'"You are not my first passion, my divine friend, but you shall be my last." ' In this episode from his infamous memoirs, swashbuckling serial seducer Casanova falls for a beautiful nun on the Venetia
' "She's an adventuress. Yes, an adventuress, but an end-of-the-century one. She doesn't travel for profit, but for pleasure." ' Offering an entertaining introduction to the fin-de-siècle, this select
'It was like walking along the knife-edge of the highest possible mountain range, seeing life on one side and death on the other in the form of two deep, gorgeous and gleaming seascapes.' This astonis
'Brave Frenchmen, will you not surrender?' Cambronne answered, 'Merde!'A tense, dramatic account of the Battle of Waterloo - and how a rain shower changed history - from Victor Hugo's epic novel Les M
'Idleness is the enemy of the soul' Saint Benedict's advice to monks - on everything from correct posture to the value of silence - has offered spiritual guidance to many for fifteen centuries. One of
"Strange man, how can you have eyes for sale? Eyes? Eyes?" 'The disturbing tale of a young man's obsession with the Sandman, stealer of eyes, which has inspired writers from Sigmund Freud to Neil Gaim
'This only they knew, that the kiss had destroyed him and the bath had destroyed her.' In this beautiful Ancient Greek tale, Daphnis and Chloe are the inexperienced goatherd and shepherd who must face
'There sat the dog with eyes as big as mill wheels'Though criticised for their anarchic immorality when first published, Hans Christian Andersen's tales made him an international star, taken to the he
'No true Democracy has ever existed, nor ever will exist.' In this selection from The Social Contract, Rousseau asserts that a state's only legitimate political authority comes from its people. One of
"I did have hallucinations, but did they harm anyone? Who did they harm, that's what I'd like to know!' From the supreme artist of the short story, three disturbing tales of supernatural hallucination
Electrifying poems of isolation, beauty, death and eternity from a reclusive genius and one of America's greatest writers. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celeb
'Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle.' In this charming book f
'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 selectio
'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
'Can I bear to leave these blue hills?' A generous selection from three of the greatest and most enjoyable of Chinese poets Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Lit
'...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 B
'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.
