Gladstone. Disraeli. Dickens. Meet the pioneering, paradoxical Britons of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Through peaceful and gradual change they built one of the world's first industrial democracies—in a class-bound society with a powerful landed aristocracy and a negative view of business. They gloried in a globe-spanning and relatively humanely run empire—even as it distracted them from underlying economic weaknesses that presaged Britain's 20th-century decline. They were also intensely sentimental—yet ignored extreme squalor and hardship in their midst.Consider these other apparent contradictions:They became history's first campaigners against slavery and pursued a host of reformist, often religiously inspired causes with zeal and vision—yet tolerated child labor and the Opium War.They were quick to exploit new technologies, including the steam engine, cast-iron construction, and gas lighting—yet lost their economic leadership to Germany and America.The Victorians created the cityscape of modern Britain—visible today except for what was destroyed by bombing in World War II—while consciously trying to re-create earlier styles.They faced rapid and sweeping scientific, historical, and technological shifts—yet avoided massive upheavals that tore at other European and Atlantic societies in their day.And in their trademark style, the Victorians even reformed cricket, turning it from a riotous diversion for hard drinkers and gamblers into a byword for flannel-clad decency and goodhearted fair play that crossed class lines and brought together the best features of democracy and aristocracy.Victorian Britain: Strengths and FoiblesThis course is a chronological journey into the Victorian story with all its strengths and foibles and invites you to reflect on its lessons both positive and negative.You move from the unexpected ascension to the throne of teenaged Princess Victoria in 1837 to her death in 1901 as the Boer War neared its end.You learn about the lives of Victorian women; the situation facing working people and the rise of trade unionism; Victorian achievements in art, literature, architecture, and music; and what Leonard Woolf called "the seriousness of games" and of leisure-time activities as windows on Victorian life.You discuss the important role played by Christianity as a force for both principled adherence to tradition and principled pursuit of change; and the influence of science and the debates over its impact that animated the Victorians.You learn what the Victorians believed about education; the questions raised by Britain's rule over its Empire, the problems of poverty and crime; the discoveries of Victorian explorers in Africa; and more.All in all, you will find it a remarkable tour of a remarkable age. And one of the highlights of it, as Professor Patrick N. Allitt explains, is something that never happened.The Dog That Did Not BarkArthur Conan Doyle's stories about Sherlock Holmes are among the best-loved literary legacies from the Victorian age. In one of them, "Silver Blaze" (first published in London's Strand magazine in December 1892), a crucial piece of evidence is something that did not happen—what Holmes calls "the curious incident" of the dog that did not bark.In Britain there was nothing like the French Revolution, the revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, the Italian and German wars of unification, or the American Civil War.Understanding how the British and their institutions managed peacefully to accommodate and manage the currents of change is one of the main themes in this course.And the change was vast. With the culmination of the Industrial Revolution, Britain had gone decisively from being a mostly rural and agricultural society to being a land of large industrial cities.Much of the credit, Professor Allitt argues, goes to able leaders.Gladstone and Disraeli"The first was Victoria herself," he says, "who came to the throne at a time when the monarchy was at a low ebb thanks to the foibles and derelictions of her predecessors. Her example of probity and assurance helped make the monarchy a symbol of stability and national unity that served Britain well. Therefore, the age deserves to be named after her for more than accidental reasons."But above all were the two great prime ministers, the Liberal William Gladstone (1809-1898) and the Conservative Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881). Between them they dominated the political landscape and played crucial roles in helping Britain absorb and creatively adapt to the massive changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of democracy.Each in his own way was a remarkable character, and their clashes and collaborations (whether overt or tacit) are justifiably the stuff of legend.Victorian FirstsVictorian Britain was the first society to:go from majority illiterate to near-universal basic literacyabolish public executions, in 1868offer free universal public schooling, beginning with Prime Minister William Gladstone's Education Act of 1870build railroads, steam-powered mills, and iron-hulled shipscreate a public building lit by electric lights (the Savoy Theatre in London, custom-built for Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta productions in 1881).British doctors such as Sir Joseph Lister were early advocates of such innovations as anesthesia and sterile procedure, while Florence Nightingale essentially invented modern nursing during the Crimean War.British engineers and architects were the first to build with cast iron and plate glass, creating such magnificent structures as Scotland's Firth of Forth railroad bridge (still standing) and London's Crystal Palace.A Chorus of Victorian VoicesOne of the joys—and for professional historians, challenges—of studying Victorian history is the sheer wealth of sources. It was a literate age, and one of the first societies in which statistics were systematically collected, analyzed, and reported on.Queen Victoria herself was a faithful diarist and kept up a huge and lively correspondence. Among the highlights quoted in these lectures are the 21-year-old queen's excited and warmly amorous impressions of her husband-to-be Prince Albert, her contrasting thoughts about Gladstone and Disraeli, and her touching and revealing letter of condolence to Mary Todd Lincoln, written only a few years after Victoria herself had been suddenly and tragically widowed—and from which she never recovered.A Wealth of Information from a Well-Documented EraProfessor Allitt also cites:Disraeli's tart opinion of Gladstone, as well as a letter of Disraeli's to the queen that stands as a minor masterpiece of artful flattery (no wonder she liked him best)Gladstone's explanation of why he, as a devout Christian, favored the controversial step of seating an atheist member of Parliamenta clergyman's hilarious parody of the turgid prose of "social Darwinist" Herbert SpencerWinston Churchill's description of what he experienced during the last full-dress cavalry charge in British military history at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898recollections of affairs by the unknown author of My Secret Life, an 11-volume memoir of one middle-class man's travels through the sexual underworlda Lancashire housemaid's remembrance of what Christmas was like for servantsa reforming journalist's heartrending account of hardship and deprivation among poor children in Londonan Evangelical reformer's horrified account of the boisterous, alcohol-soaked festivities surrounding village holidays.The End of an EraWhen Queen Victoria died in 1901, she left behind a nation indelibly marked by the Victorian legacy, for good and for ill.

