婚姻、幸福和成功之间的关系。故事有四位主人公：凯瑟琳·希尔伯里，玛丽·达切特，拉尔夫·德纳姆，和威廉·罗德尼，他们苦苦探索人生，追求爱情的真谛，找寻真正的自我。《夜与日》提到了妇女的参政权、爱情和婚姻是否可以共存、婚姻是否是幸福的前提等问题。贯穿全书的主题有星空、泰晤士河和切恩道。

本书作为我社“经典英语文库”第15辑中的一种，精选俄国著名剧作家和短篇小说大师契诃夫的短篇小说。其以语言精练、准确见长，善于透过生活的表层行探索，将人物隐蔽的动机揭露得淋漓尽致。他的优秀剧本和短篇小说没有复杂的情节和清晰的解答，集中讲述一些貌似平凡琐碎的故事，创造出一种特别的，有时可以称之为令人难以忘怀的或是抒情味极浓的艺术氛围。他采用简洁的写作技巧避免炫耀文学手段，被认为是19世纪末俄国现实主义文学流派的杰出代表。

Greg Heffley has always been in a hurry to grow up. But is getting older really all it’s cracked up to be?   Greg suddenly finds himself dealing with the pressures of boy-girl parties, increased responsibilities, and even the awkward changes that come with getting older—all without his best friend, Rowley, at his side. Can Greg make it through on his own? Or will he have to face the “ugly truth”?

In Movie Title Typos, artist Austin Light removes just one letter from a well-known movie title to inspire a surprising and hilarious visual scenario. There's Obocop (a robotic police officer works through his PTSD by playing smooth jazz), T. (a boy meets a jewelry-clad alien who pities fools), Harry Otter, The Princess and the Fro, Finding Emo, Pup Fiction, and many more. A massive viral hit when he first posted sketches of the work online (1.2 million hits in the first 6 hours), Light has created new full-color illustrations for all, with the majority of the book's content never before seen on the Web. Here is a parallel universe glimpse at could-have-been films possibly betterdefinitely funnierthan the originals.

True Blood, HBO's blockbuster paranormal drama, enthralls a diverse audience of 13 million viewers (and counting). Menus at the now famous Fangtasia and Merlotte's Bar and Grill play a key role in the series, providing sustenance for its human characters, evoking memories of a bygone life for its vampires, and serving as a powerful symbol for the desires and carnal needs the characters harbor. It's no wonder so many fans revel in at home parties inspired by the food on the series! With recipes from unforgettable scenes, each entertainingly introduced by True Blood's most compelling characters, these 85 authentic bayou country recipes and 150 plus photos from the series give fans a big taste of Bon Temps.