HarperCollins Publishers
Серия Collins Classics

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The wolf thought to himself, "What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful - she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both."' Collected by the German Grimm brothers, these folk tales have captured the imaginations of children and adults alike since they were first published in 1812. The best-known stories such as The Golden Goose, Hansel and Gretel, The Frog Prince, and Snow-White and Rose-Red remain as popular today as when first told, although there is an underlying darkness and violence to the original stories that has softened over time.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Death and honour are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not'. Set in frontier America in the midst of the French-Indian war, as the French are attempting to overthrow an English fort, Cooper's story follows Alice and Cora Munro, pioneer sisters who are trying to find their way back to their father, an English commander. Guided by an army major and Magua, an Indian from the Huron tribe, they soon meet Hawk-eye, a frontier scout and his Mohican Indian companions Chingachgook and Uncas. Magua is not all that he seems and the sisters are kidnapped. In The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper sets Indian tribe against Indian tribe and lays bare the brutality of the white man against the Mohicans.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'When I am king, they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books; for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved, and the heart.' Set in 16-th Century England and following the lives of two young boys, The Prince and the Pauper is a classic and timeless tale. Tom Canty, the lowly pauper is almost identical in looks to Edward Tudor, a prince. Unbeknownst to those around them, the boys strike up an unlikely friendship and when they swop clothing, they realise they could easily pass for one another. When the Prince's father dies, some of the more underhand court officials persuade the pauper to act as the Prince in order to reap the benefits of the 'mistake'. The Prince and the Pauper is a tale of friendship and growing up and one of Mark Twain's most famous works.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'They were smiling at each other as if this was the beginning of the world.' The lights of Hollywood do little to distract Cecelia as she watches Monroe Stahr, wunderkind studio executive and object of her desire, descend into a reckless and ardent love affair with an auspicious starlet - an affair that threatens to destroy his reign as the Silver Screen's golden boy. In this tragic tale Fitzgerald exposes the corruption, sex and towering ambition at the dark heart of 1930s Hollywood. Unfinished at the time of his death, F. Scott Fitzgerald bids his own poignant farewell to the themes that inspired 'The Great Gatsby', 'Tender is the Night' and 'The Beautiful and Damned'.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.’ This collection of eleven stories depict Holmes and Watson at their very best and solving some of their most notorious cases, culminating in ‘The Final Problem’. In this infamous tale, Holmes comes face-to-face with his greatest opponent, the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty, at the Reichenbach Falls. Each of the stories was previously published in The Strand magazine before being released together in a single volume in 1894. This is a quintessential collection, and a must-have for collectors and fans of one of the finest sleuths in English literature.

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Orphaned as a young teenager, Lowlander David Balfour's only relative is his guardian and uncle, Ebenezer. Ill-thought of and disliked by many, it's not long before Ebenezer betrays his nephew and David finds himself trapped aboard a ship. He soon strikes up a friendship with fugitive stranger and Scottish Highlander Alan Breck, and becomes embroiled in the fierce Jacobite struggle against English rule. A tale of high-seas adventure, loyalty and intrigue, Kidnapped is considered the quintessential classic boys' adventure novel.

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The Scarlet Pimpernel was first published in 1905 and has proved to be Orczy’s most famous and popular novel. The work was originally rejected by publishers, so she refashioned it as a play, with little initial success. The book continued to be popular throughout the twentieth century and was adapted for film, stage and television on multiple occasions. One of the most famous and well-considered adaptations is the 1934 film starring Leslie Howard and directed by Harold Young. The television adaptations include a 1955-56 version and the 1999-2000 BBC production starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern. The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in 1792 during the French Revolution, but centres on an English hero performing great and brave deeds in a violent and murderous climate. Marguerite St Just is a beautiful French actress, who is married to the English fop, Sir Percy Blakeney. The couple have become estranged as Marguerite has tired of her husband’s seemingly superficial lifestyle. She has heard about the exploits of the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel — an unknown English man — who is daily helping French aristocrats to escape the Revolution. She is captivated and entranced by the stories surrounding him, but is soon forced into a position where she must assist the French ambassador to England in capturing the elusive man. Orczy’s novel unfolds with a series of twists and turns, with frequent moments of excitement and tension. The author’s aristocratic heritage no doubt contributed to the politically conservative nature of the work, and her desire to make the hero of a tale an Englishman also underlines not only her own views but her belief in the nationalistic disposition of her English readership.

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While staying in Bath, Catherine meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor who invite her to their family estate, Northanger Abbey. A fan of Gothic Romance novels, naive Catherine is soon letting her imagination run wild in the atmospheric abbey, fuelled by her friendship with the vivacious Isabella Thorpe. It is only when the realities of life set in around her that Catherine's fantastical world is shattered. A coming-of-age novel, Austen expertly parodies the Gothic romance novels of her time and reveals much about her unsentimental view of love and marriage in the eighteenth century.

