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Tale of Two Cities (Mermaids Classics)
Tale of Two Cities (Mermaids Classics)
Dickens, Charles
¥35.22
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is a novel set during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. (Citation from Wikipedia: The free Encyclopaedia)Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old classic literature to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format. All of the Mermaids Classics epublications are reproductions of classic antique books that were originally published in print format, mostly over a century ago and are now republished in digital format as ebooks. Begin to build your collection of digital books by looking for more literary gems from Mermaids Classics.
Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Matt Zoller Seitz
¥285.57
This companion to the New York Times bestselling bookThe Wes Anderson Collectiontakes readers behind the scenes of the Oscar(R)-winning filmThe Grand Budapest Hotelwith a series of interviews between writer/director Wes Anderson and movie/television critic Matt Zoller Seitz. Learn all about the films conception, hear personal anecdotes from the set, and explore the wide variety of sources that inspired the screenplay and imageryfrom author Stefan Zweig to filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch to photochrom landscapes of turn-of-the-century Middle Europe. Also inside are interviews with costume designer Milena Canonero, composer Alexandre Desplat, lead actor Ralph Fiennes, production designer Adam Stockhausen, and cinematographer Robert Yeoman;essays by film critics Ali Arikan and Steven Boone, film theorist and historian David Bordwell, music critic Olivia Collette, and style and costume consultant Christopher Laverty; and an introduction by playwright Anne Washburn.Previously unpublished production photos, artwork, and ephemera illustrate each essay and interview.The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel stays true to Seitzs previous book on Andersons first seven feature films,The Wes Anderson Collection,with an artful, meticulous design and playful, original illustrations that capture the spirit of Andersons inimitable aesthetic. Together, they offer a complete overview of Andersons filmography to date.Praise for the film,The Grand Budapest Hotel: Four Academy Awards(R), including Costume Design, Music - Original Score, and Production Design;Nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Directing, and Writing - Original Screenplay; Best Film - Musical or Comedy, Golden Globe Awards; Best Original Screenplay, BAFTA, WGA, NYFCC, and LAFCA AwardsPraise for the book,The Wes Anderson Collection: ';The Wes Anderson Collectioncomes as close as a book can to reading like a Wes Anderson film. The design is meticulously crafted, with gorgeous full-page photos and touches . . .' Eric Thurm,The A.V. Club Also available from Matt Zoller Seitz: Mad Men Carousel, The Oliver Stone Experience, The Wes Anderson Collection: Bad Dads, andThe Wes Anderson Collection.
Emma - Better be without sense than misapply it as you do.
Emma - Better be without sense than misapply it as you do.
Jane Austen
¥23.45
Jane Austen's Emma (1815) explores the life of women in Regency England, combining romance with some aspects of the comedy of manners. The story centers around the eponymous character who, unlike Austen's other popular heroines, is an upper middle-class young woman with no pecuniary concerns. Emma Woodhouse is rather a strong-headed, beautiful young woman who lives with her father and who has resolved not to marry. Yet, she spends considerable time and energy trying to make matches for the other people around her and tends to draw amusement and satisfaction from such practice. After one successful experience, Emma tries to match her friend Harriet to a man named Mr. Elton. Her earnest and honest friend George Knightley warns her of Mr. Elton's snobbish nature. Nonetheless, Emma starts by making her friend Harriet reject a marriage proposal. Surprisingly, while she believes Mr. Elton's attention is drawn towards Harriet, the man ends up declaring his love for the match-maker herself. When Emma informs Mr. Elton of her intention to match him to her friend, he feels insulted, considering Harriet's inferior social class. He leaves the town while Emma keeps on trying to find a husband for Harriet. By the end of the novel, Emma marries Mr. Knightley to finally give up her favorite hobby while Harriet marries Robert Martin. We've also included a concise and informative biography of Jane's works and life at the end of the book. We hope it helps to give a little context and colour about how her life interacted with her art.
