Classics (74)

Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

ISBN: 9781841353586

Author: Val Biro    Publisher: Award Publications

Retold and illustrated by Val Biro, this lavish edition contains some of Hans Christian Andersen's best-loved stories: The Wild Swan, Dan the Dunce, The Emperor...


Retold and illustrated by Val Biro, this lavish edition contains some of Hans Christian Andersen's best-loved stories: The Wild Swan, Dan the Dunce, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Flying Trunk, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Tin Soldier, The Nightingale and Thumbelina.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 198


Dimensions: 208 x 270 mm


$29.99
The Chimes

ISBN: 9781843915386

Author: Charles Dickens    Publisher: Hesperus Press

In the second of his series of Christmas books, Charles Dickens wrote The Chimes one year after A Christmas Carol. Tackling familiar themes of redemption, socia...


In the second of his series of Christmas books, Charles Dickens wrote The Chimes one year after A Christmas Carol. Tackling familiar themes of redemption, social injustice and family, it is a story of hope and contemplation and is a moving festive read well worth discovering. As Trotty's working day as a lowly messenger draws to a close, his daughter, Meg, arrives with her fiance Richard in tow, and they proudly announce their wedding for the following day. This is cause for celebration of course, although their happiness is tempered by the comments of an alderman and other well-off citizens on the rights of the poor to marry. During the night, Trotty hears the chimes of a church bell and ventures out to climb the belltower. At the top he is greeted by goblins who tell him that he died during the climb and must now spend his time watching his friends and family live out their lives. What he witnesses makes for grim viewing: Richard turns to drink and dies penniless, leaving a widowed Meg to cope with bringing up their child; Trotty's friend Will is in and out of prison, and Will's daughter Lilian ends up falling into prostitution. But the worst is yet to come. Destitute and desperate, Meg contemplates drowning herself and her young child. Wild with fear, Trotty cries out that he has learnt his lesson and suddenly his daughter is able to see him. At the last second, he rescues her from the brink of destruction. Trotty wakes as if from a dream to the bells chiming out the beginning of a new year, and finds that no time has passed and it is New Year's Day. But as he sees his daughter cheerfully preparing for her wedding day, he is baffled as to whether this is just a dream within a dream.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 160


Publication Date: 20-11-2014


Tag: Classics
$21.99
Animal Farm

ISBN: 9781840228038

Author: George Orwell    Publisher: Wordsworth Editions

To George Orwell, Joseph Stalin was always a "disgusting murderer". But, when the Soviet Union became Britain's ally against Nazi Germany, this became an uncomf...


To George Orwell, Joseph Stalin was always a "disgusting murderer". But, when the Soviet Union became Britain's ally against Nazi Germany, this became an uncomfortable truth that few wanted to hear. Orwell felt an urgent need to forcefully remind people of Stalin's brutality. An essay would never reach a wide audience: a novel would take too long to write. He hit on the inspired idea of combining the moralism of the 'beast fable' with the satire of Gulliver's Travels. A group of farmyard animals overthrow their human masters. Their revolution is inspired by ideals of liberty and equality, but when Napoleon the pig takes command, he creates a new tyranny worse than the old. Published in 1945, this little book became a seminal text in the emerging 'cold war' (a phrase Orwell coined). Today, Animal Farm remains a powerful fable about the nature of tyranny which applies for all ages.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 216


Dimensions: 127 x 197 x 15 mm


Publication Date: 01-01-1945


$9.99
Nineteen Eighty Four

ISBN: 9781840228021

Author: George Orwell    Publisher: Wordsworth Editions

The Thought Police, doublethink, Newspeak, Big Brother - '1984' itself: these terms and concepts are central to our thinking about freedom and its suppression. ...


The Thought Police, doublethink, Newspeak, Big Brother - '1984' itself: these terms and concepts are central to our thinking about freedom and its suppression. Yet they were newly created by George Orwell in 1949 as he conjured his dystopian vision of a totalitarian world. The principal characters are ordinary human beings like ourselves: Winston Smith and Julia, whose love is also an act of rebellion against the Party. Opposing them are the massed powers of the state. No-one is free from surveillance; the 'truth' is constantly altered; and Big Brother controls all. Even the simple act of keeping a diary is punishable by death. In Winston's battle to keep his freedom of thought, his powerful adversary O'Brien uses fear and pain to enter his very thought processes. Does 2+2=4? Or is it 5? We find out in Room 101. Nineteen Eighty-Four was Orwell's last novel; but the world he created is always with us, as we find within it a mirror for our own times and a warning for the future.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 385


Dimensions: 125 x 198 x 20 mm


Publication Date: 01-08-2021


$9.99
The Wind in the Willows

ISBN: 9781841358161

Author: Kenneth Grahame    Publisher: Award Publications

Kenneth Grahame's favourite children's classic, The Wind in the Willows, follows the adventures of unlikely friends Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger, brought to lif...


