Classic Books

First published in the year 1759, the present novel ‘A Political Romance’ by famous novelist Laurence Sterne can be considered a mock-epic allegory that describes a provincial squabble between a church-lawyer, an archbishop and a Dean, i.e. a “Lilliputian” satire on ecclesiastical politics in Sterne’s York. (courtesy: wikipedia)

“Ingred! Ingred, old girl! I say, Ingred! Wherever have you taken yourself off to?” shouted a boyish voice, as its owner, jumping an obstructing gooseberry bush, tore around the corner of the house from the kitchen garden on to the strip of rough lawn that faced the windows. “Hullo! Cuckoo! Coo-ee! In-gred!”

First published in the year 1916 at the turn of the 20th century and a laid foundation of modern novel in Europe, James Joyce’s first novel ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, a fictional alter ego of Joyce and an allusion to Daedalus, the consummate craftsman of Greek mythology. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe.

A Road to Self Knowledge takes an extensive look into how to achieve greater self-knowledge, and is highly recommended for inclusion on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the subject. Contains eight meditations.

The scene, if I may ask you to follow me, was now changed. The leaves were still falling, but in London now, not Oxbridge; and I must ask you to imagine a room, like many thousands, with a window looking across people’s hats and vans and motor–cars to other windows, and on the table inside the room a blank sheet of paper on which was written in large letters WOMEN AND FICTION, but no more. The inevitable sequel to lunching and dining at Oxbridge seemed, unfortunately, to be a visit to the British Museum.

It has long been the custom to begin the history of our country with the discovery of the New World by Columbus. To some extent this is both wise and necessary; but in following it in this instance the attempt has been made to treat the colonial period as the childhood of the United States; to have it bear the same relation to our later career that the account of the youth of a great man should bear to that of his maturer years, and to confine it to the narration of such events as are really necessary to a correct understanding of what has happened since 1776.

“The blunders of Germany constitute a spectacle of very much more than passing interest. The questions they raise are by no means academic. The logic of them is as inexorable as Death. They are of vital interest to every freeman, and to every state and nation that sincerely undertakes to conserve the rights of its people. To unhappy Austria, shoved into the war by Germany, they are of life or death interest. A correct view of Germany is now absolutely essential to the future freedom of man!” -an excerpt

First published in the year 1768, the present novel ‘A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy’ was written by Laurence Sterne. In 1765, Sterne travelled through France and Italy as far south as Naples, and after returning determined to describe his travels from a sentimental point of view.

The primary aim of this book is to give as much information about English authors, including under this designation American and Colonial writers, as the prescribed limits will admit of. At the same time an attempt has been made, where materials exist for it, to enhance the interest by introducing such details as tend to illustrate the characters and circumstances of the respective writers and the manner in which they passed through the world; and in the case of the more important, to give some indication of the relative place which they hold and the leading features of their work.

A Short History of the World is a period-piece non-fictional historic work by H. G. Wells. The book was largely inspired by Wells’s earlier 1919 work ‘The Outline of History’. The book summarises the scientific knowledge of the time regarding the history of Earth and life. It starts with its origins, goes on to explain the development of the Earth and life on Earth, reaching primitive thought and the development of humankind from the Cradle of Civilisation. The book ends with the outcome of the First World War, the Russian famine of 1921, and the League of Nations in 1922.

First published in the year 1896, the present book ‘A Shropshire Lad’ is a collection of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman. After a slow beginning, it rapidly grew in popularity, particularly among young readers. Composers began setting the poems less than ten years after its first appearance. Many parodies have also been written that satirise Housman’s themes and stylistic characteristics.

A book that gives a wanderer’s descriptions of his exploration of the tribes and scenery beauty of the forests and people of Assam. The main objective of this book is to make Assam better known, to remove some prejudices which exist against it, and preserve the memory of many remarkable scenes.