Gibson Upright
Gibson Upright
Booth Tarkington
¥29.33
Booth Tarkington was born on July 29, 1869 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is one of only three novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize more than once. When you look through the quality of his work it is easy to understand why. The Magnificent Ambersons, Alice Adams, Penrod, Penrod And Sam - all classics. The Penrod novels depict a typical upper-middle class American boy of 1910 vintage, revealing a fine, bookish sense of American humor. At one time, his Penrod series was as well known andregarded as Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Much of Tarkington's work consists of satirical and closely observed studies of the American class system and its foibles. Coming as he did from a patrician Midwestern family that lost much of its wealth after the Panic of 1873 the foundations for that outlook are clear. Today, he is best known for his novel The Magnificent Ambersons which contrasted the decline of the "e;old money"e; Amberson dynasty with the rise of "e;new money"e; industrial tycoons in the years between the American Civil War and World War I. In this volume you have an opportunity to read one his plays, The Gibson Upright
Insatiate Countess - 'If you win power, remember why you wanted it''
Insatiate Countess - 'If you win power, remember why you wanted it''
John Marston
¥15.21
John Marston was born to John and Maria Marston nee Guarsi, and baptised on October 7th, 1576 at Wardington, Oxfordshire.Marston entered Brasenose College, Oxford in 1592 and earned his BA in 1594. By 1595, he was in London, living in the Middle Temple. His interests were in poetry and play writing, although his father's will of 1599 hopes that he would not further pursue such vanities.His brief career in literature began with the fashionable genres of erotic epyllion and satire; erotic plays for boy actors to be performed before educated young men and members of the inns of court.In 1598, he published 'The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image and Certaine Satyres', a book of poetry. He also published 'The Scourge of Villanie', in 1598. 'Histriomastix' regarded as his first play was produced 1599. It's performance kicked off an episode in literary history known as the War of the Theatres; a literary feud between Marston, Jonson and Dekker that lasted until 1602.However, the playwrights were later reconciled; Marston wrote a prefatory poem for Jonson's 'Sejanus' in 1605 and dedicated 'The Malcontent' to him. Beyond this episode Marston's career continued to gather both strength, assets and followers. In 1603, he became a shareholder in the Children of Blackfriars company. He wrote and produced two plays with the company. The first was 'The Malcontent' in 1603, his most famous play. His second was 'The Dutch Courtesan', a satire on lust and hypocrisy, in 1604-5.In 1605, he worked with George Chapman and Ben Jonson on 'Eastward Ho', a satire of popular taste and the vain imaginings of wealth to be found in the colony of Virginia.Marston took the theatre world by surprise when he gave up writing plays in 1609 at the age of thirty-three. He sold his shares in the company of Blackfriars. His departure from the literary scene may have been because of further offence he gave to the king. The king suspended performances at Blackfriars and had Marston imprisoned.On 24th September 1609 he was made a deacon and them a priest on 24th December 1609. In October 1616, Marston was assigned the living of Christchurch, Hampshire.He died (accounts vary) on either the 24th or 25th June 1634 in London and was buried in the Middle Temple Church.
Tarzan & The Golden Lion - Am I alive and a reality, or am I but a dream?
Tarzan & The Golden Lion - Am I alive and a reality, or am I but a dream?
Edgar Rice Burroughs
¥35.22
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 ninth in the Tarzan series 'Tarzan & The Golden Lion'. Another cultural classic.
Maid's Revenge - Death calls ye to the crowd of common men
Maid's Revenge - Death calls ye to the crowd of common men
James Shirley
¥25.80
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.
Sniper - Why was I born without a skin, O God
Sniper - Why was I born without a skin, O God
Eugene O'Neill
¥14.03
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888 in a hotel bedroom in what is now Times Square, New York. Much of his childhood was spent in the comfort of books at boarding schools whilst his actor father was on the road and his Mother contended with her own demons. He spent only a year at University - Princeton - and various reasons have been given for his departure. However whatever his background and education denied or added to his development it is agreed amongst all that he was a playwright of the first rank and possibly America's greatest. His introduction of realism into American drama was instrumental in its development and paved a path for many talents thereafter. Of course his winning of both the Pulitzer Prize (4 times) and the Nobel Prize are indicative of his status. His more famous and later works do side with the disillusionment and personal tragedy of those on the fringes of society but continue to build upon ideas and structures he incorporated in his early one act plays. Eugene O'Neill suffered from various health problems, mainly depression and alcoholism. In the last decade he also faced a Parkinson's like tremor in his hands which made writing increasingly difficult. But out of such difficulties came plays of the calibre of The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Eugene O'Neill died in Room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "e;I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room."e;
