Literature & Literary Studies
(including titles from the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature)
Another New Year: Nineteenth-Century American Newspaper Carriers' Addresses
Introduction by Francis O. Mattson. Facsimiles of charming gift books (two by Hawthorne) in the Library's Berg Collection, published in the nineteenth century to help paperboys garner tips at holiday time.
1987, 25 facsimile pages including broadside with engraving, 54 pages, $25.00, ISBN 0-87104-295-9
Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road
By Isaac Gewirtz. This companion volume to a New York Public Library exhibition traces Jack Kerouac's tumultuous and often traumatic journey from his working-class boyhood in Lowell, Massachusetts, to New York City, where he, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs would become the fathers of the Beat movement, and beyond. Drawing on journals, diaries, manuscripts, and typescripts in the Library's Jack Kerouac Archive--material never before seen by the general public, and only a very small proportion of which has been seen even by scholars--Beatific Soul explores Kerouac's evolution as a writer and his spiritual passage from Christianity to Buddhism and back again. The author's childhood traumas and epiphanies, his family and literary influences, his early writings, his literary and artistic theories, and his spirituality are fashioned into a compelling portrait of this purest of writers and most conflicted of men, who wanted only to "write a huge novel explaining everything to everybody." Although Kerouac claimed to have written On the Road in the three weeks it took him to type the famous scroll, the text of the published novel emerged, in fact, from a lengthy creative process, which here receives detailed analysis. Illustrated throughout with more than 125 reproductions of diaries, journals, typescripts, and paintings by Kerouac, as well as family photographs and striking portraits of Kerouac and his contemporaries, Beatific Soul is a fitting tribute to its subject on the 50th anniversary of his pioneering and best-known work.
Published by The New York Public Library in association with Scala Publishers
2007, more than 125 illustrations, 208 pages, $45.00, ISBN 978-1-85759-497-3
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Brothers: The Origins of the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
By Lola L. Szladits. A biographical tribute to two brothers and philanthropists, Dr. Henry W. and Dr. Albert A. Berg, founders of the Library's Berg Collection of English and American Literature, with a description of their original collection.
1985, 20 b/w illustrations, 76 pages, $10.00, ISBN 0-87104-281-9
The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle: A History, a Biography, and a Guide
By Stephen Wagner and Doucet Devin Fischer. The New York Public Library's Collection of Shelley and His Circle is one of the world's leading repositories for the study of English Romanticism. This illustrated volume includes a brief narrative on the life and works of Shelley, and biographical sketches of the people in his circle, as well as an account of the collection's origins and an informal inventory of its holdings.
1996, Illustrated, 128 pages, paperback, $14.95, ISBN 0-87104-443-9
THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT
Charles Dickens 1812-1870, An Anthology from the Berg Collection
Compiled by Lola L. Szladits, foreword by Francis O. Mattson. An illustrated
centennial catalogue, presenting a biography of the great novelist with excerpts and facsimile reproductions from his manuscripts, letters, and illustrated works, as well as photographs and memorabilia of unusual interest. Included in the American Institute of Graphic Arts selection of the best-designed books of 1990.
1990, 114 b/w illustrations, 180 pages, paperback, $22.50, ISBN 0-87104-424-2
Charles Dickens' Book of Memoranda
Edited by Fred Kaplan. A facsimile edition with full transcription of and notes by a leading Dickens scholar on the tiny notebook (now in the Berg Collection) in which Dickens recorded ideas.
1981, 118 pages, $20.00, ISBN 0-87104-279-7
Charting the Here of There: French and American Poetry in Translation in Literary Magazines, 1850-2002
By Guy Bennett and Béatrice Mousli. For the past 150 years, literary magazines have served as the telegraph/telephone/e-mail connection for a literary dialogue between French and American writers, permitting, with relative speed and facility, the transmission of poetry from one people to the other. This book documents the high points of this exchange, following it as it writes itself in the pages of French and American literary magazines from 1850 through the present. More ...
2002, 165 pages, illustrated, paperback, $24.95, ISBN 1-887123-63-6
Published by Granary Books
A Christmas Carol: The Public Reading Version
By Charles Dickens, introduction by Philip Collins. A facsimile of Dickens's own annotated copy of his beloved Christmas story which he used during his popular public reading tours in England and America.
