Best of
19th-Century

1824

Defeat: Napoleon's Russian Campaign


Philippe-Paul de Ségur - 1824
    He was about to undertake the most daring of all his many campaigns: the invasion of Russia. Meeting only sporadic opposition and defeating it easily along the way, the huge army moved forward, advancing ineluctably on Moscow through the long hot days of summer. On September 14, Napoleon entered the Russian capital, fully anticipating the Czar’s surrender. Instead he encountered an eerily deserted city—and silence. The French army sacked the city, and by October, with Moscow in ruins and his supply lines overextended, and with the Russian winter upon him, Napoleon had no choice but to turn back. One of the greatest military debacles of all time had only just begun. In this famous memoir, Philippe-Paul de Ségur, a young aide-de-camp to Napoleon, tells the story of the unfolding disaster with the keen eye of a crack reporter and an astute grasp of human character. His book, a fundamental inspiration for Tolstoy’s War and Peace, is a masterpiece of military history that teaches an all-too-timely lesson about imperial hubris and its risks.

The Inheritance


Susan Ferrier - 1824
    Following the triumph of her more famous work Marriage (1818), The Inheritance picks up Ferrier's favoured theme of tried and tested morality. The focus here is on the fortunes of the young and innocent Gertrude St. Clair, who through the machinations of the desperate Mrs. St. Clair, leaves their home in France and arrives as heir apparent to the Scottish estate of Rossville. Contrary to the Earl of Rossville's plans however, Gertrude refuses the hand of the prepared suitor and instead falls under the spell of the ambitious and dashing Colonel Delmour. Ignoring the presence and guiding hand of the measured Edward Lyndsay who truly loves her, Gertrude throws herself into the bewitching gaieties of the fashionable world leaving all sense of duty behind her. Shadowing her light footsteps however is the figure of a mysterious and demanding stranger whose claim on Gertrude is to shape a very different future for her.Humanising the strain of evangelism in the novel is the inclusion of a collection of highly amusing and colourful characters, which, as noted in the new introduction, helps to display The Inheritance as 'a novel which shows Ferrier's skills as a satirist and caricaturist in their best light and that remains moreover one of the greatest examples of domestic fiction in the Scottish literary tradition'.Dr. Ronnie Young teaches in the Department of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow and is production editor for the Scottish Cultural Review of Language and Literature (SCROLL) series.

Delphi Complete Works of Tobias Smollett (Illustrated)


Tobias Smollett - 1824
    This comprehensive eBook offers Smollett's complete fictional works, with rare texts, beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Smollett's life and works * Concise introductions to the novels and other works * Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * The complete novels, including rare works like THE HISTORY AND ADVENTURES OF AN ATOM, first time in digital print * All of the major novels are fully illustrated with their original artwork * Includes Smollett's poetry, plays and translations * Features two biographies, including Sir Walter Scott’s seminal biographical study - explore Smollett's literary life! * Almost the complete non-fiction works * NCX toc feature allowing readers to skip to the next or previous chapter, poem or book easily using the Kindle's 5-way controller * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Novels THE ADVENTURES OF RODERICK RANDOM THE ADVENTURES OF PEREGRINE PICKLE THE ADVENTURES OF FERDINAND COUNT FATHOM THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SIR LAUNCELOT GREAVES THE HISTORY AND ADVENTURES OF AN ATOM THE EXPEDITION OF HUMPHRY CLINKER The Translations GIL BLAS CANDIDE The Plays THE REGICIDE THE REPRISAL The Poetry ADVICE REPROOF MINOR POEMS The Non-Fiction CONTINUATION OF A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ENGLAND: VOLUME II TRAVELS THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY NARRATIVE OF THE BASE AND INHUMAN ARTS THAT WERE LATELY PRACTISED UPON THE BRAIN OF HABBAKKUK HILDING THE EXPEDITION AGAINST CARTHAGENA SMOLLETT’S DYING PREDICTION The Biography THE LIFE OF TOBIAS SMOLLETT by George Gillfillan Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles