Each edition includes: Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play Scene-by-scene plot summaries A key to famous lines and phrases An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books Essay by Michael Neill The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.

On the eve of the Globe's production of "Hamlet,"Shakespearean scholar Kate Shelton is given what is claimed to bethe Bard's long-lost work. When a killer decides to stagetheatrical murders as flesh-and-blood realities, Shelton mustdecipher a string of clues before anyone else dies.

Millenia ago, the Old Ones ruled our planet. Since that time, they have but slumbered. But when a massive sea tremor brings the ancient stone city of R'lyeh to the surface once more, the Old Ones awaken at last. The Whisperer in Darkness brings together the original Cthulhu Mythos stories of the legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Included in this volume are several early tales, along with the classics The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror and At the Mountains of Madness. Arm yourself with a copy of Abdul Alhazred's fabled Necronomican and prepare to face terrors beyond the wildest imaginings of all save H.P. Lovecraft.

Macbeth is one of Shakespeares greatest tragedies: a drama of crime and punishment, of temptation, guilt, remorse and retribution. The portrayals of Macbeth himself and his wife are memorably persuasive in the rendition of the psychology of ambition,rationalised treachery and eventual disillusionment. Repeatedly the rich and often sinuously complex verse gives general resonance to the particular situation, so that some of the speechesprovide enduring epitomes of states of being which many of us,intermittently, may experience. Inner division, pangs of conscience, the sense of being ambushed by events, and desperatedefiance: they are there; but so too is a vitality of expression and enactment which offsets the plays sombre atmosphere.

"Good riddance", is the response of every Pecan Springsresident to the murder of local real estate shark Edgar Coleman. itdoesn't take long for China to learn that Coleman was havingnumerous affairs -- and was blackmailing City Council members fortheir votes on a bad land development deal. With her fianceimmersed in the murder investigation -- and the suspect listgrowing longer by the minute -- China can forget about a honeymoon,unless she can find the killer...

This Mill on the Floss, based on George Eliot's own experiences of provincial life, is a masterpiece of ambiguity in which moral choice is subjected to the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. As the headstrong Maggie Tulliver grows into womanhood, the deep love which she has for her brother Tom turns into conflict, because she cannot reconcile his bourgeois standards with her own lively intelligence. Maggie is unable to adapt to her community or break free from it, and the result, on more than one level, is tragedy.

With an Introduction and Notes by David Herd. Lecturer in English and American Literature at the University of Kent at Canterbury and co-editor of poetry Review. Moby-Dick is the story of Captain Ahab’s quest to avenge the whale that ‘reaped’ his leg. The quest is an obsession and the novel is a diabolical study of how a man becomes a fanatic. But it is also a hymn to democracy. Bent as the crew is on Ahab’s appalling crusade, it is equally the image of a co-operative community at work: all hands dependent on all hands, each individual responsible for the security of each. Among the crew is Ishmael, the novel's narrator, ordinary sailor, and extraordinary reader. Digressive, allusive, vulgar, transcendent, the story Ishmael tells is above all an education: in the practice of whaling, in the art of writing.Exapading to equal his 'mighty theme'-not only the whale but all things sublime-Melville breathes in the world's great literature.Moby-Dick is the gresatest novel ever writte

The #1 New York Times betseller #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts takesreaders deep into the rugged Black Hills of South Dakota, where theshadows keep secrets, hunters stalk the land, and a childhoodfriendship matures into an adult passion.

In Lonely on the Mountain, Louis L'Amour's solitary wanderingSackett brothers make a stand together--to save one of their own.The rare letters Tell Sackett received always had trouble inside.And the terse note from his cousin Logan is no exception. Loganfaces starvation or a hanging if Tell can't drive a herd of cattlefrom Kansas to British Columbia before winter. To get to Logan, hemust brave prairie fires, buffalo stampedes, and Sioux war parties.But worse trouble waits, for a mysterious enemy shadows Sackett'severy move across the Dakotas and the Canadian Rockies. TellSackett has never abandoned another Sackett in need. He will bringaid to Logan--or die trying.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, better known as Fanny Hill, is one of the most notorious texts in English literature. As recently as 1963 an unexpurgated edition was the subject of a trial, yet in the eighteenth century John Cleland's open celebration of sexual enjoyment was a best selling novel. Fanny's story, as she falls into prostitution and then rises to respectability, takes the form of a confession that is vividly coloured by copious and explicit physiological details of her carnal adventures. The moral outrage that this has always provoked has only recently been countered by serious critical appraisal.