1971, 232 pages, $20.00, ISBN 0-87104-228-2
Dandies and Doughties: Writers in Britain 1890-1900
An illustrated checklist for an exhibition featuring such writers as Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Joseph Conrad, and Henry James and highlighting the literature, designers, and trends of this period.
1993, 15 b/w illustrations, 48 pages, paperback, $6.95, ISBN 0-87104-433-1
e. e. cummings @ 100
By Francis O. Mattson. This illustrated catalogue and checklist, created to mark the 100th anniversary of Cummings's birth, features highlights of the artist's life and work - including poems, a self-portrait, and original drawings.
1994, 48 b/w illustrations, 80 pages, paperback, $14.95, ISBN 0-87104-436-6
Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892-1950
By Francis O. Mattson. A catalogue of the centennial exhibition honoring a leading twentieth-century poet, drawn from family archives in the Berg Collection, with lively biographical commentary, excerpts, and illustrations.
1991, 7 duotone illustrations, 48 pages, paperback, $6.00,
ISBN 0-87104-429-3
The Essential Black Literature Guide
Published in association with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, this book gives its reader a deeper understanding and appreciation of the rich legacy of black literature. Including significant works from all time periods and genres, it carefully weaves biography, plot synopsis, illustration, and description into a tapestry depicting the rich history of black literature, its struggles and triumphs.
1996, 464 pages, paperback, $17.95, ISBN 0-7876-0734-7
Published by Visible Ink Press
The Hand of the Poet: Poems and Papers in Manuscript
By Rodney Phillips, Susan Benesch, Kenneth Benson, and Barbara Bergeron. The Hand of the Poet provides a personal, intimate connection with poetry and its creation. One hundred poets, ranging from John Donne and William Blake to Stanley Kunitz and Julia Alvarez, are represented by biographical sketches, illustrations (all from the Library's collections), and poetry excerpts. Emphasis is on poetry-as-process, with many poems shown in early drafts; some of these poems would undergo extensive revision before, and even sometimes after, their first appearance in print. The volume also includes essays by poet Dana Gioia about the value of literary manuscripts and the history of the Berg Collection, and a bibliographical essay by Rodney Phillips offering suggestions for further
reading.
1987, over 300 b/w illustrations, 368 pages, $40.00, ISBN
0-8478-1958-2
Published by Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
Harvest Festival
By Sean O'Casey, foreword by Eileen O'Casey, introduction by John O'Riordan.
The first edition of the playwright's earliest extant play, from the manuscript in the Berg Collection's O'Casey archive.
1979, 108 pages, $25.00, ISBN 0-87104-273-8
Herman Melville's Malcolm Letter: "Man's Final Love"
By Hennig Cohen and Donald Yannella. A scholarly analysis of Melville's letter to his brother on the birth of his son, Malcolm.
1992, b/w illustrations, 260 pages, $30.00, ISBN 0-8232-1181-3
Published by Fordham University Press
"I Am with You": Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855-2005)
By Isaac Gewirtz. Walt Whitman's publication of Leaves of Grass, on July 4, 1855, stands as one of the more improbable achievements in American literary history. Nothing in the earlier writings of the thirty-six-year-old former Long Island schoolteacher, who himself received only six years of formal education, had suggested that he was capable of the revolutionary style or of the radically unorthodox combination of spiritual, sexual, and political sensibilities that make Leaves of Grass as much a prophetic teaching as a pioneering literary work. Today, 150 years after its first appearance, Leaves of Grass remains disturbingly honest and demanding, unique, and inimitable.
Whitman himself warned his readers that he was not merely the affectionate, easy friend they might suppose, and in this volume--illustrated with images from an anniversary exhibition at the Library--Isaac Gewirtz, Curator of the Library's renowned Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, explores and dissects the benign image of "the good gray poet." This candid appreciation of the poet and his poetry includes frank appraisals of his views on racism, homosexuality, and women's rights, yet always discerns the golden thread of Whitman's intention: that a new American man and woman might join him on a "perpetual journey" of self-realization, discovering along the way that "All truths wait in all things."