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Jules Verne
¥29.33
Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8th, 1828 on Ile Feydeau, a small artificial island on the Loire River in Nantes. His father wanted his son to take over the family law practice. Jules started along this course and despite graduating with a licence en droit in January 1851 was soon diverted by the lure of literature and by his own ambitious talents in this direction. He wrote for the theatre and for magazines and soon with the publication of his first novel; Five Weeks in a Balloon on January 31st, 1863 he had begun his career as an admired and popular author. For many, many years the works flowed, usually no less than and often more than two volumes per year. His meticulous research and imaginative setting and narratives soon established him as a top selling author and he became both famous and wealthy. By publishing firstly as a serialised book and then as a complete book sales swelled as did his reputation. His earnings increased further due to the runaway success from the stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1874) and Michel Strogoff (1876), Strangely he was overlooked for honours. He was not even nominated for membership of the Academie Francaise. After the death of both his mother and Hetzel, Jules began to publish darker works but still at a prodigious rate. In 1888, Jules entered politics and was elected town councillor of Amiens, and then served for fifteen years. Jules was now entering the last period of his life. His works continued to flow albeit at a slower pace. His reconciled with his son, Michel who now became an active contributor to his father's works and, when the senior Verne died, would continue to contribute and publish his father's works, ensuring that the work was kept in the public eye and the legacy preserved. On March 24th, 1905, while ill with diabetes, Jules Verne died at his home at 44 Boulevard Longueville, Amiens. As a legacy Jules Verne is forever remembered as 'The Father of Science Fiction'. With his rigorous research Jules was not only able to make his works realistic but also to project forward and predict many new things that would eventually come to pass - either in real life or as the basis for others to use in their own science fiction. Extraordinary indeed.
Phantom of the Opera - All I wanted was to be loved for myself
Phantom of the Opera - All I wanted was to be loved for myself
Gaston Leroux
¥23.45
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was born on May 6th, 1868, in Paris, France. Leroux was schooled in Normandy and went to Paris to study Law where he graduated in 1889. As a young man he inherited a fortune, valued even then in the millions of francs, and lived excessively until it was almost all quickly spent. In 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Echo de Paris. He became an international correspondent for Le Matin and covered perhaps his most important story in 1905 when he witnessed and wrote about the Russian Revolution. Lerouxs' reporting instincts were also used for in-depth coverage of the former Paris Opera being used as cells to house prisoners of the Paris Commune in the basement. He abruptly switched careers in 1907 to write fiction. His first effort was the Mystery of the Yellow Room. This was the first in a series of the Adventures of Rouletabillet. From then until the mid-1920s he wrote prolifically, becoming a firm favourite to his French audience and increasingly to a growing market abroad thanks to the numerous translations and his growing reputation. By 1919, Leroux had seen the potential in the growing film industry and together with Arthur Bernede they formed a film company, Societe des Cineromans, to publish novels and simultaneously turn them into films. As an author Leroux works are placed alongside Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in the United States. His Phantom of the Opera is one of the world's classic treasures and is constantly being adapted into other media; from films and TV to radio as well as an audiobook. Leroux was honoured by the French State with a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in 1902. Gaston Leroux died in Nice, in Southern France, on April 15th, 1927.
Count of Monte Cristo (Mermaids Classics)
Count of Monte Cristo (Mermaids Classics)
Dumas, Alexandre
¥35.22
The Count of Monte Cristo (1845) is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (pre) (1802-1870) who also wrote the famous classic The Three Musketeers. Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old classic literature to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format. All of the Mermaids Classics epublications are reproductions of classic antique books that were originally published in print format, mostly over a century ago and are now republished in digital format as ebooks. Begin to build your collection of digital books by looking for more literary gems from Mermaids Classics.
Prince and the Pauper - An Original Classic (Mermaids Classics)
Prince and the Pauper - An Original Classic (Mermaids Classics)
Twain, Mark
¥35.22
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835 1910) is a childrens novel based on two young boys who have an identical appearance but lead completely different lifestyles. One boy is a pauper named Tom Cancy and the other boy is a Prince - named Prince Edward. The story is set in 1547.The Prince and the Pauper was first published in 1881. Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old book classics to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format.
