Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful." Ralph Waldo Emerson found it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet produced." Published at the author's expense on July 4, 1855, Leaves of Grass inaugurated a new voice and style into American letters and gave expression to an optimistic, bombastic vision that took the nation as its subject. Unlike many...

A master of deductive reasoning who can solve the most difficult crimes by spotting obscure clues overlooked by others, dilettante sleuth Sherlock Holmes was the hero of sixty stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle between 1887 and 1927. He even rose from the dead after Doyle tried to dispatch him in his twenty-fourth adventure, and readers protested. Here, in one volume, are all four full-length novels and fifty-six short stories about the colourful...

Prompted by disturbing reports of an enormous sea monster, marine biologist Pierre Aronnax joins an expedition to find and destroy it. After barely surviving an attack on the creature, the voyagers discover that their quarry is in fact a remarkably advanced submarine, the Nautilus. Its creator, Captain Nemo, is driven by a thirst for knowledge and by a hatred of civilization ; and he refuses to let his guest's leave. As Aronnax and his companions...

In nineteenth-century Yorkshire, the passionate attachment between a headstrong young girl and a foundling boy brought up by her father causes disaster for them and many others, even in the next generation.

Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, has a great ambition: to create intelligent life. But when his creature first stirs, he realizes he has made a monster. A monster which, abandoned by his master and shunned by everyone who sees it, follows Dr Frankenstein with murder and horrors to the very ends of the earth.

"This fourth and final volume concludes the exciting adventures of the world's most famous pipe-smoking detective, Sherlock Holmes, collecting works written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Included are the short story collections His Last Bow (1917) and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927), making this an indispensable classic for every home library.

The Federalist Papers serve as a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as they outline the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government. The authors of the Federalist Papers wanted to both influence the vote in favor of ratification and shape future interpretations of the Constitution. According to historian Richard B. Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science...