Best of
Classics

1952

Spark of Life: A Novel of Resistance


Erich Maria Remarque - 1952
    For ten years, he has persevered in the most hellish conditions. Deathly weak, he still has his wits about him and he senses that the end of the war is near. If he and the other living corpses in his barracks can hold on for liberation--or force their own--then their suffering will not have been in vain.Now the SS who run the camp are ratcheting up the terror. But their expectations are jaded and their defenses are down. It is possible that the courageous, yet terribly weak prisoners have just enough left in them to resist. And if they die fighting, they will die on their own terms, cheating the Nazis out of their devil's contract.

East of Eden


John Steinbeck - 1952
    Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.

The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950


T.S. Eliot - 1952
    This omnibus collection includes all of the author’s early poetry as well as the Four Quartets, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and the plays Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party.

Love Poems


Pablo Neruda - 1952
    Mostly written on the island paradise of Capri (the idyllic setting of the Oscar-winning movie Il Postino), Love Poems embraces the seascapes surrounding the poet, and his love Matilde Urrutia, their waves and shores saturated with a new, yearning eroticism.And when you appearall the rivers soundin my body, bellsshake the sky,and a hymn fills the world.        © 1973 by Neruda & Walsh

Charlotte's Web


E.B. White - 1952
    B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." This high-quality paperback features vibrant illustrations colorized by Rosemary Wells!Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. This edition contains newly color illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.

The Grapes of Wrath/The Moon is Down/Cannery Row/East of Eden/Of Mice & Men


John Steinbeck - 1952
    The Grapes of Wrath / The Moon Is Down / Cannery Row / East of Eden / Of Mice and Men

Immortal Poems of the English Language


Oscar Williams - 1952
    Vincent Millay, and Emily Dickinson. The last six hundred years in British and American literature have given us some of the most moving and memorable poems in all literature. Now, discover many of these same works in one gorgeously wrought collection, featuring entries from poets as legendary and beloved as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, Ralph Waldo Emerson, D.H. Lawrence, and many more. From Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberywocky” to Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and from Shakespeare’s sonnets to anonymous classics, this is the ultimate gift for poetry lovers of all ages and backgrounds. Arranged chronologically, the 150 poems featured in this stunning collection reflect the immortality of the poetic soul.

A Child's Christmas in Wales


Dylan Thomas - 1952
    The story is an anecdotal retelling of a Christmas from the view of a young child and is a romanticised version of Christmases past, portraying a nostalgic and simpler time. It is one of Thomas' most popular works.Summary (on verso of title page): A Welsh poet recalls the celebration of Christmas in Wales and the feelings it evoked in him as a child.

Great Books of the Western World


Mortimer J. Adler - 1952
    This monumental collection compiles history's greatest written works, from the ancient classics to more recent masterpieces. Great Books of the Western World contains 517 works from 130 of the most renowned minds throughout history. Volumes 1 and 2 comprise the Syntopicon®, a unique guide that enables you to investigate a particular idea and compare the perspectives of different authors. The Syntopicon organizes thirty centuries of thought into 102 Great Ideas, subsequently divided into topics and subtopics to effectively explore the different viewpoints over time. Authoritative, accurate, and complete, this collection represents the essential core of the Western literary canon

The Silver Chalice


Thomas B. Costain - 1952
    Basil, a sensitive artisan, is purchased from slavery and commissioned to create a decorative casing for the Chalice that Jesus used at the Last Supper. Basil travels to Jerusalem, Greece, and Rome, meets the apostles, braves the perils of persecution, and finally makes a fateful choice that allows him to “see” Jesus. The dramatic plot, compelling characters, and spiritual depth of The Silver Chalice made it one of the most popular historical novels of the twentieth century.

Selected Poems


John Donne - 1952
    Brilliant and wide-ranging, Donne's verse is distinguished by its passion, insight, and inspired use of striking metaphors or "conceits." This volume contains a rich selection of the poet's best work, including, from the Songs and Sonnets: "The Good Morrow," "The Canonization," "The Relic," and "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"; from the Elegies: "On His Mistress" and "To His Mistress Going to Bed"; a selection from the Holy Sonnets (including "Death Be Not Proud"); "Good Friday. 1613. Riding Westward," "Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness" and many more.

