Biography by the author of Treasure Island. According to Wikipedia: "Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin (25 March 1833 - 12 June 1885) was Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, remarkable for his versatility. Known to the world as the inventor of telpherage, he was an electrician and cable engineer, a lecturer, linguist, critic, actor, dramatist and artist."

Book-length autobiography, first published in the North American Review in 1906. According to Wikipedia: "Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910), better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was a humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer from the United States of America. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists and European royalty. Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner called Twain 'the father of American literature.'"

Book-length collection. According to Wikipedia: "Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 - 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and author of short stories. Known for his barbed wit, he was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. As the result of a famous trial, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years of hard labour after being convicted of the offence of 'gross indecency.'"

Classic biography of Lincoln, first published in 1899. According to Wikipedia: "According to Wikipedia: "Abraham Lincoln is a 2-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln written by John Torrey Morse (1840-1937). Originally published in 1893, the New York times found it to be "for its scope, admirable. It will even stand up and appear respectable in the most distinguished company of Lincoln biographies that might be assembled." The author is "a sane biographer, who brings to the task of writing about Lincoln a mind that aspires to see clear and think straight, instead of one held slavishly subject to a heart's desire to make Lincoln out a hero without fault or blemish." The Atlantic Monthly noted that Morse had "attempted a bit of scientific painting and not a portraiture to the life. The book is a criticism, consequently, rather than an appreciation." They also noted that Morse concentrates mostly on the five years that Lincoln was in office... In 1987, Gabor Boritt noted that Morse was the first biographer to have "fully exemplified as well as diagnosed the above ailment [the schism between the self-serving, not very admirable politician that Lincoln was up until 1860 versus the later "unparalleled greatness"]." Morse has written of "the insoluble problem of two men - two lives - one following the other with no visible link... we have physically one creature, morally and mentally two beings."

Classic collection of essays. Introductory Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy, On the Negative Spirit, On Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small, Mr. Bernard Shaw, Mr. H. G. Wells and the Giants, Christmas and the Esthetes, Omar and the Sacred Vine, The Mildness of the Yellow Press, The Moods of Mr. George Moore, On Sandals and Simplicity, Science and the Savages, Paganism and Mr. Lowes Dickinson, Celts and Celtophiles, On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family, and On Smart Novelists and the Smart Set, On Mr. McCabe and a Divine Frivolity, On the Wit of Whistler, The Fallacy of the Young Nation, Slum Novelists and the Slums, and Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy. According to Wikipedia: "Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." Time magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."

Classic collection of essays. According to Wikipedia: "Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."[2] He is one of the few Christian thinkers who are equally admired and quoted by both liberal and conservative Christians, and indeed by many non-Christians. Chesterton's own theological and political views were far too nuanced to fit comfortably under the "liberal" or "conservative" banner."

Classic collection of satirical essays, including The Feminine Mind, The War Between the Sexes, Marriage, Woman Sufrage, and The New Age. The Introduction begins: "As a professional critic of life and letters, my principal business in the world is that of manufacturing platitudes for tomorrow, which is to say, ideas so novel that they will be instantly rejected as insane and outrageous by all right thinking men, and so apposite and sound that they will eventually conquer that instinctive opposition, and force themselves into the traditional wisdom of the race."

This collection includes Revolution, The Somnambulists, The Dignity of Dollars, Goliah, The Golden Poppy, The Shrinkage of the Planet, The House Beautiful, The Gold Hunters of the North, Foma Gordyeeff, These Bones shall Rise Again, The Other Animals, The Yellow Peril, and What Life Means to Me. According to Wikipedia: "Jack London (1876 – 1916) was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first Americans to make a lucrative career exclusively from writing."

Biography of the author of Treasure Island, from the "Famous Scots Series". According to Wikipedia: "Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson ( 1850 - 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was the man who "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins", as G. K. Chesterton put it. He was also greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov, and J. M. Barrie. Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their definition of modernism. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the canon."

