by Robert Louis Stevenson (Author), Colin Heston (Editor)

Volume VII of the Swanston Edition of "The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson" continues to present a diverse collection of Stevenson's literary output. This volume typically includes a mix of his essays, short stories, and other writings, reflecting his wide-ranging interests and talents. The lead piece, "Prince Otto", was first published in 1885. The story is set in the fictional Germanic principality of Grünewald and follows the titular character, Prince Otto Johann Friedrich. Otto is a well-meaning but somewhat ineffectual ruler, whose reign is marked by political intrigue and personal dilemmas. The novel explores themes of power, responsibility, and personal growth as Otto grapples with his duties as a prince and his relationships with those around him, including his wife, Princess Seraphina, and his scheming ministers. "Prince Otto" is notable for its blend of romance, adventure, and political satire, showcasing Stevenson's versatility as a writer.

This volume has been carefully edited and redesigned by Colin Heston, renowned novelist and story writer, to make the book more comprehensible to the present-day reader.

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By Irving Stone

FROM THE COVER: “Set in the days of the deadly Borgias, the warring popes and the mighty Medicis, this is the truly great novel of Michelangelo, his lifelong friendships, his passionate loves and his unquenchable genius. ….

"Irving Stone has painted the portrait of a supreme craftsman, one of the most versatile artists of all time, and he has also laid before us a cyclorama of one of the world's most astounding ages." New York Times

NY. Fontana books. 1970. 786p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Max Byrd

FROM THE COVER: “It is 1784, and Jefferson, the newly appointed American ambassador to the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, has just arrived in Paris-a city adrift in intrigue, upheaval, and temptation that will challenge his principles, incite his passions, and change Thomas Jefferson forever.... Through the eyes of his impressionable young secretary, William Short, we watch as the future president builds his dream of an America with fellow patriots John Adams and Ben Franklin, and as he struggles between political ambition and an unexpected crisis of the heart with a woman who has the power to destroy him. And we discover-behind the face the complex Virginian shows the world -an enigmatic statesman who fights for individual liberty even as he keeps slaves, who champions free will even as he denies it to his daughters, and who holds men to the highest standards of honor-even as he embarks on a shadowy double life of his own.”

"A Novel To Be Admired And Enjoyed,The Best Fictionalized Life Of Jefferson Yet!' -Jack McLaughlin,

NY. Bantam. 1994. 470p.

By Elizabeth Wein

“Harrowing and wholly believable, Code Name Verity wrecked me. It ii a book as unexpected, beautiful, and enduring as tle friendship at its heart. The story's brutality is almost inti­mate. It's depictions ol heroism are so real and vibrant, they live beyond the page. You will want to clutch these characters to youi in the hopes of keeping them safe, and your heart will break knowing that you can't." —Leigh Bardugo. New York Times best-selling author of Shadow and Bone.

NY. Hyperion. 2013. 371p.

By Emile Gaboriau

Illustrated by W. Glackens. From Chapter 1: In the Paris evening papers of Tuesday, February 28, 1866, under the head of Local Items, the following announcement appeared: " A daring robbery, committed against one of our most eminent bankers, M. André Fauvel, caused great excitement this morning throughout the neighborhood of Rue de Provence. " The thieves, who were as skilful as they were bold, succeeded in making an entrance to the bank, in forcing the lock of a safe that has heretofore been considered impregnable, and in possessing themselves of the enormous sum of three hundred and fifty thousand francs in bank-notes…”

NY. Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1903. 540p.

By Wilkie Collins.

The loss of the diamond opens the beginning of this adventure and events as related by Gabriel Betteredge, house-steward in the service of Julia, Lady Verinder. “ The Moonstone is a 19th-century British epistolary novel. It is an early modern example of the detective novel, and established many of the ground rules of the modern genre. Told from the perspective of 11different characters, tale of mystery and suspicion was considered the first modern English detective novel at its time of publication.” (Amazon).

NY. Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. (1868) 510 pages.

By R.D. Blackmore.

“This work is called a 'romance,' because the incidents, characters, time, and scenery, are alike romantic. And in shaping this old tale, the Writer neither dares, nor desires, to claim for it the dignity or cumber it with the difficulty of an historic novel….Every woman clutched her child, and every man turned pale at the very name of "Doone" ….John Ridd, an unsophisticated farmer, falls in love with the beautiful and aristocratic Lorna Doone, kidnapped as a child by the outlaw Doones on Exmoor. Ridd's rivalry with the villainous Carver Doone reaches a dramatic climax that will determine Lorna's future happiness.”

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1878. 280p.

By G.K. Chesterton.

It is very difficult to classify The Man Who Was Thursday. It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the Father Brown stories should tell a detective story like no-one else. On this level, therefore, The Man Who Was Thursday succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing. However, the reader will soon discover that it is much more than that. Carried along on the boisterous rush of the narrative by Chesterton’s wonderful high-spirited style, he will soon see that he is being carried into much deeper waters than he had planned on; and the totally unforeseeable denouement will prove for the modern reader, as it has for thousands of others since 1908 when the book was first published, an inevitable and moving experience, as the investigators finally discover who Sunday is.

Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith, 1908. 329p.

By Charles Dickens.

This was Charles Dickens' thirteenth novel published in Dickens' weekly journal All the Year Round without illustrations. An American edition was also published in Harper's Weekly. The novel contains a strong autobiographical element, though not as openly as in David Copperfield. Dickens reread Copperfield before beginning Great Expectations to avoid unintentional repetition. It is generally acclaimed as his best work.

NY. Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. (186-1861) 521 pages.

By Geoffrey Chaucer.

Edited with an introduction by A. W. Pollard. This story from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was the first serious attempt to tell the story of the great Genghis Khan, leader of the Moguls, who conquered peoples and lands of Asia and South East Asia, Russia and the fringes of Europe, and by his hand spread and distributed wealth, commerce and technology throughout the peoples and lands he conquered. All of this much to the benefit of the peoples of Europe that he did not conquer, but who nevertheless absorbed the amazing commercial production and distribution of goods and the important elements of nascent science encouraged and exported by the Great Khan. None of these achievements were acknowledged by the West, instead calling the Moguls barbarians and savages.

London: Macmillan (1899) 76p.