2005, b/w illustrations, 52 pages, paperback, $14.95, ISBN 0-87104-456-0
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Know These Lines
Compiled by Lola L. Szladits. A literary gamebook and anthology in brief,
featuring the opening lines of one hundred great works in the Berg Collection.
1987, 22 pages, paperback, $5.00, ISBN 0-87104-400-5
Letters of Transit: Reflections on Exile, Identity, Language, and Loss
Edited by André Aciman. The award-winning writers included in this collection of essays originally delivered in The New York Public Library's lecture series "Letters of Transit" have all written powerfully on exile, home, and memory. Now, in these essays, they offer moving meditations on these themes. André Aciman traces his migration from his home in Egypt to Italy, France, and the United States and compares his own transience with the unrootedness of many moderns. Eva Hoffman examines the crucial role of language and what happens when your first is lost. Returning to the political themes of his earlier work, Edward Said offers a personal exploration of his conflicting allegiances. Novelist Bharati Mukherjee analyzes her own struggle with assimilation. Finally, Charles Simic remembers the comedy of bureaucracy he experienced as a sixteen-year-old "displaced person" in Paris after the war, and his thwarted attempts at "fitting in" in America. Letters of Transit is a wonderful introduction to the works of these extraordinary writers.
"A thoughtful and diverse collection with a distinctly literary
bent."--Kirkus Reviews complete review and more information
1999, 140 pages, hardcover, $18.95, ISBN 1-56584-504-8; paperback,
$12.95, ISBN 1-56584-607-9
Published by The New Press
Love and Death
By Lola L. Szladits. An anthology and exhibition catalogue presenting the
thoughts of English and American authors on the subjects of life and literature.
1989, 10 b/w illustrations, 50 pages, paperback, $10.00, ISBN
0-87104-414-5
The Medici Aesop: NYPL Spencer 50 from the Spencer Collection of The New York Public Library
Introduction by Everett Fahy; fables translated from the Greek by Bernard McTigue; Afterword by H. George Fletcher. One of the treasures of the Library's Spencer Collection, The Medici Aesop is a fifteenth-century Florentine manuscript of Aesop's fables, traced to the library of Lorenzo de' Medici's son Piero and illustrated with exquisite miniature paintings -- among the loveliest in any Renaissance work. Its magnificently illustrated pages feature a rainbow of brilliant colors and elaborate decorations that will dazzle today's reader as they once did the Medicis.
With their conversations between animals, people, and gods and their sharp-edged moral lessons, these fables have been favorites for generations. This new softcover edition contains 139 classic tales, both familiar and less so. Each appears elegantly handwritten in the Greek, alongside an English translation by Bernard McTigue, former Curator of the George Arents Collection and Keeper of Rare Books at The New York Public Library. An introduction by Everett Fahy, Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, provides historical background on the development and popularity of Aesop's fables, from their earliest known Greek sources to more recent versions, and on the artistry of the illuminations. An afterword by H. George Fletcher, Brooke Russell Astor Director for Special Collections at The New York Public Library, summarizes recent research on the manuscript's missing folios, its provenance, and the identity of the artist.
2005, full color illustrations throughtout, 176 pages, paperback, $27.50, ISBN 0-87104-454-4
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Melymbrosia
By Virginia Woolf, edited by Louise A. DeSalvo. A scholar's edition of the
earliest recoverable version of Virginia Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out,
long in the making, edited from the layers of manuscript in the Berg Collection's Woolf archive.
1982, 299 pages, $20.00, ISBN 0-87104-277-0
(available for sale only in the U.S.)
Momotaro and the Island of Ogres
A Japanese folktale, retold, with a postscript, by Stephanie Wada; paintings by Kano Naganobu. The amazing adventures of Momotaro, a boy found inside a peach and raised by an elderly couple, is one of Japan's most popular folktales. One of the finest illustrated versions of the tale known today appears in an exquisite handscroll painted by Kano Naganobu (1775-1828), in the Spencer Collection of The New York Public Library; those illustrations are reproduced here in their entirety. The story follows Momotaro's journey to the terrifying Island of Ogres where, with the aid of some animal friends, he lays siege to the demons' ill-gotten treasures. One of the first Japanese folktales to have been translated into English, Momotaro is a delightful and lively voyage of the imagination that can be enjoyed by young and old alike. A postscript looks at the tradition of illustrated folk stories in Japan, with examples of Momotaro pictures and related imagery in various forms of art, including painting and woodblock printing. The career of the artist, Kano Naganobu, and the artistic climate in which he worked are also reviewed.
