This is a delightful version of the classic Robin Hood. I especially love the illustrations by Greg Hildebrandt, and the timelessness of this leather bound edition. We see Robin hood as handsome and brave. The romance between him and Maid Marian is bitter-sweet. The book is divided in chapters, yet can be enjoyed by children and adults alike without being boring. I personally keep it on my bookshelf, away from little hands.

McSpadden stays true to the Robin Hood legend and in my opinion this is the best portrayel of Robin Hood I have read and I recently read five other book about Robin Hood and find this one the best. If you are looking to buy Robin Hood then get this one you wont regret it, trust me on this one. I like how Robin Hood is the best archer in Sherwood bet is not as good in other forms of combat so it makes him seem more human, but not ordinary like many other book about him.

I still can never figure out why "The Cherry Orchard" is hailed as his masterpiece and put in all the Drama anthologies to represent his work. To me "Ivanov", "The Sea Gull" and "Uncle Vanya" are his great works. "The Sea Gull" however ranks on the top of my list as his best work. A tragic tale of the meaning of love and being an artist with comic tones and timeless characters. All of the emotions and situations are realistic to real life. The play is more personal and has more meaning than average Realism. The first time I saw "The Sea Gull" I fell in love with it so much I saw it the next day again. It's one of the rare four act plays that I can enjoy the whole performance and not be bored. Anyone who wants to see Chekhov's brilliance should read this play and the others I mentioned.

Inspired by a real-life incident of the death of a sea gull, this is hailed as the best written play by Chekov, The Sea Gull tells a poignant love story centered on literaray nonentity Konstantin's tragic quest for a burgeoning actress Nina. Swirling around the country estate are characters who reflect Konstantin's pain and suffering in their own harshly realistic ways. In this famed play, Chekov introduces a brand new form of literature as to emphasize characters other than plot. Instead of placing characters beneath a steady frame, Chekov lets his characters guide the subtle movement of the sad tale of devastated dreams and hopes. The dying sea gull symbolizes the emptiness of defeat and further stressing the beauty of life. The fullness of being simply alive comes beaming with power and touches life.

This is an excellent collection of Tennyson's poems,
very representative, very inclusive. In order to make
room for so many poems with full texts, the editor has
chosen not to include an Introduction. This, of course,
for the non-Tennyson reader or person wishing to know
more about him presents something of an obstacle. However,
a bit of rambling to one's own library, or a municipal
one, can solve that.
There is included a Chronology of important dates and
events concerning Tennyson's life. From this, a few of
the important facts seem to be: 1809--born at Somersby,
fourth son of Revd George Clayton Tennyson, Rector of
Somersby; 1816-1820--pupil at Louth Grammar School,
subsequently educated at home by his father; 1827--
publishes _Poems by Two Brothers_ with his brother
Charles, also enters Trinity College, Cambridge University;
1829--meets Arthur Henry Hallam, also a student at Trinity,
who was to become Tennyson's close friend and the fiance
of Tennyson's sister Emily, also wins the Chancellor's
Gold Medal with his prize poem "Timbuctoo", and becomes
a member of the "Apostles," a Cambridge debating society;
1830--publication of _Poems, Chiefly Lyrical_; 1831--death
of Tennyson's father, he leaves Cambridge without a
degree; 1833 (September) death of Hallam, his close
friend, from a cerebral hemorrhage while on holiday in
Vienna; 1840--beginning of almost a decade of depression
and ill health for Tennyson; 1850--marries Emily
Sellwood, appointed Poet Laureate of England; 1852--birth
of first son whom he names "Hallam"; 1883--accepts offer
of title of Baron, taking his seat in the House of
Lords in March 1884; 1892--dies on 6 October.
The poems in this anthology come from the major
publishings of Tennyson's poems. The first two:
"Timbuctoo" was published in the _Cambridge Chronicle
and Journal_ (1829) --and "The Idealist" was not
published during Tennyson's lifetime [this information