    "His stories, which deluge us with feeling, make feeling more intelligent; more magnanimous. He is an artist of our moral maturity." This volume presents forty-two of Chekhov's later short stories, written between 1888 and 1903, in acclaimed translations by Constance Garnett and chosen by Shelby Foote. Among the most outstanding are "A Dreary Story," a dispassionate tale that reflects Chekhov's doubts about his role as an artist. Thomas Mann deemed it "a truly extraordinary, fascinating story . . . unlike anything else in world literature." "The Darling," a delightful work highly admired by Tolstoy, offers comic proof that life has no meaning without love. And in "The Lady with the Dog," which Vladimir Nabokov called "one of the greatest stories ever written," a chance affair takes possession of a bored young woman and a cynical roué, changing their lives forever. Also included in this collection are the famous trilogy, "The Man in a Case," "Gooseberries," and "About Love," as well as "Sleepy," "The Horse-Stealers," and "Betrothed." "The greatest of Chekhov's stories are, no matter how many times reread, always an experience that strikes deep into the soul and produces an alteration there," wrote William Maxwell. "As for those masterpieces 'The Lady with the Dog,' 'The Horse-Stealers,' 'Sleepy,' 'Gooseberries,' 'About Love'—where else do you see so clearly the difference between light and dark, or how dark darkness can be?" Shelby Foote has provided an Introduction for this edition.

    Under the direction of Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor, the editors have reconsidered all aspects of the anthology to make it an even better teaching tool.

    FOR AS LONG AS THE STORM LASTS.Lady Abigail Wynfred escapes to a seaside cottage to bid her dreams farewell before marrying a staid English lord to please her family. Colonel Robert Coally convalesces in a nearby cottage to recuperate from a battle wound before returning to the Boer Wars. When a storm strikes, Robert takes refuge with Abigail. He has seen too much death. She has experienced too much loneliness. They vow to fulfill each others fantasies until the storm ends. But passion, they discover, is as unpredictable and life-altering as the elements ...* Originally published in the anthology "Captivated"

    Here, she brings her charming illustrations of cats to the subject of Pre-Raphaelite painting.Well-known works by such artists as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, and William Holman Hunt can be viewed in a new and entrancing way when their protagonists are endearing cats. The Beggar Maid takes on a particularly touching relationship with King Cophetua, while Medea gives new meaning to the word enchantress as she prepares the ingredients for a spell. Were ever two creatures so frightened and so abandoned as the poor cat princes wickedly imprisoned in the tower or two lovers as sad and stoical as the young officer cat and his fiancée on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo? With black-and-white reproductions of the original paintings that inspired these illustrations, the book offers irresistibly delightful comparisons to a great period in art history.

    She finds them jobs and becomes a manufacturer herself, but there are many more obstacles the brave young girl must face before she can find true happiness.

