Серия книг «Collins Classics» — 165 книг

When the boat he sails in threatens to sink, Jim abandons ship in fear in order to save himself, leaving the other passengers to their fate. Blighted by his own cowardice, Jim's subsequent self-exile to a remote Malaysian trading post gives Conrad the opportunity to explore the question of moral identity and, through his hero, he embodies the values and deterioration of the declining empire of late Victorian Britain. With its rich descriptions of an unknown, exotic world and beautifully constructed prose, "Lord Jim" is considered one of Conrad's greatest works.

When the boat he sails in threatens to sink, Jim abandons ship in fear in order to save himself, leaving the other passengers to their fate. Blighted by his own cowardice, Jim's…

Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially children.
But at Christmas three ghosts come to visit him, scare him into mending his ways, and he finds, as he celebrates with Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and their family, that geniality brings its own reward.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly old skinflint. He hates everyone, especially children.
But at Christmas three ghosts come to visit him, scare him into mending his ways, and he…

Based in the industrial unrest of 1840s Manchester, Mary Barton is a factory-worker's daughter living a working-class life. She soon attracts the attentions of the mill-owner's son, Harry Carson, and in the hope that marrying him will improve her prospects and help her to transcend class boundaries, she rejects her former lover Jem Wilson. However, when Harry is shot the main suspect is Jem and Mary finds herself torn between the two men. Gaskell's heartfelt exploration of the oppression of the working class laments the lack of communication and mistrust that can arise through such vast differences in lifestyle and wealth.

Based in the industrial unrest of 1840s Manchester, Mary Barton is a factory-worker's daughter living a working-class life. She soon attracts the attentions of the mill-owner's…

Said to be inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Wyss' tale of a family stranded at sea and washed up on a tropical island has become a much-loved classic. As the Swiss pastor, his wife and four sons struggle to create a life for themselves on the island, they soon learn to use their own ingenuity and rely upon the natural resources supplied by the nature that surrounds them. Daily challenges and struggles test the family, but each member discovers how to harness their own unique skills and qualities to overcome any obstacle.

Said to be inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Wyss' tale of a family stranded at sea and washed up on a tropical island has become a much-loved classic. As the Swiss…

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘The wolf thought to himself, "What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful – she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both."’Collected by the German Grimm brothers, these folk tales have captured the imaginations of children and adults alike since they were first published in 1812. The best-known stories such as The Golden Goose, Hansel and Gretel, The Frog Prince, and Snow-White and Rose-Red remain as popular today as when first told, although there is an underlying darkness and violence to the original stories that has softened over time.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘The wolf thought to himself, "What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful – she…

"Around the World in Eighty Days" (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours) is a classic. The story starts in London on 2 October 1872. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy, solitary man with regular habits, who fires his former butler for getting wrong the temperature of his shaving water. He hires Passepartout as a replacement. Later that day he gets involved in an argument over an article in the Daily Telegraph, stating that with the opening of a new railway in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in eighty days. The exciting, if now dated, adventure of Fogg and Passepartout will entertain modern readers as much as it did the Victorians.

"Around the World in Eighty Days" (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours) is a classic. The story starts in London on 2 October 1872. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy, solitary man with…

Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.’

Isabel Archer is a beautiful, intelligent and independent young woman. Brought from America to England by her wealthy Aunt who seeks to further her education and find her niece a husband, Isabel is determined to shape her own future – one that does not necessarily entail becoming a wife. Isabel inherits a fortune when her rich uncle dies and feels even more inclined to turn down two eligible suitors on the basis that she is a woman of her own means. However, a trip to Italy heralds her downfall when she meets the charming Gilbert Osmond, a worthless, yet ambitious and scheming dilettante.

Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.’

Isabel Archer is a beautiful, intelligent and independent young woman. Brought from America to England by her…

This sensational, hard-hitting and passionate tale of marital cruelty sees a mysterious new tenant at Wildfell Hall, Helen Graham, unmasked not as a 'wicked woman' as the local gossips would have it, but as the estranged wife of a brutal alcoholic bully, desperate to protect her son.
Using her own experiences with her brother Branwell to depict the cruelty and debauchery from which Helen flees, Anne Bronte wrote her masterpiece to reflect the fragile position of women in society and her belief in universal redemption.

This sensational, hard-hitting and passionate tale of marital cruelty sees a mysterious new tenant at Wildfell Hall, Helen Graham, unmasked not as a 'wicked woman' as the local…

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
'Look! You want to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice!’
Living secretly beneath the Paris Opera House, 'The Phantom of the Opera', Erik has haunted those who work there with his demands and shrouded the opera house in fear with the legend of his disfigured face. When Christine joins the company, a young woman with a beautiful voice, Erik is instantly smitten and secretly teaches her to become a great singer. He soon develops an obsessive love for his beautiful protégé, even though she has fallen for her childhood friend, resulting in her disappearance during a performance and sparking a tragic and terrifying chain of events.
One of the most well-known and well-loved gothic horror stories, Leroux's suspenseful tale of unrequited love, passion and tragedy is both dark and moving in its portrayal of Erik, the anti-hero in his yearning for Christine.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
'Look! You want to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness!…

Dickens illustrates the condition of England through his depiction of the fictional northern city of Coketown. Among its inhabitants are Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian headmaster who attempts to impose his rigid worldview on his family circle, and the uncaring businessman Mr.Bounderby. Their materialist philosophies are tested throughout the novel, which also explores workers' conditions in factories, trade unions, and the spurious use of statistics. Perhaps the most polemical of his major novels, Hard Times is possibly the best introduction to the world of Charles Dickens. This edition includes pictures and an extensive section about the author's life and works.

