Classic Books

The Alkahest: or the House of Claes has also been called La Recherche de l’absolu or The Quest of the Absolute. Historically, an alkahest is a universal solvent that has the power to dissolve any substance known to man, even gold. It also was speculated that the alkahest was in actuality the philosopher’s stone, or the element that could turn anything into gold and would make a man immune to even death. A philosopher at his core, Balzac utilizes this mythological device to explore obsession and its effects.

He had a mortal dislike, poor Stransom, to lean anniversaries, and loved them still less when they made a pretence of a figure.

The Amateur Cracksman’ was the original short story collection by E.W. Hornung featuring his most famous character A. J. Raffles, a gentleman thief in late Victorian England. It was first published in 1899. The book was very well received and spawned three follow-ups: two more short story collections, ‘The Black Mask’ (1901) and ‘A Thief in the Night’ (1904), as well as a full-length novel, ‘Mr. Justice Raffles’ in 1909.

First published in 1876-77, the present novel ‘The American’ by Henry James is an uneasy combination of social comedy and melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th-century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted. The core of the novel concerns Newman’s courtship of a young widow from an aristocratic Parisian family.

The present book ‘The American Language’ was written by language researcher H. L. Mencken. This book is about the English language as spoken in America and explores the nuances of how it is different from other parts of the world. It was first published in the year 1919.

The material for this book was delivered as the E. T. Earl Lectures for 1912 at the Pacific Theological Seminary, Berkeley, California, and I wish to take this opportunity to express to the President and Faculty of that institution my appreciation of their generous hospitality.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. We believe this work is culturally important, and have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

During the seventy years which elapsed between the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty and the victory of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham, the relations between the American colonies and the British government were, on the whole, peaceful; and the history of the colonies, except for the great and romantic struggle with New France, would have been almost destitute of striking incidents.

Edward Bok was a Dutch born American editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. The present book consists the story of Bok’s becoming an American. He was editor of the ‘Ladies’ Home’ journal for thirty years. Bok is credited with coining the term “living room” as the name for room of a house that had commonly been called the parlor or drawing room. He also created Bok Tower Gardens in central Florida.

First published in the year 1621, Robert Burton’s book ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’ is written in a satirical tone which sometimes digresses the narrative from its core subject i.e., medical, and keeps it engaging for the reader.

Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two exceptions perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to employ my idle hours in recording here in a strange land, for after all England is strange to me. I grow elderly.

The study of Palæontology, or the science which is concerned with the living beings which flourished upon the globe during past periods of its history, may be pursued by two parallel but essentially distinct paths. By the one method of inquiry, we may study the anatomical characters and structure of the innumerable extinct forms of life which lie buried in the rocks simply as so many organisms, with but a slight and secondary reference to the time at which they lived. By the other method, fossil animals are regarded principally as so many landmarks in the ancient records of the world, and are studied historically and as regards their relations to the chronological succession of the strata in which they are entombed. In so doing, it is of course impossible to wholly ignore their structural characters, and their relationships with animals now living upon the earth; but these points are held to occupy a subordinate place, and to require nothing more than a comparatively general attention.

“I had a vexing dream one night, not long ago: it was about a fortnight after Christmas. I dreamt I flew out of the window in my nightshirt. I went up and up. I was glad that I was going up. “They have been noticing me,” I thought to myself. “If anything, I have been a bit too good. A little less virtue and I might have lived longer. But one cannot have everything.” The world grew smaller and smaller. The last I saw of London was the long line of electric lamps bordering the Embankment; later nothing remained but a faint luminosity buried beneath darkness. It was at this point of my journey that I heard behind me the slow, throbbing sound of wings.” -an excerpt

The hush of the court, which had been broken when the foreman of the jury returned their verdict, was intensified as the Judge, with a quick glance over his pince-nez at the tall prisoner, marshalled his papers with the precision and method which old men display in tense moments such as these. He gathered them together, white paper and blue and buff and stacked them in a neat heap on a tiny ledge to the left of his desk. Then he took his pen and wrote a few words on a printed paper before him.

A chronological information of the Anglo-Saxon history and literary arena, ‘The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ was written by

“The Anniversary” is a play by Anton Chekhov.

Anton Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history.

Great Stories and poems for children is a collection of most delightful childrens stories.

The Antichrist’ is a book by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It got published in 1895. Although it was written in 1888, its controversial content made Franz Overbeck and Heinrich Köselitz delay its publication, along with Ecce Homo.

A book of framed tales with infinite contrasts in the moods and moralities in each of the stories, ‘The Arabian Nights’ have always been Fantastic, magnificent, extravagant, beautiful, gloriously colored, humorous. It has the life and movement of the tales, the spirits that enter and set their own precedents; there is for us the charm of mingling with men so different from ourselves: men adventurous but never strenuous, men of many tribulations but no perplexities.

It is a collection of selected framed tales from the ‘Tales From Thousand and One Nights’, also known as the ‘Arabian Nights’. These tales have mystery, magic, politics, romance, adventure, fantasy, and lot more.

These are the three propositions which I have to discuss. It follows as a corollary and evident deduction that, these propositions once admitted, those who follow and profess the Art of Fiction must he recognized as artists, in the strictest sense of the word, just as much as those who have delighted and elevated mankind by music and painting; and that the great Masters of Fiction must be placed on the same level as the great Masters in the other Arts. In other words, I mean that where the highest point, or what seems the highest point, possible in this Art is touched, the man who has reached it is one of the world’s greatest men. — From the Book

The solid fortunes have been amassed through investment and not made by speculation.

Know what you can control and what you can’t
Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can’t control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.

T” HIS little book, like my book on Christian Science which appeared a year ago, is the evo- lution of a pamphlet.

First published in the year 1855, the present book ‘The Art of Travel; Or, Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries’ by Sir Francis Galton was conceived during a voyage to southwestern Africa. Quaint, practical, and VERY politically incorrect, this wonderful time capsule reveals how Tibetans keep warm, how the Chinese stop asses braying, how to build a snow house, and a multitude of tried, tested, and now forgotten tips.

No one accustomed to mix with the higher classes of society will be at all inclined to dispute the advantages arising from a genteel appearance; it therefore becomes necessary that the means of acquiring this distinction should be clearly demonstrated. An attentive perusal of the following pages will conduce to this desired effect.

Although the popular impression is probably the reverse, it is certainly a fact that a greater sum of money is annually lost in this country through unwise investment in Wall Street, than through pure speculation.