Night Roads


Gaito Gazdanov - 1952
    Russian writer Gaito Gazdanov arrived in Paris, as so many did, between the wars and would go on, with this fourth novel, to give readers a crisp rendering of a living city changing beneath its people’s feet. Night Roads is loosely based on the author’s experiences as a cab driver in those disorienting, often brutal years, and the narrator moves from episode to episode, holding court with many but sharing his mind with only a few. His companions are drawn straight out of the Parisian past: the legendary courtesan Jeanne Raldi, now in her later days, and an alcoholic philosopher who goes by the name of Plato. Along the way, the driver picks up other characters, such as the dull thinker who takes on the question of the meaning of life only to be driven insane. The dark humor of that young man’s failure against the narrator’s authentic, personal explorations of the same subject is captured in this first English translation. With his trademark émigré eye, Gazdanov pairs humor with cruelty, sharpening the bite of both.

The Birds and Other Stories


Daphne du Maurier - 1952
    The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of 'Monte Verità' promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd . . .

The Great Conversation: The Substance Of A Liberal Education (Great Books Of The Western World, #1)


Robert Maynard Hutchins - 1952
    As such it is a name used in the promotion of the Great Books of the Western World published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. in 1952. It is also the title of (i) the first volume of the first edition of this set of books, authored by Robert Maynard Hutchins, and (ii) an accessory volume to the second edition (1990), authored by Mortimer Adler.

Selected Short Stories


Franz Kafka - 1952
    In 'The Metamorphosis', the estrangement of everyday life becomes corporealized when Gregor Samsa wakes up as a giant bug and wonders how he is going to get to work on time. Kafka inverts the implied degradation of a man's transformation into an animal in 'A Report of the Academy', an ape's address to a group of scientists.

The Borrowers


Mary Norton - 1952
    In their tiny home, matchboxes double as roomy dressers and postage stamps hang on the walls like paintings. Whatever the Clocks need they simply "borrow" from the "human beans" who live above them. It's a comfortable life, but boring if you're a kid. Only Pod is allowed to venture into the house above, because the danger of being seen by a human is too great. Borrowers who are seen by humans are never seen again. Yet Arrietty won't listen. There is a human boy up there, and Arrietty is desperate for a friend.

Epigrams of Oscar Wilde


Oscar Wilde - 1952
    But this remark seems perhaps even more relevant to our present world where so many seek publicity at any cost. Wilde's well-turned phrases and spontaneous insults still cause much amusement and admiration. Most of us miss the opportunities for bon mots, finding them long after the moments have passed, but Wilde seems never to have been short of suitable words - flattering, witty and on occasions savagely cruel. Many of the quotes in this book are taken from Wilde's plays, novels and essays which were also packed with witticisms amounting to an outrageous philosophy. Wilde's extravagance and unconventional behaviour earned him loyal friends but also bitter enemies and in 1895 after a series of unfortunate events and court cases he was gaoled for two years with hard labour for indecent behaviour. Though from prison came a few last brilliant works, Wilde was never to recover his health or standing in society. He died in Paris bankrupt, broken and alone. He is buried at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise - one of Paris's finest cemeteries - where today many pilgrims from all parts of the world come to pay their respects and leave tokens in recognition of his genius.

Such, Such Were the Joys


George Orwell - 1952
    A collection of essays by Orwell.Contents:Why I WriteSuch, Such Were the JoysWriters and LeviathanAnti-Semitism in BritainPoetry and the MicrophoneMarrakechLooking Back on the Spanish WarInside the WhaleEngland Your England

Giant


Edna Ferber - 1952
    But for Leslie, falling in love with a Texan was a lot simpler than falling in love with Texas. Upon their arrival at Bick's ranch, Leslie is confronted not only with the oppressive heat and vastness of Texas but also by the disturbing inequity between runaway riches and the poverty and racism suffered by the Mexican workers on the ranch. Leslie and Bick's loving union endures against all odds, but a reckoning is coming and a price will have to be paid.A sensational and enthralling saga, Ferber masterfully captures the essence of Texas with all its wealth and excess, cruelty and prejudice, pride and violence.