    It embraces not just the United Kingdom, but also English-speaking countries linked to Britain by cultural ties of empire and emigration, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa.Long regarded as a backwater of sentiment and outmoded academic convention that was bypassed by the mainstream of development in Western art, Victorian painting is now wholeheartedly enjoyed in its own right. Unfettered by old prejudices, Lionel Lambourne presents a vivid panorama of an age of unparalleled energy and creativity. Wealth, optimism, education and self-confidence created a huge demand for art, and a remarkable array of talent emerged to meet it. Producing works in a wide variety of styles, subjects and media, many artists became rich celebrities, while the profession as a whole enjoyed unprecedented public esteem.The author tackles this protean subject by dividing it into themes that reflect its richness and variety. Chapters are devoted to such topics as Mural/ History Painting, the Nude, the Portrait, Sporting Painting, Genre Scenes and Women Painters; and social themes such as the Fallen Woman, Social Realism, Travel and Emigration; as well as movements such as the Pre-Raphaelites.Written with a light touch, full of illuminating anecdotes, and with 600 color illustrations, Victorian Painting is beautiful, highly entertaining and informative. It is also an invaluable reference work since, in addition to many famous and well-loved images, it presents a wealth of fine work by lesser-known artists, and explores the byways as well as highways of Victorian art, demonstrating the astounding range and depth of talent of the age.

    It re-creates the legary big-game safaris led by Selous and Bell and the daring ventures of early hunters into unexplored territories, and brings to life such romantic figures as Cape-to-Cairo Grogan, who walked 4,000 miles for the love of a woman, and Dinesen's dashing lover, Denys Finch. Witnesses to the richest wildlife spectacle on the earth, these hunters were the first conservationists. Hard-drinking, infatuated with risk, and careless in love, they inspired Hemingway's stories and movies with Clark Gable and Gregory Peck.

    Together they travel through time, revisiting all the people who have played an important role in Scrooge's life. And as their journey concludes, Scrooge is reminded of what it means to have love in his heart, and what the true spirit of Christmas is all about. A timeless story the whole family will enjoy

    The genre arose from a ferment of activity from which the Pre-Raphaelites emerged along with Leighton's luxurious classical mythologies, as well as a fascinating diversity in other artistic fields. Christopher Wood, a leading expert who has not only studied but also bought, owned, and sold examples of everything he writes about, takes us through the artistry of Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Waterhouse, and others to show the succession of movements characterizing the Victorian period.

    Little does she expect to remain at the estate beyond the funeral itself, or to find herself caught up in the secrets of Sherringham’s turbulent past or those of the deceased noblewoman’s dark, brooding nephew ― Viscount Adrian Marrable. A Mysterious Viscount: Twice wed and twice widowed, the darkly handsome lord is implicated in both his wives’ tragic and untimely deaths. Adrian is captivated by Vanessa’s golden beauty and willingly fulfills his late aunt’s dying wishes. His generous financial support allows Vanessa to remain at Sherringham and pursue her passion for photography. But her growing attraction to the enigmatic viscount proves as unsettling as the ghostly figure that appears in her photographs. Royal Sherringham: An expansive castle-mansion complex in the English West Midlands, its long history dates back to the times of the druids. What mysteries does Sherringham hold, and why did Adrian’s late aunt flee her beloved home to live in self-imposed exile? Now, as the Marrable family gathers after years apart, Sherringham’s unseen residents stir. What might they reveal, if the planes between the spiritual and material dimensions are breached? Will Vanessa find an adversary or an ally in the otherworldly presence that beckons from her photographs as secrets are unearthed, shade by shocking shade? Dare Vanessa embrace her blossoming love for the dark viscount or, like her late employer, flee Sherringham forever?

    His work in both forms was detailed, symbolic, mystical, and sometimes erotic. He was involved with two of the PRB `stunners', first Lizzie Siddal who died of a laudanum overdose, then Jane Morris. Notoriously, DGR buried his poetry manuscripts with Siddal, but later exhumed them. Latterly involved with William Morris's decorative arts firm, DRG died - a near recluse - in 1882, a Romantic Victorian revolutionary.