2005, color illustrations throughout, 47 pages, $19.95, ISBN 0-8076-1552-8
Published by George Braziller, Inc.
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Movin': Teen Poets Take Voice
Edited by Dave Johnson, in association with The New York Public Library and Poets House; drawings by Chris Raschka. Diverse, strong, and still in their teens, a talented new generation of poets speaks out. An ode to an eyebrow, poems about school and sports, dreams for the future, reminiscences of the past -- the poems gathered here were written by teenage poets from across the country who participated, either online or in person, in workshops sponsored by The New York Public Library. As one of the gifted young participants writes: "Who knows what the brilliant / minds of tomorrow will conjure up." This inspiring poetry collection, illustrated with Chris Raschka's distinctive drawings, will captivate readers who don't want to wait.
"Poignant introspection, sly observations, lovely images, and droll commentary on life, school, love, and sports are all here for reflection. Raschka's calligraphic, gestural drolleries enliven the pages."--
Kirkus Reviews
"This volume will show readers and aspiring writers that anyone can and should write poetry--and that others will listen."--
School Library Journal
2000, illustrated, 64 pages, hardcover, $15.95, ISBN 0-531-30258-X; paperback, $6.95, ISBN 0-531-07171-5 Published by Orchard Books
New in the Berg Collection, 1991-1993
This illustrated checklist includes significant new additions to the Berg Collection, including the papers of the great twentieth-century novelist Vladimir Nabokov, and of poets Philip Levine and Howard Moss. Also listed are additions to the Berg's holdings for Beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg; and for poets W. H. Auden and Laura Riding.
1994, 8 b/w illustrations, 31 pages, paperback, $9.95, ISBN
0-87104-435-8
Mystery and Crime: The New York Public Library Book of Answers
By Jay Pearsall. Part of The New York Public Library's popular question-and-answer reference series, Mystery and Crime provides hundreds of questions (and answers) on everything from Amateur Detectives to Sherlock Holmes to Private Eyes, Grifters, and Dames. Includes a list of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award winners.
1995, bibliography, index, 175 pages, paperback, $11.00, ISBN
0-671-87237-0
Published by Macmillan USA
The New York Public Library Literature Companion
Edited by Anne Skillion. For the curious browser as well as the serious researcher, an exciting new resource offering up-to-date information on literature available in English from around the world, from the invention of writing to the year 2000. Interwoven throughout the more than 2,500 succinct and insightful entries on Creators, Works of Literature, and Literary Facts and Resources are the fascinating facts and quirky biographical details that make literature come alive. More ...
"No other modern literary companion comes close to matching this book's remarkable breadth."--Library Journal
2001, 772 pages, index, hardcover, $40.00, ISBN 0-684-86890-3
Published by The Free Press
Book-of-the-Month Club, Alternate Selection
No Crystal Stair: Still Climbing
Compiled by the members of the Black Experience Materials Committee at The New York Public Library. Continuing the work begun with the publication of The Negro in the United States in 1925 and of No Crystal Stair in 1971, this new edition includes the most significant works by African American authors published since 1990, as well as selected classics in print. Organized categorically, this list is a useful guide to Black materials available today.
1996, 40 pages, paperback, $8.00, ISBN 0-87104-736-5
Available from The Office of Branch Libraries
The Pargiters
By Virginia Woolf, edited by Mitchell A. Leaska. An early version of Virginia Woolf's The Years, in essay-novel form, with the text of a significant speech outlining the novelist's views of woman's role in society. Edited from the manuscripts in the Berg Collection's Woolf archive.
1977, 211 pages, $25.00, ISBN 0-87104-268-1
(available for sale only in the U.S.)
