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Literature-classics/criti

1984

1984

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Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever...

This 75th Anniversary Edition includes:

- A New Introduction by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of Take My Hand, winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work--Fiction
- A Foreword by Thomas Pynchon
- A New Afterword by Sandra Newman, author of Julia: A Retelling of George Orwell's 1984

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can't escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching...

A startling and haunting vision of the world, 1984 is so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the influence of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions--a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.

-Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read-

2 TOWERS

2 TOWERS

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A rare recording featuring Tolkien himself reading exciting selections and singing enchanting songs from the awesome trilogy of books whose literary light will never fade away.
9 STORIES

9 STORIES

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The "original, first-rate, serious, and beautiful" short fiction (New York Times Book Review) that introduced J. D. Salinger to American readers in the years after World War II, including "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and the first appearance of Salinger's fictional Glass family.
Nine exceptional stories from one of the great literary voices of the twentieth century. Witty, urbane, and frequently affecting, Nine Stories sits alongside Salinger's very best work--a treasure that will passed down for many generations to come. The stories:
  • A Perfect Day for Bananafish
  • Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
  • Just Before the War with the Eskimos
  • The Laughing Man
  • Down at the Dinghy
  • For Esmé--with Love and Squalor
  • Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
  • De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period
  • Teddy
  • ADV OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    ADV OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

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    The classic boyhood adventure tale, updated with a new introduction by noted Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen and a foreword by Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and The Republic of Imagination

    In recent years, neither the persistent effort to "clean up" the racial epithets in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn nor its consistent use in the classroom have diminished, highlighting the novel's wide-ranging influence and its continued importance in American society. An incomparable adventure story, it is a vignette of a turbulent, yet hopeful epoch in American history, defining the experience of a nation in voices often satirical, but always authentic.

    For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    ALCHEMIST 25/E

    ALCHEMIST 25/E

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    The extraordinary international bestseller.

    "It's a brilliant, magical, life-changing book that continues to blow my mind with its lessons."--Neil Patrick Harris, actor

    "Translated into 80 languages, the allegory teaches us about dreams, destiny, and the reason we are all here."--Oprah Daily

    Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom, and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

    This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself a king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within.

    Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

    $26.00
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    Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

    Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. 'I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole without the least idea what was to happen afterwards, ' wrote Dodgson, describing how Alice was conjured up one 'golden afternoon' in 1862 to entertain his child-friend Alice Liddell. In the magical world of Wonderland and the back-to-front Looking-Glass kingdom, order is turned upside-down: a baby turns into a pig; time is abandoned at a tea-party; and a chaotic game of chess makes a 7-year-old a Queen.

    ANIMAL FARM & 1984

    ANIMAL FARM & 1984

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    This edition features George Orwell's best known novels - 1984 and Animal Farm - with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.

    In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith joins a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

    Animal Farm is Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution -- an account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm--a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. But are they?

    ANIMAL FARM ANNIV/E 50/E

    ANIMAL FARM ANNIV/E 50/E

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    Since its publication fifty years ago, "Animal Farm" has become one of the most controversial books ever written. It has been translated into seventy languages and sold millions of copies throughout the world. This edition is being published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of its original U.S. publication.

    It features 100 full-color and halftone illustrations by world-renowned artist Ralph Steadman. As vital and relevant as it was fifty years ago, "Animal Farm" is a devastating satire of the Soviet Union by the man V. S. Pritchett called "the conscience of his generation." A fable about an uprising of farm animals against their human masters, it illustrates how new tyranny replaces old in the wake of revolutions and power corrupts even the noblest of causes.

    This anniversary edition includes Orwell's proposed but unpublished preface to the original edition and his preface to the 1947 Ukranian edition. These appendices evoke the historical context in which Orwell conceived and wrote his classic novel.

    ANNA KARENINA DLX/E

    ANNA KARENINA DLX/E

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    The must-have Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of one of the greatest Russian novels ever written

    Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as "flawless," Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and thereby exposes herself to the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness.

    While previous versions have softened the robust and sometimes shocking qualities of Tolstoy's writing, Pevear and Volokhonsky have produced a translation true to his powerful voice. This authoritative edition, which received the PEN Translation Prize and was an Oprah Book Club(TM) selection, also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. Beautiful, vigorous, and eminently readable, this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for fans of the film and generations to come. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper.

    For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    AS I LAY DYING

    AS I LAY DYING

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    At the heart of this 1930 novel is the Bundren family's bizarre journey to Jefferson to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Faulkner lets each family member -- including Addie -- and others along the way tell their private responses to Addie's life.
    ASK THE DUST

    ASK THE DUST

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    "Either the work of John Fante is unknown to you or unforgettable. He was not the kind of writer to leave room in between." -- New York Times

    "Fante was my God."--Charles Bukowski

    John Fante's classic California novel details the adventures of his alter ego, Arturo Bandini, a young writer in Great Depression-era Los Angeles. Struggling to succeed, Bandini falls into an obsessive love affair with the elusive, mocking, unstable Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress. Yet just as fortune looms with the publication of his first novel, everything falls apart when Camilla has a nervous breakdown and disappears--propelling Bandini to reject the writer's life.