    In Victorian London, one ambitious warlock, Peter Owling, designed a book of shadows to summon the Lord of the Demons - Satan himself. The plan backfired, Owling was killed and the book was ripped into four pieces and sent to the far corners of the earth. One fragment wound up in a shipment of books destined for the Colonies. Now, at Humberstone College, a converted 19th-century Gothic convent in Melbourne, a power-hungry group of academics is reassembling Owling's grimoire, bent on the pursuit of eternal life. But they have reckoned without the interference of three twenty-something masters students: Holly, Prudence and Justin. When Holly makes contact and falls in love with the ghost of the young man who was once Owling's assistant, the academics begin to fear that their dark secret - the grimoire which is so near to completion - is not as safe as they had previously thought.

    Featuring more than 500 A-Z articles, it throws new and often unexpected light on the most familiar of Dickens's works, and explores the experiences, events, and literature on which he drew. There is also a chronology of Dickens' life, a list of characters in his works, a list of entries by theme, a family tree, three maps, an invaluable bibliography, and a general index. Compiled by a distinguished editorial team, and written in a lucid, easy style that would have pleased him, The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens offers a more authoritative and accessible range of information than any other reference work on Dickens.

    There have been many successful Christmas titles before "The Little Big Book of Christmas," but none so complete, timeless, and delightful, and none in such a beautifully designed format. A great big fat international Christmas book chock-full of stories, songs, biblical verse, Christmas lore, and the best recipes ever, including: Gospel stories, including those of St. Luke and St. MatthewPoetry of William Shakespeare, John Milton, Robert Frost, Clement Clarke Moore, Ogden Nash, W. H. Auden, and Lewis CarrollStories from Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Dickens, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, Norman Vincent Peale, Lincoln Steffens, and Selma LagerlofChristmas lore from Dorothy Thompson, Norman Vincent Peale, and Francis P. ChurchCarols galore including "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Silent Night," "The First Noel," "Joy to the World," and "The Twelve Days of Christmas"The best holiday recipes, including New England Eggnog, Classic Sugar Cookies, Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Sticks, A Brownie Christmas Tree, Swedish Gingerbread Cookies, Refrigerator Cookies, and Scandinavian Glogg. There have been many successful Christmas titles before "The Little Big Book of Christmas," but none so complete, timeless, and delightful, and none in such a beautifully designed format. A great big fat international Christmas book chock-full of stories, songs, biblical verse, Christmas lore, and the best recipes ever, including:Gospel stories, including those of St. Luke and St. MatthewPoetry of William Shakespeare, John Milton, Robert Frost, Clement Clarke Moore, Ogden Nash, W. H. Auden, and Lewis CarrollStories from Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Dickens, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, Norman Vincent Peale, Lincoln Steffens, and Selma LagerlofChristmas lore from Dorothy Thompson, Norman Vincent Peale, and Francis P. ChurchCarols galore including "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Silent Night," "The First Noel," "Joy to the World," and "The Twelve Days of Christmas"The best holiday recipes, including New England Eggnog, Classic Sugar Cookies, Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Sticks, A Brownie Christmas Tree, Swedish Gingerbread Cookies, Refrigerator Cookies, and Scandinavian Glogg.

    Wells and Edith Wharton. This fully-annotated selection from James's eloquent correspondence allows the writer to reveal himself and the fascinating world in which he lived. The letters provide a rich and fascinating source for James' views on his own works, on the literary craft, on sex, politics and friendship. Together they constitute, in Philip Horne's own words, James' 'real and best biography'.

    In addition to the title essay, this text contains De Profundis, two letters to the Daily Chronicle concerning prison injustices, and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

    She has borne two sons and endured sixteen years of selfless duty in a passionless marriage. Craving a man's loving touch yet loyal to her wedding vows, Elizabeth is determined to seduce her coldly indifferent husband. She knows of only one man who can teach her the erotic secrets of love.The bastard son of an English countess and an Arab sheik, Ramiel Devington was reared to embrace both Western culture and Eastern pleasure. Scorned by society and challenged by prim Elizabeth's request, he undertakes her instruction in the art of sensual delight. But when the lessons become a temptation neither can resist, Elizabeth is forced to choose between obligation and a bold, forbidden passion.

    An excellent introduction to these great legends and adult classic stories, this innovative series is sure to be collected, cherished, and reread many times.