A
Passionate Prodigality: Letters to Alan Bird from Richard Aldington, 1949-1962
Edited with an introduction by Miriam J. Benkovitz. In letters to a young scholar, the novelist, poet, and biographer Aldington expounds on politics, literature, art, travel, on the friendships and friends of his youth, and on questions of censorship, copyright restriction, and libel in the publishing world.
1975, 361 pages, $25.00, ISBN 0-87104-259-2
Pen & Brush: The Author as Artist
By Lola L. Szladits and Harvey Simmonds. A delightful compilation of unexpected treasures in the Berg Collection - the artwork of writers from Blake and Thackeray to Shaw and Dylan Thomas.
1969, 59 pages, paperback, $7.00, ISBN 0-87104-142-1
Perennials: A Fiftieth Anniversary Selection from the Berg Collection
By Lola L. Szladits. The illustrated catalogue of the anniversary exhibition of the Berg Collection's treasures of English and American literature.
1988, 30 b/w illustrations, 1 color plate, 92 pages, paperback, $15.00, ISBN 0-87104-401-3
Pope's Dunciad of 1728: A History and Facsimile
By David L. Vander Meulen, foreword by Lola L. Szladits. Reproduced from a copy in the Berg Collection.
1991, 174 pages, $40.00, ISBN 0-8139-1268-7
Published by The University Press of Virginia
The Scholar Adventurer
Essays by John D. Gordan, introduction by Richard D. Altick. Urbane essays on English and American literature by the first curator of the Library's Berg Collection.
1987, 1 b/w illustration, 133 pages, paperback, $10.00, ISBN
0-87104-294-0
The Schomburg Center Guide to Black Literature From the Eighteenth Century to the Present
Complete with photos and chronologies, this easy-to-use, thorough reference source is an authoritative guide to the works of novelists, poets, critics, journalists, dramatists, and other black writers from around the world. It will serve as a resource for students and teachers alike.
1996, 572 pages, $75.00, ISBN 0-7876-0289-2
Published by Gale Research
The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers
Henry Louis Gates, General Editor. These remarkable volumes bring to light the voices of an important segment of the African American literary tradition with their offerings of rare works of fiction, poetry, autobiography, biography, essays, and journalism.
Selected titles available; paperback only. For information on specific titles and prices, call or write the Schomburg Center.
Published by Oxford University Press in collaboration with the Schomburg Center
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Secret Location on the Lower East Side:
Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980
By Steven Clay and Rodney Phillips; Pre-Face by Jerome Rothenberg. A Secret Location on the Lower East Side, based on a 1998 exhibition at The New York Public Library, documents the confluence of the New American Poetry with the mimeo revolution. The various strains identified in Donald Allen's watershed anthology The New American Poetry, 1945-1960 (Grove, 1960)--Beat, Black Mountain, New York School, San Francisco Renaissance, and others--extended into and evolved throughout the 60s and 70s, finding expression in "underground" magazines and presses. Focusing on the small press publishing scene on the West Coast and in downtown New York City, this book offers a glimpse into that mimeo revolution, through descriptions and checklists for over 80 magazines and presses. A Secret Location on the Lower East Side includes a Pre-Face by Jerome Rothenberg, contributions from many of the original editors and publishers, and over 200 black-and-white images.
1998, over 200 black-and-white illustrations, 352 pages, paperback, $27.95, ISBN 1-887123-20-2;
hardcover, $44.95, ISBN 1-887123-19-9
Published by The New York Public Library and Granary Books
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Self-Explorations: Diarists in England and America, 1641-1962
By Lola L. Szladits. A record of manuscript diaries in the Berg Collection, from Fanny Burney's to Virginia Woolf's.
1988, 4 b/w illustrations, 12 pages, paperback, $3.00
Simon Wheeler, Detective
By Mark Twain, edited by Franklin R. Rogers. A rousing detective story, based on the Pinkerton agents, edited from the Berg Collection manuscript.
1963, 1 b/w illustration, 4 facsimile pages, 204 pages, $25.00, ISBN 0-87104-161-8
The Thirty-Six Immortal Women Poets, A Poetry Album with Illustrations
By Chobunsai Eishi. Introduction, commentaries, and translations by Andrew J. Pekarik. Reproduced from a volume in the Spencer Collection of The New York Public Library.