    BELL JAR

    BELL JAR

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    One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels

    "A coming-of-age masterpiece." --Boston Globe

    "It is this perfectly wrought prose and the freshness of Plath's voice in The Bell Jar that make this book enduring in its appeal." --USA Today

    The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's masterwork--an acclaimed and timeless novel about a young woman falling into the grip of mental illness and societal pressures.

    The story chronicles the breakdown of Esther Greenwood, a bright, beautiful, enormously talented college student coming of age in 1950s America, as she navigates the pressures of society along with her own ambitions. While at a prestigious, competitively won position at a New York City magazine one summer, Esther finds herself struggling with the looming expectations of marriage, motherhood, and giving up on her dreams to achieve them. She becomes increasingly disillusioned and her mental health deteriorates, ultimately leading her to undergo harsh treatment and therapy.

    "Funny, intense, enormously human" (Cosmopolitan), The Bell Jar is a poignant exploration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche and remains an extraordinary accomplishment from one of the country's most luminous talents.

    BOXED-HOBBIT & THE LORD OF-4V

    BOXED-HOBBIT & THE LORD OF-4V

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    Sauron has returned. . . watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 on Prime Video.

    Immerse yourself in Middle-earth with J. R. R. Tolkien's classic masterpieces behind the films, in this gorgeous pocket-sized, leatherette-bound box set--the perfect gift for Lord of the Rings devotees.

    This four-volume, pocket-sized box set contains Tolkien's epic works The Hobbit and the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). The set comes shrink-wrapped with all four books in a leatherette-bound box with gold foil stamping; each book features a leatherette cover with stamped title and their compact size (4 1/4" x 5 7/8") makes them perfect to carry anywhere.

    In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins is whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in Hobbiton by the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves. He finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.

    The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the dwarf; Legolas the elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.

    Tolkien's epic tales are at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale--a story of high and heroic adventure set in the unforgettable landscape of Middle-earth.

    BOXED-SHERLOCK HOLMES COLL 6V

    BOXED-SHERLOCK HOLMES COLL 6V

    $59.99
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    Step into the cobbled streets of Victorian London with this deluxe slipcased collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, presented in six handsome clothbound volumes.

    Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes has captivated readers for over a century. This 6-volume boxset brings together his most famous cases, featuring cipher messages, stolen treasure and a mysterious beast roaming the moors...

    Inspired by Victorian-era bookbinding, each volume is clothbound in beautiful autumnal shades and gold-foil embossing. The slipcase has luxurious cloth accents on the top and bottom and makes a wonderful display piece in any home library.

    Stories include:
    - A Study in Scarlet
    - The Sign of Four
    - The Valley of Fear
    - The Hound of the Baskervilles
    - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
    - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
    - The Returns of Sherlock Holmes
    - His Last Bow

    ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Collector's Classics series are high-quality, clothbound box-sets of classic works of literature. With elegant embossed cover-designs and colored endpapers, these editions make wonderful gifts or collectibles to treasure forever.

    BROTHERS KARAMAZOV

    BROTHERS KARAMAZOV

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    Fyodor Dostoyevsky's powerful meditation on faith, meaning and morality, The Brothers Karamazov is translated with an introduction and notes by David McDuff in Penguin Classics.

    When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed irrevocably: Mitya, the sensualist, whose bitter rivalry with his father immediately places him under suspicion for parricide; Ivan, the intellectual, whose mental tortures drive him to breakdown; the spiritual Alyosha, who tries to heal the family's rifts; and the shadowy figure of their bastard half-brother Smerdyakov. As the ensuing investigation and trial reveal the true identity of the murderer, Dostoyevsky's dark masterpiece evokes a world where the lines between innocence and corruption, good and evil, blur and everyone's faith in humanity is tested.

    This powerful translation of The Brothers Karamazov features and introduction highlighting Dostoyevsky's recurrent themes of guilt and salvation, with a new chronology and further reading.

    "There is no writer who better demonstrates the contradictions and fluctuations of the creative mind than Dostoyevsky, and nowhere more astonishingly than in The Brothers Karamazov."--Joyce Carol Oates

    "Dostoyevsky was the only psychologist from whom I had anything to learn: he belongs to the happiest windfalls of my life."--Friedrich Nietzsche

    "The most magnificent novel ever written."--Sigmund Freud

    BROTHERS KARAMAZOV

    BROTHERS KARAMAZOV

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    The final masterpiece from the celebrated author of Crime and Punishment and The Idiot...

