By Alexander K. McClure (Author), Colin Heston (Introduction)

Abe’s Yarns and Stories, edited by Alexander K. McClure and first published in 1901 by the International Publishing Company, is a unique and enduring contribution to the cultural memory of Abraham Lincoln. Rather than a conventional biography, this volume presents Lincoln through the lens of his own storytelling—anecdotes, jokes, parables, and recollections that he used to communicate, persuade, and connect with people from all walks of life. The book is both a literary and historical artifact, capturing the essence of Lincoln’s personality and the oral tradition that helped shape his public image. McClure, a journalist and political figure who knew Lincoln personally, compiled this collection not only to entertain but to preserve the wit and wisdom of a man whose humor was as integral to his leadership as his moral conviction.
What makes Abe’s Yarns and Stories particularly compelling is its blend of folklore and fact. While some of the anecdotes may be apocryphal or embellished, they reflect the way Lincoln was remembered and revered by those who knew him and those who came after. The book thus serves as a bridge between history and myth, illustrating how Lincoln’s legacy was shaped not only by his deeds but by the stories told about him. McClure’s editorial voice is respectful and admiring, but he allows Lincoln’s own words and the voices of his contemporaries to take center stage. The result is a portrait that is intimate, humanizing, and deeply American. His rich self-education and his storytelling formed the foundation of a presidency that not only preserved the Union but also reshaped the American identity. They allowed him to lead not just with policy, but with wisdom and heart—qualities that continue to define his legacy.

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. 360p.

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.

By Bertita Harding

*Imperial Twilight* by Bertita Harding is a historical biography that delves into the decline of the Austro - Hungarian Empire, focusing on the personal lives and political struggles of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi"). Harding paints a vivid portrait of the Habsburg d ynasty during its final years, capturing the grandeur and turmoil of an empire on the brink of collapse. With a rich narrative style, the book explores court intrigues, shifting alliances, and the personal tragedies that shaped the fate of one of Europe's most powerful ruling families. Harding's storytelling brings history to life, offering readers both a compelling biography and an insightful study of the forces that led to the fall of the empire.

The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 2007, 366 pages

By Yuanfei Wang

In Writing Pirates, Yuanfei Wang connects Chinese literary production to emerging discourses of pirates and the sea. In the late Ming dynasty, so-called “Japanese pirates” raided southeast coastal China. Hideyoshi invaded Korea. Europeans sailed for overseas territories, and Chinese maritime merchants and emigrants founded diaspora communities in Southeast Asia. Travel writings, histories, and fiction of the period jointly narrate pirates and China’s Orient in maritime Asia. Wang shows that the late Ming discourses of pirates and the sea were fluid, ambivalent, and dialogical; they simultaneously entailed imperialistic and personal narratives of the “other”: foreigners, renegades, migrants, and marginalized authors. At the center of the discourses, early modern concepts of empire, race, and authenticity were intensively negotiated. Connecting late Ming literature to the global maritime world, Writing Pirates expands current discussions of Chinese diaspora and debates on Sinophone language and identity.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021. 227p.

By Robert Graves

“From The Autobiography Of Tiberius Claudius Born B.C. X Murdered And Deified A.D. Liv.”

NY. Vintage Random House. 1961. 453p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-IP

By Robert Graves

“The troublesome reign of Tiberius Claudius Caesar, emperor of the Romans (born 10 b.c., died a.d. 54), as described by himself; also his murder at the hands of the notorious agrippin a (mother of the emperor nero) and his subsequent deification, as described by others.”

NY. Vintage Random House. 1962. 584p.

By John Meade Falkner

Edited with an Introduction by Edward Wilson who notes: “The detailed apparatus to this edition has been demanded not only by Time, which has altered not just the senses of words but a whole cultural hinterland beyond a modern reader's recognition, but by Falkner himself, who delighted in sowing his novel with literary and antiquarian allusions. Indeed, a character, Mr Gaskell, in The Lost Stradivarius itself, when reading an eighteenth-century diary in pursuit of highly sensational matter cannot resist telling us that "the minute details given were often of high antiquarian interest'“

London. Oxford University Press. 1954. (1895). USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP.

By Madeline Miller

FROM USA TODAY: “"It takes a truly gifted writer to make a song this old feel this beauti- fully new. What's startling about this sharply written, cleverly reimagined, enormously promising debut novel from Madeline Miller is how fresh and moving her take on the tale is--how she has managed to bring Achilles and his companion Patroclus to life in our time without removing them from their own."

NY. Harper Collins. 2012. 426p. USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP

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 Julie Otsuka

Winner of the Pen Faulkner Award for Fiction 2012. National Book Award Finalist 2011. From the cover. Between the wars a group of young, non-English-speaking Japanese women travelled by boat to America. They were picture brides, clutching photos of husbands-to-be whom they had yet to meet. Julie Otsuka tells their extraordinary, heartrending story in this spellbinding and poetic account
of strangers lost and alone in a new and deeply foreign land. “Harrowing. Otsuka tells a powerful, affecting story that ensures a largely forgotten voice is heard once more.” Scotsman. ‘Poignant, fascinating and tragic’ Easy Living

NY. Penguin. 2011. 130p.

By Niccolo Machiavelli

From Chapter 1: The people who inhabit the northern parts beyond the Rhine and the Danube, living in a healthy and prolific region, frequently increase to such vast multitudes, that part of them are compelled to abandon their native soil, and seek a habitation in other countries. The method adopted, when one of these provinces had to be relieved of its superabundant population, was to divide into three parts, each containing an equal number of nobles and of people, of rich and of poor. The third upon whom the lot fell, then went in search of new abodes, leaving the remaining two-thirds in possession of their native country. These migrating masses destroyed the Roman empire by the facilities for settlement which the country offered when the emperors abandoned Rome, the ancient seat of their dominion, and fixed their residence at Constantinople…..

London. M. Walter Dunne. 1901.

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 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 Charles Dickens.

This is Charles Dickens' eighth novel, illustrated by Phiz. Some say that it is a thinly disguised autobiography with many of the story lines mirroring Dickens' own life.

NY. Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. (1849-1850) 963 pages.