1991, 74 color plates, 192 pages, hardcover, $45.00, ISBN 0-8076-1256-1; paperback, $24.95, ISBN 0-8076-1257-X
Published by George Braziller, Inc.
Utopia: The Search for the Ideal Society in the Western World
Edited by Roland Schaer, Gregory Claeys, and Lyman Tower Sargent. This companion volume to the exhibition on view at the Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library features essays by the distinguished editors as well as by Alain Touraine, J. C. Davis, Krishan Kumar, and other leading European and American scholars of utopian thought and literature. Elegantly designed and richly illustrated with over 300 images from the collections of The New York Public Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, this book explores the long tradition in thought and art envisioning the "perfect place," from classical antiquity to the present. Also included are an extensive bibliography of utopian literature, a bibliography of secondary sources, and a filmography. Contents of the volume
2000, 300 illustrations in color and black and white, 400 pages, hardcover, $49.95, ISBN 0-19-514110-5; paperback, $27.95, ISBN 0-19-514111-3
Published by Oxford University Press
Virginia Woolf and Her Circle
An illustrated catalogue surveying her life and career through diary entries,
letters, manuscripts, and published works, and through works by contemporaries such as Vita Sackville-West, E. M. Forster, and Lytton Strachey.
1993, 15 illustrations, 77 pages, paperback, $11.95, ISBN 0-87104-434-X
W. H. Auden, 1907-1973
By Edward Mendelson. An introductory guide to items in the Library's growing Auden archive, including Chester Kallman's gift of the poet's papers.
1976, 21 b/w illustrations, 64 pages, paperback, $11.00, ISBN 0-87104-264-9
W. H. Auden, Poems, 1927-1929
Edited by Nicholas Jenkins. A glimpse into the workshop of a young poet fashioning his personal voice: a facsimile, with full transcription and annotations, of the notebook of Auden's early poems now in the Berg Collection, with an introduction by a leading young Auden scholar. Printed text and 61 facsimile pages of manuscript.
1989. Available only in slipcased limited edition, 142 pages, $95.00, ISBN 0-87104-415-3
Walt Whitman: In Life or Death Forever
Introduction and commentary by Francis O. Mattson. A companion volume to the Whitman centennial exhibition including full-page repro-ductions of rare printed and manuscript works, letters, and photographs from the Library's extensive Whitman collections.
1992, 22 b/w illustrations, 45 pages, $10.00, ISBN 0-87104-431-5
Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth
By Garry Wills. This colorful and surprising look at one of the world's best-known dramas draws on the author's knowledge of the intrigue and drama of Jacobean England. By returning Macbeth to the context of its own time, Wills recreates the burning theological and political crises of Shakespeare's era, transforming the play into the struggle for the soul of a nation.
1995, appendixes, notes, indexes, 223 pages, $19.95, ISBN 0-19-508879-4
Published by Oxford University Press
Women and Literature
By Lola L. Szladits. A checklist of major works by women writers in the Berg Collection.
1986, 6 b/w illustrations, 16 pages, paperback, $2.00
Words Like Freedom
By Richard Newman. A survey of rare and manuscript material by and about blacks, literary and historical, in the Library's special collection of English and American literature.
1989, 11 b/w illustrations, 42 pages, paperback, $10.00, ISBN 0-87104-413-7
Available from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Favorite masterpieces of world literature illustrated by rare and beautiful materials from the Library's collections and featuring an elegant, distinctive design, with foil-trimmed covers with matching endpapers; compact, easy-to-hold size; and modern, readable type. Each book includes a biography of the author, a short essay about the images and artifacts from the Library used to illustrate the text, and suggestions for further reading.
A Christmas Carol and Other Haunting Tales
By Charles Dickens. This selection of some of Dickens's most captivating stories is illustrated with handwritten manuscript pages, rare family photographs, and a splendid array of prints and drawings from the Library's special collections. The volume features the beloved A Christmas Carol, illustrated with Sol Eytinge's beautiful and tender drawings, which Dickens himself found "remarkable for a delicate perception of beauty"; the magical Christmas stories "The Haunted Man" and "A Christmas Tree"; a selection of the master's most gripping ghost stories, including "Nurse's Stories," "The Signal-Man," "The Story of the Bagman's Uncle," "To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt," and "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton"; and three of Dickens's tales in their "reading versions," which Dickens specially prepared for his riveting public performances in the 1850s.