Four spellbinding tales of evil. These arecan't-tear-your-eyes-away stories that burn your imagination. -- Playboy King is a master storyteller, and you will never forget thesestories. -- The Seattle Times

Alice falls down a rabbit hole, changes size unexpectedly, and attends a tea party given by a March Hare. Along the way, she meets such unforgettable characters as the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Mock Turtle, the autocratic Red Queen, and other fanciful folk. 42 original illustrations by John Tenniel.

The little known, brilliant original text by Gaston Lerouxhas been immortalized by screen and stage adaptations.One of the greatest horror stories of all time, The Phantomof the Opera makes compulsive reading. It abounds with wonderful de*ions, extraordinary events, tragedy,horror, pathos, tremendous humour and a gallery of charming minor characters. Leroux’ s portrait of the hideous musician, crazed by his own extreme ugliness,shows compassionate insight into a criminally insanemind. Music infuses the story, enriching the many dimensions of the novel which is steeped in the glamourof life at the Paris Opera. The author’ s knowledge of the building itself and the extra ordinary history of itsconstruction create a basis of realism in the story.Incredible, seemingly supernatural elements are art fully fused with real facts, with references to real peop]e,places and events, so that the novel becomes a dazzling blend of illusion and reality. It is hard to distinguish between them, and the result is that

A Tdle of Two Cities(1859) Dickens greatest historical novel, traces the private ires of a group of people caught up in the cataclysm of the French Revolution and the Terror. Dickens based his historical detail on Carlyles great work - The French Revolution - and also on his own observations and investigations during numerous visits to Paris. The best story have written was Dickens own verdict on A Tale of Two Cities. and the reader is cinlikely to disagree with this judgement of a story which combines historical tact with the authors unsurpassed genius for poignant tales of human suffering,self-sacrifice, and redemption.

The controversial Gulf War air campaign is revealed in rich, provocative detail. And in this new edition, General Horner looks at the current Gulf conflict--and comments on the use of air power in Iraq today.

Two people haunt orphan Pip's childhood: Magwitch, an escaped convict he meets and helps, and Estella, the beautiful charge of spiteful Miss Haversham. When Pip is given the means to become a gentleman, he has 'great expectations'. But his past is not so easily left behind. PENGUIN POPULAR CLASSICS are the per-fect introduction to the world-famous PENGUIN CLASSICS series - which en-compasses the best books ever written, from Homer's Odyssey tO Orwell's 1984 and everything in between. For a full list and ideas on what to read next, visit www.penguinclassics.com

In the latest offering from the Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne treats readers to an inside look at one of her favorite subjects—the theater. Jack and Annie are whisked back to Elizabethan England where they meet the Bard of Avon himself, William Shakespeare, and luckily for them he is desperate for two small actors for his latest play! A wonderful adventure as well as the perfect introduction to Shakespeare for young readers.

Written by British-born author Frances Hodgson Burnett and first published in 1905, A Little Princess tells the story of young Sara Crewe, privileged daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant. All the other girls at Miss Minchin's school treat Sara as if she truly were a princess. But when Captain Crewe's fortune is sadly lost, Sara's luck changes. Suddenly she is treated no better than a scullery maid. Her own fierce determination to maintain her dignity and remain a princess inside has intrigued and delighted readers for almost a hundred years, even inspiring a recent popular feature film.

Past midnight, Chyna Shepherd, twenty- six, gazed out a moonlitwindow, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley homeof her best friend's family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderoussociopath, Edgler Forman Vess, has entered the house, intent onkilling everyone inside. A self-proclaimed "homicidal adventure,"Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immensehimself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse or limits, tolive with intensity. Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit. Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safetyand self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At firsther sole aim is to get out alive-until, by chance, she learns theidentity of Vess's next intended victim, a faraway innocent onlyshe can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaningbeyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resourceshe has to save an endangered girl—as moment by moment, theterrifying threat Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.

Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, "Robinson Crusoe" has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English language.

Charles Dickens (1821-1870) used his fiction to criticize the injustices of his time, especially the brutal treatment of the poor. He is also the author of Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. He was born in Portsmouth, England.

Book De*ion Let number-one New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts flyyou into Lunacy, Alaska, and into a colorful, compelling new novelabout two lonely souls who find love - and redemtion... Lunacy was Nate Burke's last chance. As a Baltimore cop, he'dwatched his partner die on the street - and the guilt still hauntshim. With nowhere else to go, he accepts the job as chief of policein this tiny, remote Alaskan town, where the peace provides a balmfor his shattered soul - and an unexpected affair with pilot MegGalloway warms his nights... But other things in Lunacy are heating up. Nate suspects thekiller in an unsolved murder still walks the snowy streets. Hisinvestigation will unearth the secrets and suspicions that lurkbeneath the placid surface, as well as bring out the big-citysurvival instincts that made him a cop in the first place. And hisdiscovery will threaten the new life - and the new love - that hehas finally found for herself. "Roberts is among the best popul