Month: February 2024

The War of the Worlds [Large Print]

The War of the Worlds
The Complete & Unabridged Original Classic
by H. G. Wells

This tale involves the theme of humanity coming into conflict with strange alien societies, in this case the invasion of the earth by hostile Martians. Wells would revisit this theme, in the context of the encounter between human explorers and the native inhabitants, in The First Men in the Moon. A common theme in the science fiction genre, these tales by Wells represent two of the earliest and most influential such stories. But unlike so many of the similar stories that have followed, Wells did not posit either the innate superiority of humanity or man’s scientific achievements as the earth’s salvation. Rather, Wells’ story portrays humanity as more or less at the mercy of forces beyond its control, reflecting an underlying fear that scientific discovery and progress might not make man the unchallenged master of the universe after all. Continue reading “The War of the Worlds [Large Print]”

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Large Print]

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Large Print Unabridged Edition
by Robert Louis Stevenson

This quality large print edition is not a machine-scan or computer-generated reproduction of an older version. It has been edited and formatted by human editors and contains the complete and unabridged original classic version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s macabre tale, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, printed on heavy, bright white paper in a 6″x9″ format, with a fully laminated full-color cover featuring an original design.

Treasure Island (1883) was Robert Louis Stevenson’s first book-length work of fiction. It brought him widespread popularity and was one of the era’s most widely read books. With the publication of Kidnapped Stevenson came to be thought of as a children’s writer, which made the appearance of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde all the more startling. Continue reading “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [Large Print]”

The Circular Staircase [Large Print]

The Circular Staircase
Unabridged Large Print Edition
by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Circular Staircase…

“This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous. . .”

And so begins The Circular Staircase, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s classic mystery tale featuring a bank failure, a murder, mysterious intruders, a kidnapping, arson and a characteristically complex plot which twists and turns like the circular staircase that figures so prominently, and ominously, in setting the scene for a series of mysterious events. Continue reading “The Circular Staircase [Large Print]”

The First Men in the Moon [Large Print]

The First Men in the Moon
The Complete & Unabridged Original Classic
by H. G. Wells

This story, an early and influential tale of humans traveling through space, involves the theme of humanity coming into conflict with alien societies, in this case the encounter between human explorers and the native inhabitants of the moon. Wells had previously considered this theme, in the context of the invasion of the earth by hostile Martians, in The War of the Worlds. A common theme in the science fiction genre, these tales by Wells represent two of the earliest and most influential such stories. But unlike so many of the similar stories that have followed, Wells did not indulge assumptions of the innate superiority of humanity or man’s scientific achievements. Rather, Wells portrays humanity as engaged in a struggle with forces beyond its control, reflecting an underlying fear that scientific discovery and progress might not make man the unchallenged master of the universe after all. Continue reading “The First Men in the Moon [Large Print]”

The Lost World [Large Print]

The Lost World
Unabridged Large Print Edition
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World…

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930) is known the world over as the creator of the famous consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. To a lesser extent, his irascible Professor Challenger is known to generations of readers. Continue reading “The Lost World [Large Print]”

The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground [Large Print]

The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground
Unabridged Large Print Edition
by James Fenimore Cooper
Foreword by Nathaniel Waring Barnes

With the publication of “The Spy” in 1821, James Fenimore Cooper became an international figure and the first authentic American novelist, free of the forms and conventions of the British fiction of the day. In a writing career spanning thirty years, over thirty novels and an extensive body of lesser works, with “The Leatherstocking Tales” he became the first great interpreter of the American experience, chronicling the adventures of the indomitable Natty Bumppo, known variously as “Hawkeye,” “Deerslayer,” “Pathfinder,” “Leatherstocking” and other names, from the colonial Indian wars through the early expansion into the vast western plains. Continue reading “The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground [Large Print]”

The Thirty-Nine Steps [Large Print]

The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Complete & Unabridged Large Print Classic Edition
by Sir John Buchan

If you know The Thirty-Nine Steps from the movie version, you don’t know the real story…

Published in 1915, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic espionage thriller, complete with secret codes, ruthless foreign agents, unexpected coincidences and chance encounters, in which “ordinary guy” Richard Hannay finds himself embroiled in an effort to thwart a network of German spies on the eve of WWI. The first in a series of novels featuring Hannay, who would soon be pitted against the Turks during World War I in “Greenmantle” (1916) and gangsters in subsequent tales, Alfred Hitchcock directed a well-known film adaptation in 1935 but was forced by Britain’s political stance at the time to scrub all references to Germany, substantially altering the original story. Continue reading “The Thirty-Nine Steps [Large Print]”

The Turn of the Screw [Large Print]

The Turn of the Screw
Large Print Unabridged Edition
by Henry James

The Turn of the Screw, a novella-length work first published together with another story in 1898 in a volume titled The Two Magics, is Henry James’ best-known work today. A haunting tale about ghosts and the struggle for the souls of two children, with Gothic atmospherics, including old and mysterious buildings and the use of light and darkness in setting moods for certain scenes, the work displays some of James’ characteristic and innovative style and method. Continue reading “The Turn of the Screw [Large Print]”