Best of
Classics

1925

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway


Ernest Hemingway - 1925
    For Hemingway fans The Complete Short Stories is an invaluable treasury.

A Country Doctor's Notebook


Mikhail Bulgakov - 1925
    Mikhail Bulgakov was flung into the depths of freezing rural Russia which, in 1916-17, was still largely unaffected by such novelties as the motor car, the telephone or electric light. How his alter-ego copes (or fails to cope) with the new and often appalling responsibilities of a lone doctor in a vast country practice — on the eve of Revolution — is described in Bulgakov's delightful blend of candid realism and imaginative exuberance.

The Weary Blues


Langston Hughes - 1925
    From the opening "Proem" (prologue poem) he offers in this first book-"I am a Negro: / Black as night is black, / Black the depths of my Africa"-Hughes spoke directly, intimately, and powerfully of the experiences of African Americans, at a time when their voices were newly being heard in our literature. As his Knopf editor Carl Van Vechten wrote in a brief introduction to the original 1926 volume, illuminating the potential of this promising young voice, "His cabaret songs throb with the true jazz rhythm; his sea-pieces ache with a calm, melancholy lyricism; he cries bitterly from the heart of his race...Always, however, his stanzas are subjective, personal" and, he concludes, they are "the expression [of] an essentially sensitive and subtly illusive nature." That illusive nature darts among these early lines and begins to reveal itself, sometimes with shocking confidence and clarity: "Bring me all of your / Heart melodies / That I may wrap them / In a blue cloud-cloth / Away from the too-rough fingers/ Of the world."

Cuttlefish Bones


Eugenio Montale - 1925
    The renowned classicist, translator, and critic William Arrowsmith translated all three volumes."Virtually incomparable. . . . Arrowsmith has quite literally distilled this poetry's essence in order to recompose it with all of its colors, scents, and exquisitely understated potency intact." — Rebecca West

The Keeper of the Bees


Gene Stratton-Porter - 1925
    In it a Master Bee Keeper, his bees, and the natural beauty of California restore a wounded World War I veteran to health.

The Hollow Men


T.S. Eliot - 1925
    - lines 95-98The Hollow Men (1925) is a poem by T. S. Eliot, divided into five parts and consists of 98 lines. Eliot's New York Times obituary in 1965 identified the final four as "probably the most quoted lines of any 20th-century poet writing in English". It follows the otherworldly journey of the spiritually dead. These "hollow men" are broken, lost souls. They fail to transform their motions into actions, conception to creation, desire to fulfillment. They did not put any good or evil into the world so they cannot move on into the afterlife.

Heart of a Dog


Mikhail Bulgakov - 1925
    This satirical novel tells the story of the surgical transformation of a dog into a man, and is an obvious criticism of Soviet society, especially the new rich that arose after the Bolshevik revolution.

The Witness for the Prosecution - an Agatha Christie Standalone Short Story


Agatha Christie - 1925
    However, when questioned, Romaine informs the police that Vole returned home late that night covered in blood. During the trial, Ms. French's housekeeper, Janet, gives damning evidence against Vole and, as Romaine's cross-examination begins, her motives come under scrutiny in the courtroom. One question remains, will justice prevail?Librarian's note #1: this is the original short story. It was published in the print anthologies "The Witness for The Prosecution and Other Stories," and "The Hound of Death and Other Stories." It first appeared in "Flynn's Weekly" under the title of "Traitor Hands" in 1925. The author adapted it into a play in 1953 with additional material following the original ending, which became the basis for the 1957 film of the same name with Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich.

The Everlasting Man


G.K. Chesterton - 1925
    Chesterton starts with in this classic exploration of human history. Responding to the evolutionary materialism of his contemporary (and antagonist) H.G. Wells, Chesterton in this work affirms human uniqueness and the unique message of the Christian faith. Writing in a time when social Darwinism was rampant, Chesterton instead argued that the idea that society has been steadily progressing from a state of primitivism and barbarity towards civilization is simply and flatly inaccurate. "Barbarism and civilization were not successive stages in the progress of the world," he affirms, with arguments drawn from the histories of both Egypt and Babylon. As always with Chesterton, there is in this analysis something (as he said of Blake) "very plain and emphatic." He sees in Christianity a rare blending of philosophy and mythology, or reason and story, which satisfies both the mind and the heart. On both levels it rings true. As he puts it, "in answer to the historical query of why it was accepted, and is accepted, I answer for millions of others in my reply; because it fits the lock; because it is like life." Here, as so often in Chesterton, we sense a lived, awakened faith. All that he writes derives from a keen intellect guided by the heart's own knowledge.

Jew Süss


Lion Feuchtwanger - 1925
    Surrounded by jealous & hateful enemies, Süß helps the Duke create a corrupt state that involves them both in immense wealth & power.

