the Classics

In this charming book from 1906, Okakura explores Zen, Taoism, Tea Masters and the significance of the Japanese tea ceremony.

What makes us happy? For over 800 years the Cynic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome argued that the answer lay in a simple, self-sufficient life.

Enshrining the fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens in law, and curbing the power of those who rule them, the US constitution is one of the most significant documents in the history of democracy. New to Penguin's Little Black Classics series.

A collection of cantos from Paradiso, the most original and experimental part of the Divina Commedia.

What makes us happy? For over 800 years the Cynic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome argued that the answer lay in a simple, self-sufficient life.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels li

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Baker Street would have failed to recognize him. His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.' Set against the foggy, mysterious backdrops of London and the English countryside, these

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.' Huck Finn escapes from his alcoholic father by faking his own death and so begins his journey through the Deep South, seeking independence and freedom. On his travels, Huck meets an escaped slave, Jim, who is a wanted man, and together th

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.' Scientist Pierre Aronnax and his colleagues set out on an expedition to find a strange sea monster and are captured by the infamous and charismatic Captain Nemo and taken abroad the Nautilus submarine as his prisoners.

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘“Come along, Toto,” she said. “We will go to the Emerald City and ask the Great Oz how to get back to Kansas again.”’ Swept away from her home in Kansas by a tornado, Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves stranded in the fantastical Land of Oz. As instructed by the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins, Dorothy sets off on the yellow brick road to try and find her way to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz,

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.’ In ‘The Happy Prince’ a statue – jewelled and opulent – keeps careful watch over the city and its inhabitants. Enlisting the help of a swallow, his selfless

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘Instead of the cross, the AlbatrossAbout my neck was hung’ When an albatross leads a stricken ship out of treacherous ice, a hapless mariner shoots the bird, arousing the wrath of spirits who pursue the ship. Haunted by Death, the crew begin to perish one by one, until only the cursed mariner remains to confront his guilt. As penance for his actions he is condemned to wander the earth, telling his tale to

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself.’ Heralded as one of the first instances of feminist literature and rejected at its time of publication by the literary set on grounds of moral distaste, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening caused consternation in 1899. Constrained and confined by the limitations surrounding marriage and motherhood in the

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. Featuring the last 12 stories ever written about the infamous detective, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes contains some of Conan Doyle’s most villainous and unusual characters. The 1920s was a disenchanting era, and the darker mood of many of these stories reflects the environment at the time. Some even felt that the stories showed Conan Doyle exploring Spiritualism as it was an area he was interested in at the ti

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young… If it was only the other way!' Wilde's first and only published novel recounts the story of handsome Dorian Gray who upon having his portrait painted desires that it will age and grow ugly while he may remain eternally beautiful. The painting, which reflects each of Gray's sins and transgressions in its hideousne