A collection of essays, beginning with ruminations on ethics. The book starts: "The problem of education is twofold: first to know, and then to utter. Every one who lives any semblance of an inner life thinks more nobly and profoundly than he speaks; and the best of teachers can impart only broken images of the truth which they perceive. Speech which goes from one to another between two natures, and, what is worse, between two experiences, is doubly relative. The speaker buries his meaning; it is for the hearer to dig it up again; and all speech, written or spoken, is in a dead language until it finds a willing and prepared hearer. Such, moreover, is the complexity of life, that when we condescend upon details in our advice, we may be sure we condescend on error; and the best of education is to throw out some magnanimous hints. No man was ever so poor that he could express all he has in him by words, looks, or actions; his true knowledge is eternally incommunicable, for it is a knowledge of himself..."

Short collection of short essays, including "What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us" and "A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget". According to Wikipedia: "Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910), better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was a humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer from the United States of America. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists and European royalty. Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner called Twain 'the father of American literature.'"

Short essay, first published in 1906. According to Wikipedia: "Washington is seen as a symbol of the United States and republicanism in practice. His devotion to civic virtue made him an exemplary figure among early American politicians. Washington died in 1799, and in his funeral oration, Henry Lee said that of all Americans, he was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Washington has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents."

Iat?, ?n cuvintele Aurei Christi, curg?nd abundent, din surse ascunse, fluidul vivifiant al poeziei, s? nu ne temem de retorica majusculelor, al marii Poezii. (Nicolae Balot?) Aura Christi a uimit critica de specialitate prin ample volute metaforice, calde, ?ndr?zne?e, abord?nd, ?n c?teva volume, printr-o splendid? frond?, clasicul sonet poetic ?i dovedind o excelent? st?p?nire a limbii, a mijloacelor specifice, ?ntr-o liric? a medita?iei grave, ad?nci, exprimat? ?n metafore, ?n care modernitatea ?i sensibilitatea secolului se confund?, cu vigoare clar?, de o marcat? originalitate, tumultuos ?i muzical aproape, ?ntr-o subtil? rezonan?? eufonic?, cu trimiteri, accente ?i imagini simbolice, cu marele torent al liricii europene de ?nalt nivel, de la Rimbaud ?i Baudelaire, la Rilke ?i Blaga. ?i, ?nc? odat?, la ?vetaieva ?i Nichita St?nescu. (Nicolae Breban) M? auzi tu, oare, ?nstr?inato? Am citit poeziile tale la ceas de sear?, pe o teras?, av?nd ?n fa?? colinele Ierusalimului. Eu nu sunt un bun comentator de poezie, cei care au scris despre poezia ta te-au ?prins“ foarte bine, ai for??, un sim? rar al tragicului ?i antene pentru transcenden??… (Leon Volovici) Ignor?nd retorica unei poezii postmoderniste intolerante, metonimice – baliz?ndu-se ?n criteriul retoricului, un trop ajunge, iat?, s? impun? un model poetic – Aura Christi continu? s? ofere un osp?? metaforic. Psalmul coexist? cu viziunea aspr?, expresionist?. Universul ?i limbajul au torsiuni tragice, ?n nara?iuni poematice deopotriv? fruste ?i fabuloase, cvasimitice. Moartea e o prezen?? familiar?, ca privirea ?i olfac?ia ?ns??i. Mitul e prezent ca joc automodelator. Calea spre mit ajunge o traversare a suferin?ei. (Marian Victor Buciu) A scrie c?derea apocaliptic? nu e u?or. E un merit al Aurei Christi faptul de a g?si singura solu?ie la aceast? c?dere fatal?, dat? din pornire: cel care o scrie o ?i ?opre?te“, ?incit?nd rigoarea/ celui din urm? frig“. Doar un fel de zeu al poeziei, o divinitate descoperit? cu greu, con?tient? de destr?marea mitului, poate s? impun? din nou mitul: instituirea ?mai viului“ este cu putin?? doar datorit? mor?ii. ?nvierea nu e posibil? dec?t datorit? ei. Sensul celei mai mari dintre taine se dezleag?, astfel, paradoxal, prin r?sturnarea negativit??ii generale a sensului. (...) Descoperirea f?cut? de poet? este c? realul ?nsu?i are origine poetic? (nu real?!), prin c?derea ?n ?emisfera cealalt?“, de parc? Dante ?nsu?i ar fi acum reeditat ?n alt? semantic?: ?Ah, calul e fiu al pega?ilor dintotdeauna“. Fiin?ele existente ??i au ob?r?ia ?n himere, iar realitatea ia fiin?? din metafor?. (...) Alt? ?descoperire“ poetic?: ?ntreg mitul temporal al omenirii poate fi ranversat. (…) Iat?, deci, cum se poate recupera mitul ?ntr-o epoc? ?n care toat? lumea postmodern? a visat la demitizare ?i dez-iluzionare pentru a se apropia de realul ca atare. (?tefania Mincu)