Dickens illustrates the condition of England through his depiction of the fictional northern city of Coketown. Among its inhabitants are Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian…

The shocking first-hand account of one man's remarkable fight for freedom; now an award-winning motion picture. "Why had I not died in my young years - before God had given me children to love and live for? What unhappiness and suffering and sorrow it would have prevented. I sighed for liberty; but the bondsman's chain was round me, and could not be shaken off". 1841: Solomon Northup is a successful violinist when he is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Taken from his family in New York State - with no hope of ever seeing them again - and forced to work on the cotton plantations in the Deep South, he spends the next twelve years in captivity until his eventual escape in 1853. First published in 1853, this extraordinary true story proved to be a powerful voice in the debate over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. It is a true-life testament of one man's courage and conviction in the face of unfathomable injustice and brutality: its influence on the course of American history cannot be overstated.

The shocking first-hand account of one man's remarkable fight for freedom; now an award-winning motion picture. "Why had I not died in my young years - before God had given me…

Harper Collins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Caution comes too late when we are in the midst of evils.' Set just before the Jacobite Rising in 1715, Scott drew upon the political and economic struggles leading up to the rebellion and the tumultuous history of the Highlands in his classic adventure novel Rob Roy. Despite the book's title, Frank Osbaldistone is the protagonist, travelling through England and the Scottish Highlands to collect a debt owed to his father by his cousin Rashleigh. On his journey he comes across the mysterious and striking Rob Roy, the infamous yet hunted outlaw. A story about justice, love and the harsh realities of 18th-century Highland life, Scott's work is still viewed as the ultimate historical adventure novel.

Harper Collins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Caution comes too late when we are in the midst of evils.' Set just before the Jacobite Rising…

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
"We have declared before that it is not only expedient but necessary for a prince to take care his foundations be good, otherwise his fabric will be sure to fail."
Considered one of the first works of modern philosophy, Machiavelli’s The Prince is an intense study on the nature of power and the course it should take when ruling a country and expresses the author’s strong and unyielding ideals and beliefs on using force rather than law to achieve your aims.
Responsible for the widely-used phrase "Machiavellian", with all of its negative connotations, his extreme treatise remains a classic text to this day.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
"We have declared before that it is not only expedient but necessary for a prince to take care…

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within as on the state of things without and around us.' Considered one of her less well-known novels, Shirley is Charlotte Bronte's only historical work, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Wealthy and independent, Shirley is very different from her friend Caroline, who has few prospects and is dependent on her uncle. Struggling mill owner Robert Moore considers marriage to the monied Shirley in order to secure his financial future; however, it is Caroline who he loves, while Shirley has fallen for Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor who is deemed an unsuitable match for her. Unsentimental, yet unflinching in her honest portrayal of love, class conflict and identity, Bronte uses the backdrop of her beloved Yorkshire to play out the tensions and dramas of a society facing social and industrial upheaval.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things…

Surprisingly, this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet conversational - and completely entertaining - walk around the history of women in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, all the while lampooning the chauvinistic state of university education in the England of her day. When she concluded that to achieve their full greatness as writers women will need a solid income and a privacy, Woolf pretty much invented modern feminist criticism. - This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Surprisingly, this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet…

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.' Scientist Pierre Aronnax and his colleagues set out on an expedition to find a strange sea monster and are captured by the infamous and charismatic Captain Nemo and taken abroad the Nautilus submarine as his prisoners. As they travel the world's oceans, they become embroiled in adventures and events beyond their wildest dreams. Visionary in its outlook, Vern's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a legendary science fiction masterpiece.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and…

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER was banned on its publication in 1928, creating a storm of controversy. Lawrence tells the story of Constance Chatterley's marriage to Sir Clifford, an aristocratic and an intellectual who is paralyzed from the waist down after the First World War. Desperate for an heir and embarrassed by his inability to satisfy his wife, Clifford suggests that she have an affair. Constance, troubled by her husband's words, finds herself involved in a passionate relationship with their gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. Lawrence's vitriolic denunciations of industrialism and class division come together in his vivid depiction of the profound emotional and physical connection between a couple otherwise divided by station and society.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER was banned on its publication in 1928, creating a storm of…

Heidi is the heart-warming tale of a small girl's power for good, and it has remained a firm favourite since it was published over 100 years ago. It tells of the orphan Heidi and her idyllic existence with her gruff grandfather in the mountains. When she is sent to live in a city, comic chaos ensues, and eventually it is arranged that Heidi should return to the mountains. Together she and her friend Peter, the goat-herd, achieve wondrous changes in the community in which they live.

Heidi is the heart-warming tale of a small girl's power for good, and it has remained a firm favourite since it was published over 100 years ago. It tells of the orphan Heidi and…

"Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea."
In "The Happy Prince" a statue - jewelled and opulent -keeps careful watch over the city and its inhabitants. Enlisting the help of a swallow, his selfless acts bring comfort to those most in need. "The Nightingale and the Rose" is a tragic tale of personal sacrifice in the name of love, while in "The Selfish Giant" the end of an eternal winter finally brings springtime and happiness.
In this collection of enchanting tales from a master storyteller, Oscar Wilde has entranced readers both young and old since publication in the late nineteenth century.

"Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be…

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the African Congo on his way to relieve the elusive Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader renowned for his fearsome reputation. On his journey into the unknown Marlow takes a terrifying trip into his own subconscious, overwhelmed by his menacing, perilous and horrifying surroundings. The landscape and the people he meets force him to reflect on human nature and society, and in turn Conrad writes revealingly about the dangers of imperialism.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the…