1998, illustrated, 421 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48725-8
Published by Doubleday
The Custom of the Country
By Edith Wharton. In this controversial novel, Edith Wharton leveled her most biting critique at the limitations that her society placed upon the ambitious woman. In the novel, Wharton's magnificent anti-heroine, Undine Spragg, ruthlessly sells herself to whatever man she believes can provide her with the success she desires; the character is viciously and precisely rendered by the author. With photographs by Alvin Langdon Coburn and drawings by Charles Dana Gibson, this Collector's Edition evokes the atmosphere of nineteenth-century New York, and brings us closer to the author herself, with letters in her hand and other archival traces of her life from the Library's special collections.
1998, illustrated, 475 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48723-1
Published by Doubleday
Far from the Madding Crowd
By Thomas Hardy. This edition of Hardy's first masterpiece, the glorious tale of the beautiful, willful Bathsheba Everdene and her three suitors, reprints for the first time the illustrations by Helen Paterson that graced the novel's first appearance in print. Other illustrations include a page from Virginia Woolf's diary, describing a visit to Hardy at his home, Max Gate.
1998, illustrated, 510 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48731-2
Published by Doubleday
Frankenstein
By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Here, in a handsome and lavishly illustrated new edition, is Mary Shelley's masterpiece of gothic horror. Featuring literature's most memorable and poignant fiend, Frankenstein still possesses, in the words of literary critic Ellen Moers, "the power to curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart." This classic tale about science's dangerous ambition to unlock the mysteries of life speaks profoundly to the question of what it means to be human. This special edition is enhanced with portraits of the author and members of her circle, evocative contemporary illustrations of Frankenstein's monster, and letters and manuscript pages in Mary Shelley's own hand. Rare illustrations from books mentioned in Frankenstein paint the Romantic literary scene as Mary Shelley saw it.
1999, illustrated, 316 pages, $18.95, ISBN 0-385-48732-0
Published by Doubleday
Great Expectations
By Charles Dickens. Featuring original illustrations by five distinguished nineteenth-century artists; dashing portraits of Dickens by George Cruikshank; relics from Gad's Hill Place, the novelist's beloved home; and revealing pages from Dickens's own private pocket diary .
1997, illustrated, 608 pages, $20.00, ISBN 0-385-48721-5
Published by Doubleday
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent
By Joseph Conrad. A satisfying glimpse of the range and power of Joseph Conrad's artistic vision, from his exploration of the unspoken truths of imperialism in Africa in Heart of Darkness to The Secret Agent, a tale of intrigue set in London's political underground. Illustrated with excerpts from the original corrected typescript of Heart of Darkness and handwritten letters from the author to his London agent.
1997, illustrated, 400 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48728-2
Published by Doubleday
Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Brontë. Featuring illustrations from a 1923 Paris limited edition and an eclectic selection of archival materials, including a handwritten letter from the author to her publisher.
1997, illustrated, 574 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48717-7
Published by Doubleday
Leaves of Grass: A Selection of Poems and Prose
By Walt Whitman. A selection of Whitman's greatest and most beautiful lyrics, from masterpieces such as "Song of Myself" to little-known gems like "Fancies at Navesink." Also included are four of Whitman's superbly poetic essays, including the landmark preface to the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Reproductions include handwritten poems and letters and a stunning array of portraits of the writer and illustrations from earlier editions of the poet's works.
1997, illustrated 491 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48727-4
Published by Doubleday
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
By Choderlos de Laclos. The Marquise de Merteuil and her accomplished rival in the art of erotic and psychological manipulation, the Vicomte de Valmont, take the stage again in Ernest Dowson's beautifully polished translation of this scandalous French classic, which, as Baudelaire famously said, "Burns like ice." In this new edition, Dowson's elegant translation is stylishly complemented by the elegant, coolly erotic etchings of Sylvain Sauvage, originally executed for a deluxe edition published in Paris in 1930.