comes from the very good notes supplied by the Editor
Aidan Day at the back of the volume].
The poems included in this volume which the scholar or
general reader might wish to know are here collected
in one edition [full texts], along with many more
than these mentioned, are: The Lady of Shalott; Oenone;
The Palace of Art; The Hesperides; The Lotos-Eaters;
Morte d'Arthur; Ulysses; Locksley Hall; short poems
from _The Princess_; IN MEMORIAM, A.H.H. (1850);
MAUD (1855); Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington;
The Charge of the Light Brigade; Tithonous; Lucretius;
To E. FitzGerald; Tiresias; The Ancient Sage; Locksley
Hall Sixty Years After (1886); Demeter and Persephone;
Crossing the Bar. These poems are presented in
chronological order in the text, and the very good
Table of Contents in the front of the book tells
the poetry collection and its date from which the
poems come.
Tennyson is one of those interesting poets that take
a bit of time (at least for me) to get used to -- to
want to read, to really listen to. Having had the
experience of being required to memorize some of
Tennyson for my early academic training in school
at least got me acquainted with the more accessible,
but somewhat less deep poems. But it has taken several
years, much experience, and depressed grief over the
loss of a beloved, to bring me into synch with
the deeper poetry...or at least, being able to hear
it with deeper understanding, deeper reading.
From these poems it is hard to pick "favorites," and
that almost seems too trite a word. Maybe "meaningful"
would be more appropriate as a term. The two I would
select out would be "The Palace of Art" (1832; rev.
1842) and IN MEMORIAM, A.H.H. (1833), on the death
of his dear, beloved friend Arthur Hallam.
From "The Palace of Art," these lines resonate:
* * * * * * * * *
And with choice paintings of wise men I hung
The royal dais round.

For there was Milton like a seraph strong,
Beside him Shakespeare bland and mild;
And there the world-worn Dante grasp'd his song,
And somewhat grimly smiled.

And there the Ionian father of the rest;
A million wrinkles carved his skin;
A hundred winters snow'd upon his breast,
From cheek and throat and chin.
......
And thro' the topmost Oriels' coloured flame
Two godlike faces gazed below;
Plato the wise, and large-brow'd Verulam,
The first of those who know.

-- Arthur Lord Tennyson.
* * * * * * * *

This is an eminently readable collection of Tennyson's most memorable poems. Both the price and the content are of great value to today's readers. Our present times reflect stress and change which parrallels Tennyson's world. The poems are timeless and language is no barrier for a new millenium reader of this valient poet. For those looking for guidlines to courage and consistency, I recommend that you read and enjoy this book. Your gain will be ten-fold the price.

Shelley is one of the greatest English-language poets the world has ever known. Contained in this Dover edition are some of the finest examples of his work: Ozymandias; his two poetic elegies, Lines Written among the Euganean Hills and Adonais; and his depiction of his relationship with Byron, Julian and Maddalo. These poems, and the others in this edition, offer an excellent introduction to Percy Shelley, and thus to Romanticism as a whole. This is the best dollar that you will ever spend.

This is a wonderful collection of Shelley's greatest poems. I checked it out of the library and was tempted never to return it.

Hi; Whether you are a beginner or experienced magician, you will find a wealth of great magic in these books, especially if you enjoy the subtle (sneaky!) instead of complicated sleight-of-hand.

If you see a book written by Karl Fulves on magic that has the words Self-Working in the title then buy it. There is a wealth of knowledge in each of these books. -Diamond Jim Tyler

When The Story of an African Farm was published in 1883, the title gave no indication to readers what the complex scope of the novel was really about.

Written by South African governess, Olive Schreiner, the book's crux ran along the controversal: the oppression of women, feminism, the existance of God, anti-imperialism, the bizarre transformation of one the novel's characters (not Lyndall) into a transvestite. It goes on and on. The novel was written when the belief of agnosticism was in the early stages of being in 'vogue.' Also interesting, Darwin's Origin of the Species had been published for some time, and the theory had rooted itself in many areas of society.

This was not the traditional Victorian novel that was written in the old English 'bonne bouche' manner on par with Jane Eyre or Emma. The prose of the novel has a broken up fluidity to it; it is not grandiloquent; it is in fact, quite brutal, edgy. As Elaine Showalter writes in the excellent introduction to the Bantam Classic edition, "Readers expecting the structured plot of a typical three-volume Victorian novel were startled by the oddity of African Farm, with its poetic, allegorical, and distinct passages, and its defiance of narrative and sexual conventions." With that clearly explained, it is not a surprise that it shocked old, priggish Englanders with their stiff upper lips and staunch, conservative manners, nor is it shocking that the Church of England called the novel "blasphemous."