Anne of Green Gables Collection (Illustrated)
Anne of Green Gables Collection (Illustrated)
Montgomery, Lucy Maud
¥23.45
Table Of ContentsANNE OF GREEN GABLESANNE of the ISLANDAnnes House of DreamsCHRONICLES OF AVONLEAFURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEATHE GOLDEN ROADKILMENY OF THE ORCHARDLucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902 to 1903Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1904Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908Short Stories 1909 to 1922RAINBOW VALLEYRilla of Ingleside
苏辙诗编年笺注--国家社科基金后期资助项目(全4册)(试读本)
苏辙诗编年笺注--国家社科基金后期资助项目(全4册)(试读本)
(宋)苏辙撰 蒋宗许,袁津琥,陈默笺注
免费
《苏辙诗编年笺注》二十四卷,宋苏辙撰,蒋宗许、袁津琥、陈默笺注。是书以苏辙本人编定的《栾城集》、《栾城后集》、《栾城三集》为基础,析出其中的诗歌部分,参考各种年谱编年而成。底本为明代清梦轩刻本,校以今天可见的其余重要的苏辙集版本,如宋刻《苏文定公文集》(存四十六卷)残本、宋刻递修本《苏文定公文集》(存十卷)、宋刻递修本《栾城集》(存二十一卷)、日藏宋刻《类编颍滨先生大全文集》等。全书卷次大体依照底本顺序。间有辑佚者,列于相应诗歌前后。其系年考订置于注释条,略作解题说明,其余则为语词和典故的注释。如存有相关的倡和诗,亦附录之。书后附录传记、孙汝听《年表》、遗事(包括碑铭之类)、目录序跋、参考书目、篇目索引等。本书资料搜罗全备,系年准确,校勘精审,注释详细,为国家社科基金重大委托项目《巴蜀全书》子课题、四川省社科联2013年重点项目、全国高校古委会2013年项目、2015年度国家社科基金后期资助项目。
尔雅--中国古代语言学基本典籍丛书(试读本)
尔雅--中国古代语言学基本典籍丛书(试读本)
周远富,愚若 点校
免费
《尔雅》共十九篇,其中《释诂》《释言》《释训》解释一般语词,《释亲》《释宫》《释器》等十六篇解释专门名词,在词汇学、训诂学、辞书学等方面有极其重要的学术价值。这次整理以中华书局影印宋刻善本为底本,参校《尔雅注疏》《经典释文》《尔雅音义》《尔雅正义》《尔雅义疏》及周祖谟《尔雅校笺》,参考各家整理与研究著作,并制作了音序、笔画索引。
新译大方广佛华严经音义校注(精)--音义文献丛刊(试读本)
新译大方广佛华严经音义校注(精)--音义文献丛刊(试读本)
(唐)释慧苑撰 黄仁瑄校注
免费
慧苑《新译大方广佛花严经音义》是今存的单经音义,约成书于唐玄宗开元二十年(732)前后 ,约八十余年后为慧琳音义收録。慧苑书就《新译大方广佛华严经》八十卷中的难字僻词注音释义。慧苑通晓梵文唐言,精通音韵训诂,他广引内、外典籍,其注音释义具有文字、音韵、训诂、辞书等多方面的价值。《新译大方广佛华严经音义校注》对慧琳和慧苑的异文进行了分析,对学者了解慧琳和慧苑语音系统提供了材料;书稿对梵文译音成分注明梵文源词的拉丁文转写,找不到源词的也加以说明;对慧苑引文进行了校勘;并且标注了异体字、俗字、古今字等信息,读者还可以管窥汉字发展源流。
金史(全八册)点校本二十四史修订本(精)(试读本)
金史(全八册)点校本二十四史修订本(精)(试读本)
(元)脱脱等撰
免费
《金史》为元朝脱脱等修纂的官修纪传体金代史,包括本纪19卷、志39卷、表4卷、列传71卷,全书135卷,另附《国语解》一卷。记述了从女真族的兴起到金朝建立和灭亡百余年的历史。中华书局点校本《金史》,初由傅乐焕先生承担,但到1966年傅先生去世时,仅做出少部分工作。其后大部分点校工作在1971年后由张政烺先生完成,崔文印先生负责编辑整理,于1975年出版。点校本采用百衲本为底本,与北监本、殿本参校,择善而从,又参考有关史料进行校勘,吸取了前人的考订成果,成为当代《金史》的一个通行本,面世后深受广大读者好评。此次修订仍以百衲本为底本,通校元刻本、清武英殿本,参校明南监本、北监本、清江苏书局本,以及明《永乐大典》残本的相关部分。参考吸收施国祁《金史详校》、文渊阁《四库全书》本及道光殿本的考证、张元济《金史校勘记》等前人校勘成果。在版本校的基础上,充分运用本校、他校,利用正史、类书、文集、出土文献,以及高丽古籍进行校勘。此次修订逐条覆核原点校本已有的校勘成果,充分吸纳原点校本的成绩。原点校本校勘记中很少提及版本依据,且存在较多的改字现象。此次修订明确列出校勘的版本依据,纠正不当的改字、补字、删字。对原校勘记有误或不准确处,加以删除或修改,对失校处,补充新校勘记。对标点、分段不妥处,加以修订。点校本原有2017条校勘记,本次修订删掉120余条,修正不准确的校勘记数十条,新出校勘记近900条,占修订后校勘记总数2780多条的32%左右。另外,还对标点、分段不妥处加以修订,纠正标点失误200多处。修订本还全面搜集梳理了点校本《金史》出版以来发表的诸多校读札记,加以参考和利用,体现了当代《金史》研究的成果。
汉语方言大词典(修订本)全十册(精)(试读本)
汉语方言大词典(修订本)全十册(精)(试读本)
许宝华,(日)宫田一郎主编
免费
《汉语方言大词典》是我国汉语方言词汇调查研究成果的集大成者,地跨南北,时通古今,收录了现代汉语中几乎所有的方言词汇,是对通语类词典乃至整个汉语词汇库的重大补充。同时,本词典以“字”为基本单位来组织内容,这种方式深刻地揭示了汉语各大方言之间数千年延绵不绝的密切联系。本次修订,在维持原有凡例规定不变的基础上,着重对方言词语的注音、用字进行了修订,改正了大量排印讹误和一些原始资料不合于拼读规则的明显错误;核对文献书证,改正引文错误并补充了部分出版信息;根据国家民政部资料修改了部分地名;重新制作了检字表,对方言系属简表、文献目录进行了修订,并增设了汉语方言分区一览表。
Grand Duke - or The Stuatory Duel
Grand Duke - or The Stuatory Duel
W.S. Gilbert
¥26.98
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.
Rover - Part I - or, The Banish'd Cavaliers
Rover - Part I - or, The Banish'd Cavaliers
Aphra Behn
¥23.45