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Opportunities multiply as they are seized. Written in the 6th century BC, Sun Tzu‘s The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that is still revered today as the ultimate commentary on war and military strategy. Focussing on the principle that one can outsmart your foe mentally by thinking very carefully about strategy before resorting to physical battle, this philosophy continues to be applied to the corporate and business world. Words that are as resonant today in every aspect of our lives as they were when he wrote them.

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Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire, and to plunge into the forest. Half St. Bernard, half sheepdog, Buck is stolen away from his comfortable life as a pet in California and sold to dog traders. He soon finds himself aboard a ship, on its way to Northern Canada. Surrounded by cruelty, Buck's natural instincts and behaviour begin to emerge as he works as a mail carrying sled dog, scavenging for food, protecting himself against other dogs and sleeping out in the cold snow. Sold to a group of American gold hunters who are inexperienced living in the wilderness, the dogs are treated badly and as misfortune besets them, Buck is saved by John Thornton. Indebted to his new master, Buck remains by Thornton's side, saving him from drowning and protecting him with fierce loyalty throughout their time together. However, Buck can not deny the strong lure of the wilderness around him. Exciting and action-packed, THE CALL OF THE WILD explores the timeless relationship between man and dog, and the inevitable draw of primitive instincts that pull Buck away from civilization and humanity towards the lawless and harsh wilderness.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'We have declared before that it is not only expedient but necessary for a prince to take care his foundations be good, otherwise his fabric will be sure to fail'. Considered one of the first works of modern philosophy, Machiavelli's The Prince is an intense study on the nature of power and the course it should take when ruling a country and expresses the author's strong and unyielding ideals and beliefs on using force rather than law to achieve your aims. Responsible for the widely-used phrase 'Machiavellian', with all of its negative connotations, his extreme treatise remains a classic text to this day.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. '"For", said he, "there never was nor is there one chaste woman upon the face of earth". A collection of Persian, Arabian and Indian tales dating from the 9th century, Sir Richard Burton's most well-known translation of Arabian Nights brings together ancient folklore and stories passed down from generation to generation. Featuring tales about love, history, tragedy and comedy as well as fables and fairy tales, this edition remains a well-loved collection of exotic and evocative stories. Fantastical and curious customs are bought to life by Burton's translation in stories such as 'The Lovers of Bassorah', 'The Concubine of Al-Maamun' and 'The Hunchback's Tale'.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players'. Featuring Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's most likeable and strong female protagonists, As You Like It is a comedic play centred around concealed identity, love, exile and artifice. Banished from the court by her uncle, Rosalind flees to the forest with her cousin Celia and her jester, joining her already exiled father, and disguising herself as a boy. In the guise of a young man, she instructs her would-be lover Orlando in the ways of love and in doing so allows Shakespeare to explore the dynamics of the city and the country as well as the sexual politics of the time.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!' Epic and tragic in its scope, King Lear explores a king's demise into madness and insanity when he is betrayed by two of his manipulative and scheming daughters. It is Cordelia, the third and only daughter who refuses to flatter her father to deceive, who is banished from the kingdom, leading to dramatic and tumultuous events.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceabl'. One of Shakespeare's most witty and enjoyable comedies, Much Ado About Nothing is a play that explores courtship, romance and marriage through a number of relationships. Most famously, that of the irrepressible Beatrice and Benedick as they trade their wits against one another, criticising the notion or marriage, yet slowly falling in love with one another as they do so.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep'. Magical and dreamlike in its tone, Shakespeare's The Tempest begins with a storm of epic proportions and a shipwreck. Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter. Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so, Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing 'men' from 'monsters', and the realities of justice.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die'. A comedic romance of mistaken identity, Twelfth Night begins with a shipwreck, splitting up Viola and her twin brother, Sebastian. Alone in a strange land, Viola disguises herself as a male servant, Cesario, in order to work for the Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with Lady Olivia, but it is Cesario that Olivia falls for. A farcical tale of misplaced love, confusion, gender-swapping and aspiration, Twelfth Night remains one of Shakespeare's best-loved and inventive comedies.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Greedily she engorged without restraint, And knew not eating death', Milton's Paradise Lost is a poem of epic proportions that tells of Satan's attempts to mislead Eve into disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, by eating from the tree of knowledge. His interpretation of the biblical story of Genesis is vivid and intense in its language, justifying the actions of God to men. In his sequel poem, Paradise Regained, Milton shows Satan trying to seduce Jesus in a similar way to Eve, but ultimately failing as Jesus remains steadfast.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.' Living in Ancient Greece in the 5th Century BC, Aesop was said to be a slave and story-teller. His much-loved, enduring fables are revered the world over and remain popular as moral tales for children. With infamous vignettes, such as the race between the hare and the tortoise, the vain jackdaw, and the wolf in sheep's clothing, the themes of the fables remain as fresh today as when they were first told and give an insight into the Ancient Greek world.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Clanless, lawless, homeless is he who is in love with civil war, that brutal ferocious thing.' The epic poem The Iliad begins nine years after the beginning of the Trojan War and describes the great warrior Achilles and the battles and events that take place as he quarrels with the King Agamemnon. Attributed to Homer, The Iliad, along with The Odyssey, is still revered today as the oldest and finest example of Western Literature.