Naked Masks: Five Plays


Luigi Pirandello - 1952
    His modern and sensationally original plays dramatize with force and eloquence the isolation of the individual from society and from himself.The editor, Eric Bentley, is an international theater authority. In addition to the Introduction and the biographical and bibliographical material in the Appendices, Mr. Bentley has prepared for this volume the first English translations of the play Liolà and Pirandello's important "Preface" to Six Characters in Search of an Author.Included Plays: Liolà It Is So! (If You Think So) Henry IV Six Characters in Search of an Author Each in His Own Way

Apricot Sky


Ruby Ferguson - 1952
    "It was a wedding Mysie once went to. The bridegroom never turned up and the bride swooned at the altar.""Have you practised swooning?"It's 1948 in the Scottish Highlands, with postwar austerity and rationing in full effect, but Mr and Mrs MacAlvey and their family and friends are too irrepressibly cheerful to let it get them down. There's Raine, newly engaged to the brother of a local farmer, and Cleo, just back from three years in the States, along with their brother James, married to neurotic Trina, who smothers their two oversheltered children. There are also three MacAlvey grandchildren, orphaned in the war, whose hilarious mishaps keep everyone on their toes. There are wedding preparations, visits from friends, an adventurous hike, and frustrated romance. But really the plot of the novel is, simply, life, as lived by irresistible characters with humour, optimism, and affection.

The Village


Marghanita Laski - 1952
    It is a precise, evocative but unsentimental account of a period of transition; it's an absorbing novel, and a useful piece of social history.'

Snowflake


Paul Gallico - 1952
    Through Snowflake's special role in the pattern of creation and life, Paul Gallico has given us a simple allegory on the meaning of life, its oneness and ultimate safety.

The Price of Salt


Patricia Highsmith - 1952
    They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol into a choice between her daughter and her lover. With this reissue, The Price of Salt may finally be recognized as a major twentieth-century American novel.

Homer (Great Books of the Western World, #4)


Homer - 1952
    At its centre is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan Hector kills Achilles' close friend Patroclus, he storms back into battle to take revenge - although knowing this will ensure his own early death. Interwoven with this tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, of the domestic world inside Troy's besieged city of Ilium, and of the conflicts between the Gods on Olympus as they argue over the fate of mortals. Odyssey - The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats - shipwrecks, battles, monsters and the implacable enmityof the sea-god Poseidon - Odysseus must test his bravery and native cunning to the full if he is to reach his homeland safely and overcome the obstacles that, even there, await him.

Forsyte Saga: The Man of Property & in Chancery


John Galsworthy - 1952
    

The Hidden Flower


Pearl S. Buck - 1952
    Buck's The Hidden Flower centers on the relationship between a Japanese student and an American soldier stationed in post-war Japan. The Japanese student's father worked in the United States as a doctor, but had to flee to Kyoto to avoid imprisonment in an internment camp. The American soldier has inherited his family's estate in Virginia, where interracial marriage is forbidden. Against such forces, and without the help of their families, how can the love between the young pair — and the future of their child — flourish? The Hidden Flower is an emotionally astute and moving exploration of a taboo love across cultures.

Herodotus | Thucydides (Great Books of the Western World, #6)


Herodotus - 1952
    Contents:The History of HerodotusThe History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Excellent Women / Jane and Prudence / An Unsuitable Attachment


Barbara Pym - 1952
    Only one author was named twice as having been too long neglected: Barbara Pym. Because of this, the late English novelist, whose books were out of fashion in the 1960s and early '70s, is now having a new popularity as a brilliant stylist whose comedies of manners have been compared to the works of Jane Austen." (from rear cover)

The Four Gospels


E.V. Rieu - 1952
    

The Pioneers of Martins Bay


Alice McKenzie - 1952
    After that they moved to Jamestown on Lake McKerrow. The township of Jamestown flopped and the McKenzies drifted down to Martins Bay. The hardships and isolation that followed the move are innumerable. Alice grew up in these isolated and lonely conditions and grew up to write the book.The book was first published in 1947 by the Southland Historical Committee, and a revised edition was self-published in 1952

The Swimming Pool


Mary Roberts Rinehart - 1952
    Her sister, detective novelist Lois, has no patience for Judith's bizarre behavior. However, a real-life mystery unfolds when Judith disappears from her locked room without a trace. Reissue.