Kenneth Grahame's favourite children's classic, The Wind in the Willows, follows the adventures of unlikely friends Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger, brought to life with illustrations in the delightful, vintage style of Anne Grahame Johnstone.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 96


Dimensions: 215 x 280 mm


Publication Date: 25-08-2022


$29.99
Peter Pan and Wendy

ISBN: 9781841358154

Author: J M Barrie    Publisher: Award Publications

Acclaimed illustrator Robert Ingpen takes readers on a magical, unforgettable trip to Neverland in this sumptuous edition of the classic story, complete with a ...


Acclaimed illustrator Robert Ingpen takes readers on a magical, unforgettable trip to Neverland in this sumptuous edition of the classic story, complete with a foreword by the great-great grand nephew of J.M. Barrie himself. Like Peter Pan himself, Barrie's timeless tale never grows old, although it has captivated children of all ages for a century. Robert Ingpen's illustrations capture once more the fantastic adventures of Peter Pan and Wendy, the Lost Boys, Tinkerbell, and the wicked Captain Hook. This handsome volume is sure to find a treasured place in any home or library.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 96


Dimensions: 215 x 280 mm


Publication Date: 25-08-2022


$29.99
Alice In Wonderland

ISBN: 9781841358147

Author: Lewis Carroll    Publisher: Award Publications

Alice was just an ordinary girl - imaginative and curious and thirsting for adventure. She was an ordinary girl, that is, until she found herself instantly tran...


Alice was just an ordinary girl - imaginative and curious and thirsting for adventure. She was an ordinary girl, that is, until she found herself instantly transported to a place that was anything but ordinary. After diving down a rabbit hole, young Alice encounters a magical world ruled by a vicious Queen. It is a world where anything can happen; a world filled with a talking caterpillar, a puppy as big as a house, and a Cheshire cat that can disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye. Are these colorful characters real? And if so, how will Alice ever find her way back home? Beloved for more than a century, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is widely viewed as Lewis Carroll's masterpiece; a fantastic journey that will never be forgotten.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 96


Dimensions: 215 x 280 mm


Publication Date: 25-08-2022


$29.99
Diamonds and Toads

ISBN: 9780473480424

Author: Jo Paterson    Publisher: P J Paterson

From the original writings of The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Perrault and other master storytellers, this re­envisioned collection of 18 of our f...


From the original writings of The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Perrault and other master storytellers, this re­envisioned collection of 18 of our favourite fairy tales challenges outdated gender stereotypes and creates diverse new tales for every girl and boy - regardless of gender, skin colour or sexual orientation. In Diamonds and Toads, a brave princess fights her way through a forest of thorns to place a kiss on the sleeping Briar Rose. The Frog Prince's curse is ultimately undone by another prince who learns not to judge by outward appearances. And a young woman proves she is more than capable of using her wits to save her betrothed as the gender roles are reversed in Jorinda and Joringel. Richly illustrated by some of New Zealand's best loved illustrators and artists, this treasury is sure to become a favourite for a new generation of readers.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 204


Dimensions: 185 x 250 mm


Publication Date: 01-10-2019


$39.99
Ngaio Marsh's Hamlet - The 1943 Production Script

ISBN: 9781988503134

Authors: Ngaio Marsh, Polly Hoskins    Publisher: Canterbury University Press

Dame Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982), a distinguished University of Canterbury alumna, was one of the greatest crime writers of the twentieth century. Marsh was also ...


Dame Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982), a distinguished University of Canterbury alumna, was one of the greatest crime writers of the twentieth century. Marsh was also a gifted Shakespearean director, establishing her reputation in 1943 with the Canterbury University Drama Society modern-dress production of ‘Hamlet’. Fast-paced, with a deftly-cut script, and featuring especially commissioned incidental music by Douglas Lilburn, Ngaio Marsh’s production of ‘Hamlet’ was a hit with wartime audiences. Marsh’s 1943 ‘Hamlet’ production typescript is reproduced here for the first time, together with Lilburn’s previously unpublished music and a selection of archival photographs. An introductory essay by Polly Hoskins examines the staging of the production and the wartime context in which the play was performed, offering broader reflection on Marsh’s compositional approach, and a note from Robert Hoskins introduces Lilburn’s music. This edition makes the perfect starting point for enriching our understanding of Ngaio Marsh as a Shakespearean director and producer, and presents a fresh perspective on New Zealand’s theatre history.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 134


Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm


Publication Date: 01-09-2019


$29.99
My Favourite Brer Rabbit Stories

ISBN: 9781782703303

Author: Joel Chandler Harris    Publisher: Award Publications

A classic collection of 17 of Joel Chandler Harris’s classic tales of the adventures of the mischievous Brer Rabbit, and his friends Brer Fox, Brer Wolf and B...


A classic collection of 17 of Joel Chandler Harris’s classic tales of the adventures of the mischievous Brer Rabbit, and his friends Brer Fox, Brer Wolf and Brer Bear. Beautifully illustrated throughout by Rene Cloke in her delightfully vintage style.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 80


Dimensions: 195 x 260 mm


$19.99
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