The Axe


Sigrid Undset - 1925
    In it we meet Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, who were betrothed as children and raised as brother and sister. Now, in the heedlessness of youth, they become lovers, unaware that their ardor will forge the first link in a chain of murder, exile, and disgrace.Soaringly romantic and psychologically nuanced, Undset's novel is also a meticulous re-creation of a world split between pagan codes of retribution and the rigors of Christian piety--a world where law is a fragile new invention and manslaughter is so common that it's punishable by fine.

The Common Reader


Virginia Woolf - 1925
    This collection has more than twenty-five selections, including such important statements as "Modern Fiction" and "The Modern Essay."

Discourses, Books 1-2


Epictetus - 1925
    The Discourses report wide-ranging discussions between Epictetus and his students.

Professor Dowell's Head


Alexander Belyaev - 1925
    It was said that just before his death he was on the verge of a breakthrough in the transplantation of human organs.Marie Laurent felt privileged to work for the professor’s brilliant associate, Professor Kern. But her feelings turned to shock and revulsion when she entered Kern’s laboratory and discovered—sitting on a table, surrounded by tubes and tanks, its eyes blinking and lips moving—Professor Dowell’s head!Thus begins a classic tale of horror and suspense by Alexander Beliaev, the bestselling Soviet science fiction author of all time, whose work is considered by many readers the equal of Wells’ and Verne’s.Written half a century ago, this prophetic novel foresees not only organ transplants but other disturbing phenomena of our time, such as the use of mental hospitals as prisons and the manipulation of the news media. In the heads that Kern “rescues” from death, we see a poignant parable of mankind’s disembodied life in a high-technology age.The escape of one of the heads—after its transplantation to the body of an opera star—is the catalyst for the story’s hair-raising climax, as Marie Laurent and Professor Dowell’s son race against time to bring Kern to justice. Kern is a cunning adversary, armed with formidable weapons, both real and psychological. Pursuing him means hairbreadth escapes and sudden reversals—with the outcome uncertain right up to the last page.

The Complete Poems


Thomas Hardy - 1925
    

The White Guard


Mikhail Bulgakov - 1925
    It is set in Kiev during the Russian revolution and tells the story of the Turbin family and the war's effect on the middle-classes (not workers). The story was not seen as politically correct, and thereby contributed to Bulgakov's lifelong troubles with the Soviet authorities. It was, however, a well-loved book, and the novel was turned into a successful play at the time of its publication in 1967.

The New Negro


Alain LeRoy LockeEric Walrond - 1925
    DuBois, Locke has constructed a vivid look at the new negro, the changing African American finding his place in the ever shifting sociocultural landscape that was 1920s America. With poetry, prose, and nonfiction essays, this collection is widely praised for its literary strength as well as its historical coverage of a monumental and fascinating time in the history of America.

The Great Gatsby and Other Stories


F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1925
    

Troopers with Custer (Expanded, Annotated) (American Classic Series Book 3)


Earl Alonzo Brininstool - 1925
    Brininstool's classic brings together his lifetime of work on the Little Bighorn disaster and the Indian Wars. A newspaperman and cowboy poet born just six years before Custer's last battle, Brininstool met, interviewed, and corresponded with many Little Bighorn survivors. Here is his final work on the subject, published a few years before his death in 1957. Even if you've read lots of Custer material, you'll find information that you haven't read before in this volume. Every history of the American West provides us with another view of the movement that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

The Adventures of Little Joe Otter


Thornton W. Burgess - 1925
    Joe.

Giants in the Earth


O.E. Rølvaag - 1925
    First published in Norway as two books in 1924 and 1925, the author collaborated with Minnesotan Lincoln Colcord on the English translation.The novel follows a Norwegian family's struggles as they try to make a new life as pioneers in the Dakota territory. Rølvaag is interested in psychology and the human cost of empire building, at a time when other writers focused on the glamor and romance of the West. The book reflects his personal experiences as a settler as well as the immigrant homesteader experience of his wife’s family. Both the grim realities of pioneering and the gloomy fatalism of the Norse mind are captured in depictions of snow storms, locusts, poverty, hunger, loneliness, homesickness, the difficulty of fitting into a new culture, and the estrangement of immigrant children who grow up in a new land. It is a novel at once palpably European and distinctly American.Giants in the Earth was turned into an opera by Douglas Moore and Arnold Sundgaard; it won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1951.

Before the Law


Franz Kafka - 1925
    Before the Law was published in Kafka's lifetime, first in the 1915 New Year's edition of the independent Jewish weekly Selbstwehr, then in 1919 as part of the collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor). The Trial, however, was not published until 1925, after Kafka's death.

A Son of his Father


Harold Bell Wright - 1925
    A great adventure in the desert and mountain world of Arizona and the Mexican border

The Gateway to Storyland


Watty Piper - 1925
    Profuse and bright illustrations.

The Arabian Nights; Volume 1 - 16, Complete


Anonymous - 1925
    Collected over the centuries from India, Persia, and Arabia, and ranging from adventure fantasies, vivacious erotica, and animal fables, to pointed Sufi tales, these stories provided the daily entertainment of the medieval Islamic world at the height of its glory. No one knows exactly when a given story originated, and many circulated orally for centuries before being written down; but in the process of telling and retelling, they were modified to reflect the general life and customs of the Arab society that adapted them—a distinctive synthesis that marks the cultural and artistic history of Islam.