1998, illustrated, 494 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48733-9
Published by Doubleday
Louisa May Alcott: An Intimate Anthology
A vivid and sometimes startling original anthology of stories, diary entries, letters, and verse, bringing to life the daring, down-to-earth side of Alcott, as well as her better-known generosity and good humor.
1997, illustrated, 412 pages, $18.00, ISBN 0-385-48722-3
Published by Doubleday
Madame Bovary
By Gustave Flaubert. Featuring etchings from a rare turn-of-the-century French edition and a sampling of Vladimir Nabokov's handwritten notes for his legendary Cornell lectures on Madame Bovary.
1997, illustrated, 384 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48719-3
Published by Doubleday
Mansfield Park
By Jane Austen. Austen's most controversial novel, displaying her characteristic irony and perception, illustrated with reproductions of a handwritten letter from Austen to her sister Cassandra, and Cassandra's own charming and whimsical drawings of the British kings and queens.
1997, illustrated, 492 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48726-6
Published by Doubleday
Motley Tales and a Play
By Anton Chekhov. This anthology includes one of his greatest plays, The Three Sisters, in an adaptation by American playwright David Mamet, and a selection of seventeen of the Russian writer's short stories. Illustrations include reproductions from the Moscow Art Theatre's album for its original production of The Three Sisters; Vladimir Nabokov's lecture notes on Chekhov's writing; and art works by Chekhov's friends and contemporaries.
1998, illustrated, 427 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48730-4
Published by Doubleday
O Pioneers! and Other Tales of the Prairie
By Willa Cather. Although Willa Cather lived most of her adult life in New York City, she never forgot or stopped loving the "sea of grass"--the open, untamed country of her youth. Gathered together in this unique collection are the novel O Pioneers!--Cather's famous elegy to the land and to the pioneer spirit--and two of her greatest shorter works, A Lost Lady and "The Bohemian Girl." An evocative celebration of Cather's life and work, this special Collector's Edition is illustrated with portraits of Cather and a selection of photographs and drawings that capture the grandeur of the Western frontier.
1999, illustrated, 425 pages, $18.95, ISBN 0-385-48720-7
Published by Doubleday
Selected Poetry of Emily Dickinson: Chosen by The New York Public Library
Featuring reproductions of the only known photograph of the poet and of handwritten letters by Dickinson.
1997, illustrated, 334 pages, $15.00, ISBN 0-385-48718-5
Published by Doubleday
Sister Carrie
By Theodore Dreiser. Featuring the unexpurgated text of the novel, from the manuscript in the collections of The New York Public Library, enhanced by selections from Dreiser's correspondence with H. L. Mencken and photographs of turn-of-the-century New York City.
1997, illustrated, 620 pages, $20.00, ISBN 0-385-48724-X
Published by Doubleday
Up from Slavery and Other Early Black Narratives
By Booker T. Washington and others. Washington was without question the most prominent spokesman for his race during the post-Reconstruction period. Whether he is viewed as a savior or a traitor to his race -- both opinions were held by his contemporaries -- his autobiography is essential reading for its insight into the black experience in the early twentieth century. This Collector's Edition also includes excerpts from five slave narratives, including the first known narrative by an enslaved woman in the Americas. Illustrations are drawn from the vast archives of The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
1998, illustrated, 366 pages, $18.50, ISBN 0-385-48729-0
Published by Doubleday
Women in Love
By D. H. Lawrence. One of the greatest of twentieth-century novelists and poets, D. H. Lawrence wrote and lived with a passionate intensity that shocked his contemporaries. Lawrence composed Women in Love while at the height of his powers, and indeed, in its blend of lyricism, psychological revelation, and an eroticism that is never very far from violence, it can still startle and even discomfit readers. This handsome edition is illustrated with reproductions of Lawrence's own rare and striking paintings, as well as portraits of the author and his wife, and letters in his hand.
1999, illustrated, 635 pages, $19.95, ISBN 0-385-48734-7
Published by Doubleday
B. Bergeron, rev. 10/07