    This extraordinary novel, Dostoyevsky's last and greatest work, tells the dramatic story of four brothers--Dmitri, pleasure-seeking, impatient, unruly . . . Ivan, brilliant and morose . . . Alyosha, gentle, loving, honest . . . and the illegitimate Smerdyakov, sly, silent, cruel. Driven by intense passion, they become involved in the brutal murder of their own father, one of the most loathsome characters in all literature. Featuring the famous chapter, "The Grand Inquisitor," Dostoyevsky's final masterpiece is at once a complex character study, a riveting murder mystery, and a fascinating examination of man's morality and the question of God's existence.

    Translated by Constance Garnett
    Edited and with a Foreword by Manuel Komroff
    and an Afterword by Sara Paretsky

    CARMILLA 2/E

    CARMILLA 2/E

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    "To this hour the image of Carmilla returns to my memory with ambiguous alternations--sometimes the playful, languid, beautiful girl; sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in the ruined church. Sometimes, I start from a reverie, certain I heard the light step of Carmilla at the drawing-room door."

    Isolated in a remote mansion in a central European forest, Laura longs for companionship--until a carriage accident brings another young woman into her life: the secretive and sometimes erratic Carmilla. As Carmilla's actions become more puzzling and volatile, Laura develops bizarre symptoms, and as her health goes into decline, Laura and her father discover something monstrous.

    Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's compelling tale of a young woman's seduction by a female vampire was a source of influence for Bram Stoker's Dracula, which it predates by over a quarter century. Carmilla was originally serialized from 1871 to 1872 and went on to inspire adaptations in film, opera, and beyond, including the cult classic web series by the same name.

    CATCH 22 50TH ANNIV/E

    CATCH 22 50TH ANNIV/E

    $19.99
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    This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller's masterpiece with a new introduction; critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos; and much more.

    Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.

    Now a Hulu limited series starring Christopher Abbott, George Clooney, Kyle Chandler, and Hugh Laurie.

    Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest--and most celebrated--books of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.

    Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy--it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

    This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller's masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller's personal archive; and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.

    CATCHER IN THE RYE

    CATCHER IN THE RYE

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    The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.
    "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
    The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.
    Catcher in the Rye.

    Catcher in the Rye.

    $30.00
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    The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.
    "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
    The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.
    CATS CRADLE

    CATS CRADLE

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    "A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!"--The New York Times

    Cat's Cradle
    is Kurt Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat's Cradle is one of the twentieth century's most important works--and Vonnegut at his very best.

    "[Vonnegut is] an unimitative and inimitable social satirist."--Harper's Magazine

    "Our finest black-humorist . . . We laugh in self-defense."--Atlantic Monthly

    COMP NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN

    COMP NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN

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    This new, enhanced leather-bound edition includes all the completed novels of beloved author Jane Austen.

    Jane Austen's stories of clever women, elusive love, and social mores have struck a chord with millions of fans who consider her work compelling, heartwarming, and essential. Adapted time and again for screen and stage, these enduring classics remain as enjoyable as ever, and are the perfect addition to every home library. This collector's edition includes all six of Austen's completed novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. New readers will be enchanted once they open the genuine leather cover, see the specially designed endpapers, and read these brilliant stories, while readers familiar with Austen's genius will enjoy the introduction from an acclaimed Austen scholar that provides background and context for the works they've always loved.

    COMP SHORT STORIES OF ERNEST H

    COMP SHORT STORIES OF ERNEST H

    $22.00
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    The complete, authoritative collection of Ernest Hemingway's short fiction, including classic stories like "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," along with seven previously unpublished stories.

    In this definitive collection of the Nobel Prize-winning author's short stories, readers will delight in Hemingway's most beloved classics such as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "Hills Like White Elephants," and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and will discover seven new tales published for the first time in this collection, totaling in sixty stories. This collection demonstrates Hemingway's ability to write beautiful prose for each distinct story, with plots that range from experiences of World War II to beautifully touching moments between a father and son. For Hemingway fans, The Complete Short Stories is an invaluable treasury.

    Complete Works of William Shakespeare

    Complete Works of William Shakespeare

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    No library is complete without the classics! This leather-bound edition includes the complete works of the playwright and poet William Shakespeare, considered by many to be the English language's greatest writer.

    Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth--the works of William Shakespeare still resonate in our imaginations four centuries after they were written. The timeless characters and themes of the Bard's plays fascinate us with their joys, struggles, and triumphs, and now they are available in a special volume for Shakespeare fans everywhere. This Canterbury Classics edition of William Shakespeare's works includes all of his poems and plays in an elegant, leather-bound, keepsake edition. Whether for a Shakespeare devotee or someone just discovering him, this is the perfect place to experience the drama of Shakespeare's words. A scholarly introduction provides additional context and insight into the poems and plays. Specially designed end papers, a ribbon bookmark, and other enhancements complete the package and make this the perfect gift for any lover of literature--a book to read and treasure!

    Count of Monte Cristo

    Count of Monte Cristo

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    A beautiful clothbound edition of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge.

    Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of the Château d'If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. A huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s, Dumas was inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment when writing his epic tale of suffering and retribution.