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Originally published in 1887, this is a moving and perceptive collection of Stevenson's memories of his youth and portraits of people he had known, sometimes loved, and lost. Inevitably, these wonderful reminiscences offer a wealth of insight into Stevenson's own personality, character, and opinions.
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Almost one hundred years after the death of Jane Austen, William Austen-Leigh and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh published Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters. A Family Record (1913). The book lovingly details Jane's birth, childhood, adolescence, and maturity, the everyday minutiae of her life, the circumstances in which she wrote her juvenilia and her six novels, and her early death. Using Jane Austen's own letters, additional letters sent between a...
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A Memoir of Jane Austen is the Austen family's memoir of the beloved 19th century English novelist. Written and compiled by Austen's nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen reveals the author as her family knew her, while at the same time protecting the author's privacy in keeping with the Victorian conventions of the time. A Memoir of Jane Austen did, however, reveal for the first time Austen's authorship of such classic stories...
4) Bacon
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This biography of philosopher, scientist, and writer Sir Francis Bacon (1561—1626), part of the “English Men of Letters” series, is an invaluable resource for students of history. Bacon, a highly influential figure in his era, is considered the father of scientific empiricism, and is also believed by some to have written some of the plays attributed to Shakespeare.
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The Argonauts are the gold seekers of 1849 and the years immediately following. These adventurers came from all quarters of the globe and all ranks of society, and they had in common only the possession of the strength and determination necessary to reach the new Colchis. Here they lived, at first, wholly free from the conventional restraints imposed by an organized society, and each man showed himself for what he was. Many of these primitive social...
6) Gibbon
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This 1878 volume in the English Men of Letters series explores the life of Edward Gibbon, author of “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. According to a contemporary review by Mark Pattison in the Academy, "Future numbers of the series may imitate, they cannot surpass, the present specimen." A splendid perspective on the life of an intriguing man.
7) Sterne
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H. D. Traill examines the life of Laurence Sterne, from his clergyman days to the scandals created by his comic and bawdy novel The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman. This biography reveals a story about a man who discovered his literary talents late in life to become a man of notoriety and wealth.
8) Milton
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In this 1879 addition to the English Men of Letters series, Pattison explores the life and work of John Milton, the author of the definitive Paradise Lost. The volume touches on Milton's pamphlets, famous works of poetry, and even his religious beliefs. Pattison judges only Shakespeare to be Milton's superior in the realm of English poetry.
9) Spenser
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This biography of poet Edmund Spenser (c. 1552—1599), is an invaluable source for students of Spenser. Unparalleled in its information about one of the greatest poets in the English language, Church illuminates the life of a man who is best known for his epic poem “The Faerie Queene”, an adventure-filled tale that is also an allegory about living a moral, virtuous life.
10) Byron
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This 1880 English Men of Letters volume focuses on the rock star of Romanticism. "Byron's life was passed under the fierce light that beats upon an intellectual throne," writes Nichol. "He succeeded in making himself-what he wished to be-the most notorious personality in the world of letters of our century."
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A collection of essays about nine poets and writers who were working during Shakespeare's lifetime. Gathered here are insightful portraits of Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, Thomas Dekker, John Marston, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Thomas Heywood, George Chapman, and Cyril Tourneur.
12) Tono-Bungay
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A combination of social satire and science fiction, this novel presents the story of George Ponderovo, a young man who leaves college to help his Uncle Edward market a bogus medicine named Tono-Bungay.
13) De Profundis
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Oscar Wilde’s autobiographical work on suffering, self-realization, and the artistic process
De Profundis (Latin for “from the depths”) is Oscar Wilde’s reconciliation from a life full of pleasure. In 1891 the author began an intimate relationship with the young aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas, known to his friends as Bosie. This affair led to speculations about Wilde’s sexuality just as his career was...
De Profundis (Latin for “from the depths”) is Oscar Wilde’s reconciliation from a life full of pleasure. In 1891 the author began an intimate relationship with the young aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas, known to his friends as Bosie. This affair led to speculations about Wilde’s sexuality just as his career was...
14) Roads of Destiny
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Roads of Destiny (1909) is a collection of short stories by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive and in prison, these stories address themes of crime, poverty, and fate. "A Retrieved Reformation," perhaps the most notable of the collection's twenty-two stories, is semi-autobiographical in that it explores the life of a criminal and fugitive who maintains a moral identity while struggling to adjust to life outside of...
15) Alfred Tennyson
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A fascinating biography of one of the most famous poets in history: Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Written by famed historian and anthropologist Andrew Lang.
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This is the first volume of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell's 1957 biography of Charlotte Brontë, "Charlotte Brontë - A Monograph". The first biography of this seminal literary figure ever written, this volume provides a fantastic and unique insight into Charlotte's life and mind, making it a must-read for fans of her work and those with an interest in literary history. Emily Jane Brontë (1818 – 1848), also known under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, was...
18) John Barleycorn
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Wrestling with the disease of alcoholism for most of his life, Jack London tells all in his autobiography John Barleycorn. Beginning with a discussion of the prohibition movement and its effects, London explores the ways that alcohol affects daily life in the Victorian era. Because there were not many forms of affordable entertainment or reliable communication, bars were the perfect spot for social activity. People were able to sit and drink, enjoying...
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This sequel to Garland's acclaimed autobiography, A Son of the Middle Border, continues his story as he sets out for Chicago and settles into a Bohemian encampment of artists and writers. There he meets Zulime Taft, an artist who captures his heart and eventually becomes his wife. The intensity of this romance is rivaled only by Garland's struggle between America's coastal elite and his heartland roots. A Daughter of the Middle Border won the Pulitzer...
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The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad
First published in 1906, The Mirror of the Sea was the first of Joseph Conrad's two autobiographical memoirs. Discussing it, he called the book "a very intimate revelation. . . . I have attempted here to lay bare with the unreserve of a last hour's confession the terms of my relation with the sea, which beginning mysteriously, like any great passion the inscrutable Gods send to mortals, went on unreasoning and...
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