Little Women is one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, based on the author's own youthful experiences. It describes the family of the four March sisters living in a small New England community. Meg, the eldest, is pretty and wishes to be a lady; Jo, at 15 is ungainly and unconventional with an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of 13 with a taste for music and Amy is a blonde beauty of 12. The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family income, their friendship with the neighbouring Laurence family, and their later love affairs remains as fresh and beguiling as ever. With bronze foil floral decoration on the pale pink board, textured linen cover with coloured page edges in pink, and a coordinated quality page marker. Complete and unabridged and with decorated end papers, a collectible new series from Wordsworth. 224 pages.

Pride and Prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English literature, is an ironic novel of manners. In it the garrulous and empty-headed Mrs Bennet has only one aim - that of finding a good match for each of her five daughters. In this she is mocked by her cynical and indolent husband. With its wit, its social precision and, above all, its irresistible heroine, Pride and Prejudice has proved one of the most enduringly popular novels in the English language. With blue foil floral decoration on the pale blue board, textured linen cover with coloured page edges in blue, and a coordinated quality page marker. Complete and unabridged and with decorated end papers, a collectible new series from Wordsworth. 320 pages.

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature. With gold foil floral decoration on the pale green board, textured linen cover with coloured page edges in green, and a coordinated quality page marker. Complete and unabridged and with decorated end papers, a collectible new series from Wordsworth. 304 pages.

In bottle green, red and royal blue are six high quality, clothbound hardbacks with elegant embossed cover designs and coloured endpapers. From comic masterpieces like Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night to tragedies such as Hamlet, Othello and Romeo and Juliet, as well as the grand histories of Henry V and Richard III, there are two volumes devoted to each category - Comedies, Tragedies and Histories. 15 wonderful creations evoking both magical and historical realms, the power of Shakespeare's words is undiminished and reading or re-reading these plays will reveal how indelible the impact of the Bard's work has been on the English language and literature since they were first performed more than 400 years ago, and why they offer timeless entertainment. 19.6 x 12.7 x 16cm slipcase set of six hardbacks. New full price.

Detective stories read in bed, meeting a friend, sipping a gin and tonic, buying music, looking at an old photograph, playing charades, books and music and furnished houses, Shakespeare rediscovered, walking in a pine wood, frightening civil servants, family silliness and domestic clowning, playing with small children, looking through a stereoscope, planning travel, reading in bed about foul weather, comic characters, quietly malicious chairmanship, lawn tennis, orchestras tuning up, dancing, blossom, buying books, cooking picnics, departing guests. Each self-contained essay is a joy to read, a little 'delight', just as J. B. Priestley originally intended over 70 years ago. In 'Timeless Mornings' Priestley muses, 'There is one kind of morning in early summer that is for me very special, the most delightful of all mornings. The sun is up and blazing somewhere but not visible yet down here, where there is a lot of gold mist about and the birds are singing from lost thickets.' Unabridged, over 100 joys and pleasures in this 1949 classic. Reprinted paperback, 256pp.

One of Jane Austen's most charming youthful 'novels' in miniature, presented in a deluxe illustrated edition with Leon Steinmetz's gorgeous black and dark red illustrations. Most people think Jane Austen wrote only six novels, though very short ones, while still a young girl. She was only 12 or 13 when she wrote The Beautifull Cassandra, an irreverent and humorous little masterpiece. Weighing in at 465 occasionally misspelled words, it is a complete and perfect novel-in-miniature, made up of a dedication to her older sister Cassandra and 12 chapters, each consisting of a sentence or two. Narrating the slightly criminal adventures of the 16 year old title character, the novel gives us Austen's most irrepressible heroine, who, after stealing a hat, leaves her mother's shop to flounce around London, eating ice cream (without paying), taking coach rides (without paying), and encountering handsome young ladies and gentlemen (without speaking) - all to return home hours later with whispered joy: 'This is a day well spent.' Austen fans will love the strong-willed Cassandra who can eat six ice creams and then refuse to pay for them! Special import from Princeton University Press, 72 page landscape softback, illus.
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George and Cassandra Austen came from markedly different backgrounds so social class and the tensions it can cause played a part in Jane Austen's life even before her birth in 1775. George possessed 'a most exquisite taste in every species of literature'. Here are extraordinary aspects of Austen's life, work and legacy in this collection of stories and trivia from her unassuming family origins, secret life and loves, and intriguing tales behind the literary and screen adaptations of her works. Covers the Austen family's long tenure at Steventon until the Rectory was finally destroyed by floods, Jane's juvenile parody History of England, the lifelong attachment between sisters Jane and Cassandra, notorious cousin Eliza, the Tom Lefroy affair and a foretaste of Pride and Prejudice, problems with publishers, Jane's 'marriage', gold chains and topaz crosses as gifts from a little brother, Jane's aunt put in prison for theft and shocking news of the move to Bath. A close confidante falls from her horse and suddenly dies, the Austen brothers avert a financial crisis, the final move to Chawton, Mansfield Park pioneers the theme of meritocracy, John Murray publishes Emma which has considerable impact with Scott's adulatory review, here are insights into her remarkable novels and their characters, the changing reception to the novels over the years and her sweeping legacy today. A fascinating collection, 144pp, well illustrated with photos and line art.

The Upstart Crow, Shakespeare's heyday in theatreland, final stage performance, retirement speech, Philip Henslowe the Elizabethan impresario, Ben Jonson, the birth of London's Globe Theatre and its rebuilding, stage costumes in Elizabethan England, make-up concoctions some harmless others not, memorials to Shakespeare, his characters, mysteries of his portrait, priceless First Folio, and his stellar legacy, here is a chronology of Shakespeare's plays, possible models for the comic character, the 'lost' plays, hellraisers. Also public scandals, toe-curling homage and Star Trek littered with Shakespeare references, and in popular songs and novels, plus the historical settings for Shakespeare's plays, insights into his most famous characters, tales from the theatres around the globe in a rich concoction of stories and trivia. 144pp, woodcut illus.

From his literary beginnings and the background of the Doyle family, his mentor and model for Holmes Dr Joseph Bell, the doctor who sets up practice that wants to write, here are the literary detectives that came before him. Read about A Study in Scarlet and how Sherlock Holmes was born in Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887, appearance, character and background, numbers and complications, the search for 221b, the follow up novels, the Strand Magazine, the first great illustrator Sidney Paget, big brother Mycroft, the long-suffering landlady Mrs Hudson, Scotland Yard, great quotations, plots, parodies, stage productions, scholarships, spiritualism, mystery stories and the enduring appeal - the life and work of Sherlock Holmes is celebrated in this collection of stories and trivia. With stories of John Watson to James Moriarty, bad habits, baffling powers of deduction, here is everything about the timeless detective celebrated in 144 very well illustrated pages.

A literary quiz book with a difference. Rather than basic sets of questions, the book mirrors the format of Wigglesworth's live quizzes, so there are lots of multiple-choice questions, some amusing answers, clever red herrings, little-known facts about authors, and some of the much-loved Say What You See picture rounds. There are fixed and variable rounds including Blankety Books with one word missing from the title, always with a theme, Literary Links and lists connecting, 2 of a Kind where the name of the character and the author share the same initials. Plus real or made-up Dickens names, Shakespearian insults and a Book Bingo where you identify the correct number. There are also more standard rounds such as First Lines, Working Titles and Banned Books. Which of these was published first: A) Born to Run by Michael Morpurgo, B) What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami or C) The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe? This anagram is an author's name: I am a full wrinkle. 278pp with answers and many line illus.