This collection includes: Life of Schiller by Calvin Thomas and such works by Schiller as Death of Wallenstein, William Tell, excerpts from The Thirty Years' War, poetry, and Correspondence with Goethe. The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 3, edited by Kuno Francke.

According to Wikipedia: "Mother Alphonsa was born on May 20, 1851 to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia Hawthorne, and baptised as Rose Hawthorne… After her father's death in 1864, she tried to become an author, like him. She wrote book of poems, Along the Shore, which was published in 1888. She later decided to rededicate her life to restoring her family's reputation after her brother's illegal activities and prostitution attempts. She was known for her service near and within New York City, caring for impoverished cancer by founding St. Rose's Free Home for Incurable Cancer in the Lower East Side. After George's death in 1898, she became a nun, and was inspired by "The New Colossus", a poem penned by her close friend Emma Lazarus, to found a community of Dominican religious, now known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne."

According to Wikipedia: "Frank Preston Stearns (1846-1917), the son of abolitionist George Luther Stearns, was a writer and abolitionist from Massachusetts during the 19th century. In addition to collaborating with Elizur Wright in ambitious abolitionist projects, such as the American Anti-Slavery Society, he is credited with several seminal works exploring the lives and careers of important American public figures and authors of note, including The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns."

This collection includes works by and about Heinrich Heine, Grillparzer, and Beethoven. The German Classics Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Volume 6, edited by Kuno Francke.

This collection includes: ON THE ENJOYMENT OF UNPLEASANT PLACES, AN APOLOGY FOR IDLERS, AES TRIPLEX, TALK AND TALKERS, A GOSSIP ON ROMANCE, THE CHARACTER OF DOGS, A COLLEGE MAGAZINE, BOOKS WHICH HAVE INFLUENCED ME, and PULVIS ET UMBRA.

This collection includes: THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT: FROM THE CLYDE TO SANDY HOOK. COCKERMOUTH AND KESWICK, AN AUTUMN EFFECT, A WINTER'S WALK IN CARRICK AND GALLOWAY, FOREST NOTES, A MOUNTAIN TOWN IN FRANCE, RANDOM MEMORIES: ROSA QUO LOCORUM, THE IDEAL HOUSE, DAVOS IN WINTER, HEALTH AND MOUNTAINS, ALPINE DIVERSION, THE STUMULATION OF THE ALPS, ROADS, and ON THE ENJOYMENT OF UNPLEASANT PLACES.

This file includes: Celtic Twilight, Four Years, Rosa Alchemica, The Secret Rose, Stories of Red Hanrahan, and Synge and the Ireland of His Time. According to Wikipedia: "William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 - 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers whose greatest works were completed after being awarded the Nobel Prize;[2] such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929). Yeats was born and educated in Dublin, but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slowly paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the lyricism of the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life."

First published in 1907. A memoir of the books in Doyle's library. According to Wikipedia: "Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer who is most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels."