Серия книг «Penguin Little Black Classics» — 127 книг

Four hilarious and provocative stories from Boccaccio's Decameron, featuring cuckolded husbands, cross-dressing wives and very bad priests.

'O let them be left, wildness and wet'

As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a selection of Gerard Manley Hopkins' incomparably brilliant poetry, ranging from the ecstasy of 'The Windhover' and 'Pied Beauty' to the heart-wrenching despair of the 'sonnets of desolation'.

Considered unpublishable in his lifetime, the Victorian priest’s groundbreaking, experimental verse on nature’s glory and despair.

'O let them be left, wildness and wet'

As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a selection of Gerard Manley Hopkins' incomparably brilliant poetry, ranging from the ecstasy of 'The…

'In two I'll slice the hair-seat / of Helga's kiss-gulper'

In this epic tale from the Viking Age that ranges across Scandinavia and Viking Britain, two poets compete for the love of Helga the Fair - with fatal consequences.

'In two I'll slice the hair-seat / of Helga's kiss-gulper'

In this epic tale from the Viking Age that ranges across Scandinavia and Viking Britain, two poets compete for the…

'People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads to kill and be killed - a knife - a purse - and a dark lane...'

In this provocative and blackly funny essay, Thomas de Quincey considers murder in a purely aesthetic light and explains how practically every philosopher over the past two hundred years has been murdered - 'insomuch, that if a man calls himself a philosopher, and never had his life attempted, rest assured there is nothing in him'.

'People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads to kill and be killed - a knife - a purse - and a dark lane...'

In this…

'We must learn to love, learn to be kind, and this from our earliest youth ... Likewise, hatred must be learned and nurtured, if one wishes to become a proficient hater'

This volume contains a selection of Nietzsche's brilliant and challenging aphorisms, examining the pleasures of revenge, the falsity of pity, and the incompatibility of marriage with the philosophical life.

'We must learn to love, learn to be kind, and this from our earliest youth ... Likewise, hatred must be learned and nurtured, if one wishes to become a proficient hater'

This…

'You shall have thousands of gold pieces; - thousands of thousands - millions - mountains of gold: where will you keep them?'

Two of Ruskin's most powerful essays: 'Traffic' and 'The Roots of Honour'

'You shall have thousands of gold pieces; - thousands of thousands - millions - mountains of gold: where will you keep them?'

Two of Ruskin's most powerful essays: 'Traffic'…

'...revealing great shining fangs more than three inches long.'

Some of the most macabre and wonderful of all Chinese stories, including 'The Golden Goblet', 'Scorched Moth the Daoist' and 'The Black Beast'

'...revealing great shining fangs more than three inches long.'

Some of the most macabre and wonderful of all Chinese stories, including 'The Golden Goblet', 'Scorched Moth the…

'... a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food...'

Swift’s ferocious, landmark eighteenth-century political satire on how to solve a famine in Ireland.

Pastoral, lyrical verse evoking the rural landscapes and peoples of eighth-century China, from three of its finest poets.

The visionary nineteenth-century American poet celebrates nature and the human spirit in these verses from Leaves of Grass.

'It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met...'

Moonlight, sake, spring blossom, idle moments, a woman's hair - these exquisite reflections on life's fleeting pleasures by a thirteenth-century Japanese monk are delicately attuned to nature and the senses.

'It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met...'

Moonlight, sake, spring…

'Better mad with the crowd than sane all alone'

In these witty, Machiavellian aphorisms, unlikely Spanish priest Baltasar Gracián shows us how to exploit friends and enemies alike to thrive in a world of deception and illusion.

'Better mad with the crowd than sane all alone'

In these witty, Machiavellian aphorisms, unlikely Spanish priest Baltasar Gracián shows us how to exploit friends and enemies…

'Hoodwink'd in faery fancy...'

This volume contains a selection of Keats's greatest verse - including his gothic story in verse, 'The Eve of St Agnes', and the mysterious 'Lamia' - exploring themes of love, enchantment, myth and magic.

'Hoodwink'd in faery fancy...'

This volume contains a selection of Keats's greatest verse - including his gothic story in verse, 'The Eve of St Agnes', and the mysterious…

'Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me...'

After the death of his wife Emma, a grief-stricken Hardy wrote some of the best verse of his career. Moving and evocative, it ranks among the greatest elegiac poetry in the language.

'Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me...'

After the death of his wife Emma, a grief-stricken Hardy wrote some of the best verse of his career. Moving and…

A selection of Maupassant's brilliant, glittering stories set in the Parisian beau monde and Normandy countryside.

'You will hear it for yourselves, and it will surely fill you with wonder...'

In this selection from Marco Polo's famous travel book, the intrepid Venetian describes the customs of India, recounts the story of the king who died eighty-four times and explains how to retrieve diamonds from snake-infested caves...

'You will hear it for yourselves, and it will surely fill you with wonder...'

In this selection from Marco Polo's famous travel book, the intrepid Venetian describes the…

'Because of his baldness and hairiness, he announced it was a capital offence for anyone either to look down on him as he passed or to mention goats in any context.'

The biography of the brutal, crazed and incestuous Roman Emperor Caligula, who tried to appoint his own horse consul.

'Because of his baldness and hairiness, he announced it was a capital offence for anyone either to look down on him as he passed or to mention goats in any context.'

The…

'The Argonauts were terrified at the sight. But Jason planting his feet apart stood to receive them, as a reef in the sea confronts the tossing billows in a gale.'

The tragic, epic love affair that allowed Jason to get the Golden Fleece.

'The Argonauts were terrified at the sight. But Jason planting his feet apart stood to receive them, as a reef in the sea confronts the tossing billows in a gale.'

The tragic,…

'Is it me you love, friend? or the race that made me?'

A gothic novella about love, torment and doomed aristocracy, set in the remote mountains of Spain.

'The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.'

Marx and Engels's revolutionary summons to the working classes - one of the most important and influential political theories ever formulated.

'The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.'

Marx and Engels's revolutionary summons to the working classes - one of the most important and influential political…