Aphra Behn was a prolific and well established writer but facts about her remain scant and difficult to confirm. What can safely be said though is that Aphra Behn is now regarded as a key English playwright and a major figure in Restoration theatre. Aphra was born into the rising tensions to the English Civil War. Obviously a time of much division and difficulty as the King and Parliament, and their respective forces, came ever closer to conflict. There are claims she was a spy, that she travelled abroad, possibly as far as Surinam. By 1664 her marriage was over (though by death or separation is not known but presumably the former as it occurred in the year of their marriage) and she now used Mrs Behn as her professional name. Aphra now moved towards pursuing a more sustainable and substantial career and began work for the King's Company and the Duke's Company players as a scribe. Previously her only writing had been poetry but now she would become a playwright. Her first, "e;The Forc'd Marriage"e;, was staged in 1670, followed by "e;The Amorous Prince"e; (1671). After her third play, "e;The Dutch Lover"e;, Aphra had a three year lull in her writing career. Again it is speculated that she went travelling again, possibly once again as a spy. After this sojourn her writing moves towards comic works, which prove commercially more successful. Her most popular works included "e;The Rover"e; and "e;Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister"e; (1684-87). With her growing reputation Aphra became friends with many of the most notable writers of the day. This is The Age of Dryden and his literary dominance. From the mid 1680's Aphra's health began to decline. This was exacerbated by her continual state of debt and descent into poverty. Aphra Behn died on April 16th 1689, and is buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey. The inscription on her tombstone reads: "e;Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality."e; She was quoted as stating that she had led a "e;life dedicated to pleasure and poetry."e;
One Day More - Art is long and life is short, and success is very far off.
One Day More - Art is long and life is short, and success is very far off.
Joseph Conrad
¥17.56
Born in 1857 in Poland, Joseph Conrad became a British citizen just before he turned 30. In the intervening years he lost both parents, becoming an orphan at 11, being thereafter raised by an uncle, who let the boy go to Marseille at age 16, where he began to work on merchant ships - which at times included stints of gun running and the intrigue of political conspiracy. At age 36 his life turned from one of ships to one of literary pursuit. Conrad brought to English literature both a fresh layer of style and a deeper examination of the human psyche in a wealth of works. He wrote many novels, which are correctly regarded today as some of the finest in English literature. Among their canon are Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Shadow Line, and of course Heart of Darkness.