African Farm details the lives of three key characters: Waldo, Em and Lyndall. The latter character is the one who seems to bring up the key issues that made the novel controversal. Lyndall is always described as 'little,' 'delicate,' 'like a doll,' 'a flower.' However, she is the one who refuses to marry (with one minor exception to the rule) until a social equilibrium is established between men and women. She desires equality between the sexes, and is willing to suffer for it. And she does, more than what is expected. Odd as it may seem, but considering the period in which the novel was written, the character of Lyndall really had to be physically 'feminized' in order to make up for her strongly held convictions of being a 'total' woman and not 'half' a woman.

If any person reads the novel, the character of Lyndall needs (from my view) special attention, for she questions the values of men, women who accepted the standard, religion and the social hierarchy in which she was born. Her questions seem like cartels, challenges. Why can't she have a job? Why can't she be educated or independent without the stigma 'weirdo' unflinchingly attached to her? Why must she be dubbed 'strange?' The reader must always ask why when reading this book. The three characters, Lyndall especially, endure a lot of hardship, a hardship that mirrored the very author's life, i.e. her cold and distant upbringing, the religious retraints placed on her life as well as the life-clenching grasp that old norms had on women of that period. African Farm was Olive Schreiner's liberty, her freedom from the societal choke hold.

In conclusion, the novel is not one of grace and patrician dogma. It is not a book of nice ladies and gentlemen sitting under the African sun near exotic, wild flowers sipping tea and participating in intellectual banter. No, it is an underscored work of literature where ideas of human aspiration and ecumenical desires are explored under a blazing sun and burnt, sandy plain.

...it would be awfully short-sighted to say it was. I came across Olive Schriner by accident which goes to show that quality is not always given the profile it deserves. But now I'm going to rectify that. Olive Schriner is a genius. This book should be right up there with Woolf's 'Mrs.Dalloway' and Hesse's 'Glass Bead Game'. Read it - that's all. You can't get to the end of your life without doing so, and since that can come at any moment read it NOW.

This is not just a coloring book... in fact when I first bought this 'book' 10 years ago, I saw it more as a craft project. Inside the cover, you will find beautiful, uncolored reproductions of Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass artwork on a resiliant, translucent plastic 'paper'. The designs feature birds, flowers, and trees from some of Tiffany's most famous works. Sure you could color them and leave them in the book- but why? What I did was use a little adhesive and used one design to cover the 8.5 x 11 inch windows flanking my front door. They are beautiful colored or not. I get so many compliments I have people asking how I did what I did and where they can find the book! This book is pure artistic delight! Other stained glass designs are available as well. I'm buying more.

I bought this book for the line images of the designs, I use Tiffany designs in computer application. I also bought Mr. Sibbett's book "Art Nouveau Stained Glass Coloring Book" in which the designs are simpler. I was impressed with both books. Paired with a good-sized set of felt tip markers with fine points, this book is a great gift for a friend in the hospital or a grand child who has learned to "stay within the lines" to some degree. It is possible to scan these images, print them on high quality white paper, color them with the markers, then scan them again and print them on overhead transparency material. The result will have transparent colors and is beautiful put in a window.

I rarely recognized the full significance of Andrew Marvell's imagery on my first reading, and with each subsequent reading I made new discoveries. Likewise, Marvell's themes are often complex and require thought and contemplation. This is poetry to be read again and again. Nonetheless, Marvell's language is characterized by clarity and even the first reading is quite enjoyable.

Although Andrew Marvell is recognized today as one of the great poets of the English language, many readers are familiar with only a few of his works, notably To His Coy Mistress (found in most anthologies) and a few of his pastoral poems like Damon the Mower and The Mower's Song. This little Dover edition offers an inexpensive way to become more acquainted with a good selection of Marvell's versatile poetry.

Andrew Marvell was active in English politics during the turbulent period of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and Charles II. His love poems and lyrics were private writings not published until three years after his death. Through the years a few poets like Coleridge and Wordsworth recognized Marvell's genius, but he largely remained unknown.

Fortunately, a scholar, Sir Herbert Grierson, and a noted poet, T. S. Elliot, jointly brought attention in the 1920s to the remarkable work of the "metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century", especially Andrew Marvell.