“The restless spirit of adventure which prompted the author, Mr George Manington, to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, at a later date called him post haste from London, and thus caused us, his friends, to promise to see the manuscript of “A Soldier of the Legion” through the press. Though well under forty years of age, he had been a student in France and Germany, a prospective doctor in Paris, a soldier in Algeria and Tonquin, a man of commerce in Indo-China, an interpreter, traveller, and journalist in South China, besides a participator in more fleeting occupations in many lands, including Japan and the Philippines. It was in the restful periods between these various enterprises that this book was written.” -Preface

Anyone who has chanced to pass from the Bolhovsky district into the Zhizdrinsky district, must have been impressed by the striking difference between the race of people in the province of Orel and the population of the province of Kaluga. The peasant of Orel is not tall, is bent in figure, sullen and suspicious in his looks; he lives in wretched little hovels of aspen-wood, labours as a serf in the fields, and engages in no kind of trading, is miserably fed, and wears slippers of bast: the rent-paying peasant of Kaluga lives in roomy cottages of pine-wood; he is tall, bold, and cheerful in his looks, neat and clean of countenance; he carries on a trade in butter and tar, and on holidays he wears boots.

“A Story of the Days To Come” is a novella by H. G. Wells comprising five chapters that was first published in the June to October 1899 issues of The Pall Mall Magazine.

“A Story of the Red Cross; Glimpses of Field Work” by Clara Barton. Published by Good Press.

“A Story of the Stone Age” is a short story written in 1897 by H. G. Wells. The story was featured in three parts between May and August 1897 in The Idler magazine, and was later released in collected editions

The present volume differs from a text-book of seismology in giving brief, though detailed, accounts of individual earthquakes rather than a discussion of the phenomena and distribution of earthquakes in general. At the close of his Les Tremblements de Terre, Professor Fouqué has devoted a few chapters to some of the principal earthquakes between 1854 and 1887; and there are also the well-known chapters in Lyell’s Principles of Geology dealing with earthquakes of a still earlier date. With these exceptions, there is no other work covering the same ground; and he who wishes to study any particular earthquake can only do so by reading long reports or series of papers written perhaps in several different languages. The object of this volume is to save him this trouble, and to present to him the facts that seem most worthy of his attention.

This book is aimed at understanding the esoteric Hinduism through a detailed study of the Bhagavata Purana which is the most popular of all Puranas and is held in the highest esteem by the Vaishnavas in all parts of India.

A Successful Shadow by Old Sleuth is story of mystery and a quest for Harold Stevens to find his real heir. The book is a fascinating collection of detective thriller stories. In this book, the author, Old Sleuth has displayed his mastery in fascinating and exciting the readers while narrating a binding short story.

This book makes no pretense of giving to the world a new theory of the intellectual operations. Its claim to attention, if it possess any, is grounded on the fact that it is an attempt, not to supersede, but to embody and systematize, the best ideas which have been either promulgated on its subject by speculative writers, or conformed to by accurate thinkers in their scientific inquiries.

First published in the year 1859, the present novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by famous Victorian novelist Charles Dickens is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette imprisoned 18 years in the Bastille in Paris, his release from prison and into life in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met, her marriage and the collision between her beloved husband and the people who decades earlier caused her father to be imprisoned. Monsieur and Madame Defarge, sellers of wine in a poor suburb of Paris also figure in the Doctor’s story. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution, and the worst year of it, the Reign of Terror.

“There is a school of philosophy still in existence of which modern culture has lost sight.” In these words Mr. A.P. Sinnett began his book, The Occult World, the first popular exposition of Theosophy, published thirty years ago. [Namely in 1881.] During the years that have passed since then, many thousands have learned wisdom in that school, yet to the majority its teachings are still unknown, and they can give only the vaguest of replies to the query, “What is Theosophy?”
Two books already exist which answer that question: Mr. Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism and Dr. Besant’s The Ancient Wisdom. I have no thought of entering into competition with those standard works; what I desire is to present a statement, as clear and simple as I can make it, which may be regarded as introductory to them.

“A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband with Bettina’s Best Recipes” by Louise Bennett Weaver, Helen Cowles LeCron.