    At the center is the family, the Earl of Stamford. But the various groups that made the household work fan out like ripples in a pool so that we can trace the responsibilities of the house steward, the housekeeper, and the land steward, each with their own teamsthe butler and footmen, the housemaids and laundresses, the gardener and the blacksmith. Beyond them are the craftsmen who provided services great and small, from carpentry to sewing, and the tradesmen who supplied food, drink, luxuries, and necessities to a household that was far from self-sufficient. By delving into the minutiae of the household records and accounts, the author has uncovered the stories of individuals that contributed to the life of Dunham Massey, from the doctor who featured in Mrs Gaskell's novels to the hermit who over-indulged at a family wedding and fell down the stairs.

    It is the only comprehensive reference work to bring together in one volume the wealth of information available on the women's movement.Drawing on national and local archival sources, the book contains over 400 biographical entries and more than 800 entries on societies in England, Scotland and Wales. Easily accessible and rigorously cross-referenced, this invaluable resource covers not only the political developments of the campaign but provides insight into its cultural context, listing novels, plays and films.

    Victorian Sappho traces the emergence of this idealized feminine figure through reconstructions of the Sapphic fragments in late-nineteenth-century England. Yopie Prins argues that the Victorian period is a critical turning point in the history of Sappho's reception; what we now call "Sappho" is in many ways an artifact of Victorian poetics. Prins reads the Sapphic fragments in Greek alongside various English translations and imitations, considering a wide range of Victorian poets--male and female, famous and forgotten--who signed their poetry in the name of Sappho. By "declining" the name in each chapter, the book presents a theoretical argument about the Sapphic signature, as well as a historical account of its implications in Victorian England. Prins explores the relations between classical philology and Victorian poetics, the tropes of lesbian writing, the aesthetics of meter, and nineteenth-century personifications of the "Poetess." as current scholarship on Sappho and her afterlife. Offering a history and theory of lyric as a gendered literary form, the book is an exciting and original contribution to Victorian studies, classical studies, comparative literature, and women's studies.

    Sewage generated by a population of over two million Londoners was pouring into the river and was being carried to and fro by the tides. The Times called the crisis "The Great Stink". Parliament had to act - drastic measures were required to clean the Thames and to improve London's primitive system of sanitation. The great engineer entrusted by Parliament with this enormous task was Sir Joseph Bazalgette. This book is an account of his life and work.

    Previously published.

    These were conditions in which art prospered, and during the 60-year reign of Queen Victoria several generations of painters produced work of immense variety and beauty. This lovely book celebrates the artists and subjects of that period, drawing on paintings and sculpture from the permanent collection of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.The book provides an engaging and accessible overview of the most important artists of the period. Eminent scholars offer insights into their artistic subjects, styles, and techniques, as well as into the role of the Royal Academy in the age of Queen Victoria. More than 70 works of art are catalogued in depth, including many that are reproduced here for the first time. The book also includes biographies of the artists featured, each illustrated with a contemporary photograph.This book will be the catalogue for an exhibition that will be at the Denver Art Museum from 15 May to 15 August 1999, and then travel to the Frye Art Gallery in Seattle, Washington, the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida, the National Academy Museum in New York, and the Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.

    Previously published.

    As Poet Laureate, Tennyson (and those in his circle) was portrayed by such pioneering spirits as Julia Margaret Cameron. Lynne Truss's insightful and often amusing text captures the spirit of the age.

    John Charmley argues a powerful and challenging case, forcing a fresh look at a period long held to be part of the glorious British past.

    This volume brings together new essays from a variety of perspectives that illuminate both the richness of Braddon's oeuvre and the variety of critical approaches to it.Best known as the author of Lady Audley's Secret and Aurora Floyd, Braddon also wrote penny dreadfuls, realist novels, plays, short stories, reviews, and articles. The contributors move beyond her two most famous works and reflect a range of current issues and approaches, including gender, genre, imperialism, colonial reception, commodity culture, and publishing history.Contributors include Jennifer Carnell, Jeni Curtis, Pamela K. Gilbert, Lauren Goodlad, Aeron Haynie, Heidi Holder, Gail Turley Houston, Heidi H. Johnson, Toni Johnson-Woods, James R. Kincaid, Elizabeth Langland, Eve Lynch, Graham Law, Katherine Montweiler, Lillian Nayder, Lyn Pykett, and Tabitha Sparks, and Marlene Tromp.

    This outstanding collection of 11 lectures and an essay illustrates Morris’s convictions. Includes: "Art: A Serious Thing," "Useful Work vs. Useless Toil," "The Dawn of a New Epoch," and "The Present Outlook of Socialism." Introduction. Biographical Note.