Laughing to Keep from Crying


Langston Hughes - 1952
    verso.

To Catch A Thief


David Dodge - 1952
    There is a series of jewel robberies on the Riviera that resemble his style and the police believe that the Cat is up to his old tricks again. A young lady vacationing in France suspects Robie at first, then offers to help him catch the burglar.

The Bridge Over the River Kwai


Pierre Boulle - 1952
    In a prison camp, British POWs are forced into labor. The bridge they build will become a symbol of service and survival to one prisoner, Colonel Nicholson, a proud perfectionist. Pitted against the warden, Colonel Saito, Nicholson will nevertheless, out of a distorted sense of duty, aid his enemy. While on the outside, as the Allies race to destroy the bridge, Nicholson must decide which will be the first casualty: his patriotism or his pride.

The Portable Melville


Herman Melville - 1952
    • Two Complete Novels: Typee and Billy Budd• Self-contained portions of four other novels• Stories, including "Bartleby"• Selections from travel-journals• Letters, poems, marginalia, and other writings—specially arranged with editorial comments that tell the story of Herman Melville's life in relation to his work

Natural History, Volume IX: Books 33-35


Pliny the Elder - 1952
    Book 1: table of contents of the others and of authorities; 2: mathematical and metrological survey of the universe; 3-6: geography and ethnography of the known world; 7: anthropology and the physiology of man; 8-11: zoology; 12-19: botany, agriculture, and horticulture; 20-27: plant products as used in medicine; 28-32: medical zoology; 33-37: minerals (and medicine), the fine arts, and gemstones.The Loeb Classical Library edition of Natural History is in ten volumes.

Library of History, Volume VII: Books 15.20-16.65


Diodorus Siculus - 1952
    80-20 BCE, wrote forty books of world history, called "Library of History, " in three parts: mythical history of peoples, non-Greek and Greek, to the Trojan War; history to Alexander's death (323 BCE); history to 54 BCE. Of this we have complete Books I-V (Egyptians, Assyrians, Ethiopians, Greeks) and Books XI-XX (Greek history 480-302 BCE); and fragments of the rest. He was an uncritical compiler, but used good sources and reproduced them faithfully. He is valuable for details unrecorded elsewhere, and as evidence for works now lost, especially writings of Ephorus, Apollodorus, Agatharchides, Philistus, and Timaeus.The Loeb Classical Library edition of Diodorus Siculus is in twelve volumes.

Ptolemy | Copernicus | Kepler (Great Books of the Western World, #16)


Ptolemy - 1952
    

Milton (Great Books of the Western World, #32)


John Milton - 1952
    Volume 32 of Britannica's Great Books of the Western World lists these titles on its title page: English Minor Poems Paradise Lost Samson Agonistes Areopagitica

Noose for a Lady


Gerald Verner - 1952
     But whilst awaiting execution, Margaret continues to maintain her innocence, and right by her side is John’s daughter, Jill. When Simon Gale, an old friend of Margaret’s, learns about the case, he is convinced that Margaret did not commit the crime, and he is determined to clear her name. Gale’s investigation will lead him to uncover the secret life of John Hallam – an unpopular man with many enemies who may have wanted him dead. And when Gale’s prime suspect is found dead in similar circumstances, it appears that the real culprit may just have got away with murder… With Margaret’s execution date looming, will Gale be able to uncover the truth before it is too late? Noose of a Lady weaves a thrilling web of secrets, lies and betrayal, building up to a thrilling and shocking climax. Praise for Gerald Verner

The Highland Hawk


Leslie Turner White - 1952
    Seventeenth-century Scotland when Cromwell tries to win over the Highlands to the Parliamentary cause.