Selected Letters


Marcus Tullius Cicero - 1925
    A chronicle of a crumbling civilization during the era when the republic disintegrated and was replaced by despotism, his Letters portray a world dominated by characters who have since acquired almost mythic status - including Pompey, Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, and Mark Antony. Whether describing the vagaries of war, the collapse of Roman society, his beloved republic, or his own personal domestic dramas, all compellingly reflect the complex personality of an honourable and selfless man whose refusal to compromise ultimately cost him his life.

The Essays of Montaigne - Volume 04


Michel de Montaigne - 1925
    4:XXII. Of custom, and that we should not easily change a law receivedXXIII. Various events from the same counselXXIV. Of pedantryThis book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

A History of Romania: Land, People, Civilisation


Nicolae Iorga - 1925
    

The Persian Wars Vol IV, books 8-9


Herodotus - 1925
    He travelled widely in most of Asia Minor, Egypt (as far as Assuan), North Africa, Syria, the country north of the Black Sea, and many parts of the Aegean Sea and the mainland of Greece. He lived, it seems, for some time in Athens, and in 443 went with other colonists to the new city Thurii (in South Italy), where he died about 430. He was 'the prose correlative of the bard, a narrator of the deeds of real men, and a describer of foreign places' (Murray).Herodotus's famous history of warfare between the Greeks and the Persians has an epic dignity which enhances his delightful style. It includes the rise of the Persian power and an account of the Persian empire; a description and history of Egypt; and a long digression on the geography and customs of Scythia. Even in the later books on the attacks of the Persians against Greece there are digressions. All is most entertaining and produces a grand unity. After personal inquiry and study of hearsay and other evidence, Herodotus gives us a not uncritical estimate of the best that he could find.The Loeb Classical Library edition of Herodotus is in four volumes.

The Miscellaneous Works of Tobias Smollett, M. D.: The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. the Adventures of an Atom


Tobias Smollett - 1925
    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

On the Waves of TSF / Na vlnách TSF


Jaroslav Seifert - 1925
    Similarly, we should preface the 1925 collection Na vlnách TSF (On the Waves of TSF) with the names of these two authors, leading representatives of the Czech avantgarde between the two World Wars and founding members of the artists’ group Devětsil. Karel Teige laid out the verses of his friend Jaroslav Seifert as striking typographical poems. Purportedly, he „depleted“ nearly all the font cases he could find at Obzina’s printing shop. In any case, he faithfully fulfilled the precepts of poetism about the world and poetry—to be multisensory. Imbued with „all the beauties of the world,“ Seifert’s verses are introduced with a mischievously reversed paraphrase of Karel Hynek Máchas (1810–1836) famous words: Light grief on the face / Deep laughter in the heart. With the effortlessness mimicking wireless transmission, Seifert and Teige transport us to Paris (Seifert visited the City of Light with Teige in 1924), to places where pineapples grow, to Australia, Marseille, New York, to distant ocean shores, and back to the banks of the Vltava river in Prague—all this facilitated, as it were, by Télégraphie sans fil (literally from French: wireless telegraphy). To be sure, the greatest concern of the lyrically gloomy narrator is joyfully unambiguous honeymoon destinations; if die we must, let us die of love… In subsequent editions (1938), Seifert’s youthful manifesto was titled Svatební cesta (Honeymoon). Understandably so, because the changed circumstances of Czech poetry hardly allowed for stepping into the same river twice; the former associates parted ways in their creative endeavors. Teige became a multifaceted art theoretician and embraced surrealism. After breaking with the communist party in 1929, Seifert became a lifelong social democrat and devoted himself primarily to newspaper journalism. The first edition of Na vlnách TSF gradually became rare until only reprints allowed us to explore the sources of this visual, almost hedonistic poetry. As a reprint, the collection is appearing for the fifth time, this time in its most faithful facsimile incarnation and in two independent permutations—in the original Czech version and as an English–Czech remake by Zdeněk Trinkewitz, translated by Dana Loewy. The Czech–born translator lives in the United States where early in her career, she won a student translation prize by the American Translators Association (1992). Subsequently, she received an honorary mention by the foremost Czech translators association and her translations of Jaroslav Seifert’s early work were published in 1997 by Hydra Books, a division of Northwestern University Press.

Charlie and His Kitten Topsy (The Charlie stories # 1)


Helen Hill - 1925
    Print book : Fiction : Juvenile audience : EnglishCopyright 1922ContentsI How Charlie Made Topsy Love HimII Why Topsy Decided to Be a Kitten After AllIII How Charlie Became a Little FishIV How Charlie Took RootV How the Wind ChangedVI How Topsy Climbed a TreeVII How Charlie Grew Littler Instead of Bigger

Thrasymachus or The Future of Morals


C.E.M. Joad - 1925