In this Dover edition the spelling and punctuation has been modernized somewhat for clarity. The footnotes are sparse and I found it helpful to occasionally visit the dictionary. The collection includes a wide selection of Marvell's love poems, lyric poetry, religious poetry, and two political poems - An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland and the rather long poem Upon Appleton House.

It is not easy to select only a few favories as this collection is quite exceptional. Certainly my list would include: To His Coy Mistress - The Mower to the Glowworms - The Mower Against the Gardens - Damon the Mower - The Mower's Song - On a Drop of Dew - Eyes and Tears - Bermudas - and A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body.

The other poems in this collection include: The Definition of Love - The Unfortunate Lover - The Gallery - The Fair Singer - Mourning - Ametas and Thestylis Making Hay Ropes - The Nymph Complaining for the Death of Her Fawn - Daphnis and Chloe - The Match - Young Love - The Picture of Little T. C. in a Prospect of Flowers - The Garden - A Dialogue Between the Resolved Soul and Created Pleasure - and The Coronet.

Opinions vary greatly as to whether T.S. Eliot was a good critic or not, but there is no disputing the service he did for the poetry of Andrew Marvell. Not only in his criticism, but through echoes in his own poetry, Eliot made people more interested in Marvell. Today, we see Marvell as the equal of Milton or Donne, a truly 'major' poet. And here we have a tremendously inexpensive edition of Marvell's poetry from Dover. Since it is so cheap, you might not want to order it by itself. But why not add it to your items and treat yourself to a perfectly acceptable edition of this great poet's work? "To His Coy Mistress" is obviously the most famous poem here, but you'll have world enough and time to enjoy the other poems as well. I am especially impressed by the "cute" pieces concerning Damon the Mower and the object of his affection, Juliana. Think of it as a boy mowing lawns for extra money in the summer, with his eye on the girl across the street-- or something like that. At any rate, these particular poems are the best imitations-- or extensions-- of the classical genre of pastoral verse (such as Theocritus and Vergil) that I know of. They are fresher and more subtle in their expression than Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar" and more original than the four pastorals by my favorite poet Pope. There are many reasons Marvell, in general, is among the greatest English poets, but I am attracted to him because of his flexible rhythms and very musical yet restrained use of assonance and alliteration. I am also very happy with this Dover edition.

While the logic propounded by Socrates in this account has since been successfully refuted as being flawed, it is his moral position which he was willing to die for which underlines the historicity more than the details of the ideas presented. The power of Socrates thus lies in his unabashed search for truth, even at the expense of his own life. What makes this book profound is that it is a non-fiction; The account of Socrates' trial and death as here recorded by Plato will give the reader an idea of what it means to die for a cause which seems right...its moral import is worth more than a million bucks.

Platos writings on Socrates dialogues in this book are very interesting and intellectually stimulating. I recommend this book for anyone interested in Socrates, Plato, philosophy, etc. And for $.80 you certainly can't complain about the price!

These are some of Doyle's best Holmes stories, but the Dover Thrift Edition is cheap and cheaply made. It provides no notes, no nothing besides the bare bones of the stories. I have liked none of the Dover Thrift series and can barely read them, they are so cheaply made! I made the mistake of buying 20 or so, so my mission is warning the world. Do not buy this edition!

In detective literature Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes series is undoubtedly one of the best authors ever. His character Sherlock Holmes has a remarkable power of observation and his deductions from minutest details are plainly stunning. I feel there never is a dull moment in his stories; which are concise to the point. This compilation of six stories is no exception. My favorite from this list is "The Adventure of the Empty House"; in which Holmes busts the remaining group of Prof Moriati's gang. I will not divulge further for fear of giving up the plot.

For less then the price of a cup of coffee, you can own a copy of what I consider to be Sir A Conan Doyle's best Sherlock Holmes stories.

This book contains 6 stores. A Scandal in Bohemia. In this story you see Holmes pitted against a female that may just be his equal.

Next is The Red Headed League. This is the weak story in this collection. Still worth a read, but not a very thoughtful one.

Next is The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Holmes and Watson visit the countryside to examine a death most foul.

The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb is a short tale of a young mans missing digit.

Next is the final problem and closes with The adventure in the Empty house. I will give no plot away on these since they are my favourite Holmes stories.

Overall for under a buck, a GREAT value!