The Odyssey of Homer (Oxford)


Barbara Leonie Picard - 1952
    After the fall of Troy, Odysseus sets sail for his island kingdom of Ithaca, not knowing that his voyage will take all of ten years. Along the way, he is to face many dangers, including the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, Circe's enchanted island, and the sirens who lure sailors to their death. He even journeys down into the underworld and meets the dead Greek heroes. And all the time, his wife and son are waiting, hoping against hope that he will come and help them face the men who have invaded their home. Homer's great epic poem is brought to pulsating life in this critically acclaimed classic retelling by Barbara Leonie Picard.

Southwest


John Houghton Allen - 1952
    Thirty years ago there were great ranches here, grandees and senoritas, and Chihuahua cattle herded by the finest Spanish ponies. It was a country like Spain, like a painting by Remington. This country John Houghton Allen knew as a boy. He writes with nostalgia of what it once was, and what it has come to be. Years ago it was a cruel, brutal land, and the heat of it, the violence of it, and the color of its raw life sank into John Allen’s soul. He writes of the sweat-soaked days roping cattle, of drunken nights in town, of senoritas and vaqueros, of the last days of a U.S. Cavalry post – forgotten and useless in this lost region – of the bull ring at Nuevo Laredo, of strong drink, blood and sudden death. He writes, too, of his great uncle Beverly, duelist and adventurer, a soldier of fortune in Trelawney tradition, who galloped on impossible attacks in the Civil War, and followed Maximilian in Mexico; of Fierro the Little Blood, Pancho Villa’s inhuman right hand, and his raids of terror across the border; of being held for ransom, with perfect old-world courtesy, in a house where pleasing ladies were to be had for a few pesos. Old legends and the sound of Spanish music run through the book. Old memories are mingled with a feeling of compassion for this desolate country. John Houghton Allen is the kind of original and startling discovery that comes rarely these days.

Outward Bound


Sutton Vane - 1952
    Vane's play, set in the lounge of a small ocean liner, casts a collection of people on a fateful journey across the Styx with an ordinary boat steward as their Charon. At first they do not realize they are dead, but when they are finally convinced that this is no ordinary journey, they decide to combine forces for the purpose of meeting the Examiner, who is to come aboard at the end of the journey. When the Examiner sorts out the sheep from the goats, there are surprises in store for the passengers. Two of them, a young couple, are not called: they are half-ways, two suicides who refuse to face life. Now, with this momentous choice before them, they finally decide to return to the world, which they may face with greater courage.

The Confessions/The City of God/On Christian Doctrine (Great Books of the Western World, #18)


Augustine of Hippo - 1952
    

This is the Life or, Journey with a Lady


Shirley Jackson - 1952
    While on the train, he visits with a lady sitting next to him.

Daniel Boone


Classics Illustrated - 1952
    Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies reprinted its titles.The first five titles were published irregularly under the banner "Classic Comics Presents" while issues six and seven were published under the banner "Classic Comics Library" with a ten-cent cover price. Arabian Nights (issue 8), illustrated by Lillian Chestney, is the first issue to use the "Classics Comics" banner.With the fourth issue, The Last of the Mohicans, in 1942, Kanter moved the operation to different offices and the corporate identity was changed to the Gilberton Company, Inc.. Reprints of previous titles began in 1943. Wartime paper shortages forced Kanter to reduce the 64-page format to 56 pages.

Collected plays


J.M. Synge - 1952
    The Shadow of the Glen and Riders to the Sea, 1905The Well of the Saints, 1905The Playboy of the Western World, 1907The Tinker's Wedding, 1908Deirdrre of the Sorrows, 1910

The Complete Sonnets, Songs and Poems of William Shakespeare


Henry W. Simon - 1952
    Each of his sonnets, songs, and poems is a masterpiece to be read, savored and re-read with wonder and delight.

Belles on Their Toes (stageplay)


William Roos - 1952
    Father, who was one of the great pioneer efficiency experts and who applied this brilliance to raising his large family, is gone. The special way in which the Gilbreths meet this crisis makes the finale a happy and satisfying theatrical event. One int. set.