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The year is 1793, the darkest days of the French revolution, and little Charles-Léon is ill. The delicate son of Louise and Bastien de Croissy is recommended country air, but travel permits are needed - and impossible to come by. Louise's friend, Josette, believes she knows a way out. For Josette is convinced that her hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel, will come to their rescue. She refuses to believe that he only exists in her imagination. 'I say that the Scarlet Pimpernel can do anything! And I mean to get in touch with him,' she vows, and sets forth into the Paris streets... -
Written in 1913, this hefty novel commences: "I was an unwanted child - unwanted as a girl at all events. Father Dan Donovan, our parish priest, has told me all about it. I was born in October. It had been raining heavily all day long. The rain was beating hard against the front of our house and running in rivers down the window panes. Towards four in the afternoon the wind rose and then the yellow leaves of the chestnuts in the long drive rustled noisily, and the sea, which is a mile away, moaned like a dog in pain." Mary O'Neill, unwanted by her wealthy father for not being a boy, is married off to an impoverished - yet titled - man. Mary is determined to try and love her husband - she may yet please her father - but then she meets a real gentleman, in every sense of the word, and is torn between her true feelings, duty and her marriage vows. -
Volume 1 contains some of Poe's better-known and many of his lesser-known tales, including: The Gold-Bug; The Adventure of One Hans Pfaall; The Balloon Hoax; Von Kemelen And His Discovery; Mesmeric Revelation; The Facts In The Case Of M.Valdemar; MS. Found In A Bottle; A Descent Into The Maelstrom; The Black Cat; The Fall Of The House Of Usher; The Pit And The Pendulum; The Thousand-And-Second Tale Of Scheherazade; The Premature Burial; The Masque Of The Red Death; The Cask Of Amontillado; The Imp Of The Perverse; The Island Of The Fay; The Oval Portrait; The Assignation; The Tell-Tale Heart; The Domain Of Arnheim; Landor's Cottage; William Wilson; Berenice; Eleonora; Ligeia; Morella, Metzgengerstein; The Murders In The Rue Morgue; The Mystery Of Marie Roget; The Purloined Letter. -
The word freak can easily conjure up the image of a squalid Victorian side show exhibit; yet behind the peep-show curtains, the medical textbooks and screaming headlines, these are people who were thrust into a prying, probing limelight because they were different. In this volume: John Merrick, the Elephant Man; Tony Albarran, the Elephant Boy; Maurice Tillet; David Lopez, the 'Devil Boy'; Alice, The Faceless Child; Helen Keller, who possessed the ability of 'eyeless sight'; Matthew Manning, who progressed from bending cutlery and automatic writing to psychic healing; Greta and Freda Chaplin, who spent 20 years in pursuit of the love of a lorry driver; Louise, the Four Legged Woman; Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, who married and lived with their husbands successfully, as well as featuring in Tod Browning's famous film Freaks; Norman Green, the Human Mole who lived beneath his family's home for eight years unbeknownst to all except his wife; wild children and many more. Black and white photographs. -
From the Author's Note: The stories in this volume record happenings in men's lives which interested me during years of wandering among the bushmen and natives of Cape York Pensinsula; the pearlers, trochus and beche-de-mer getters of the Coral Sea; the native islanders of Torres Strait; the beach-combers of the Great Barrier Reef...with two exceptions all are transcripts of fact or are largely based on fact...I hope Colonel Woodman, Bert Vigden of Thursday Island, Bert Jardine of Somerset and others will not mind their names being mentioned. My old mate Dick Welch, I know, will not; neither will "Scandalous" Graham. "Scandalous" may swear a lot and say harsh things about me, then quietly show the book in almost every shearing shed in New South Wales and Queensland, That is, if he's "out of trouble." It doesn't get any better than that!
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This is the life of a Canadian trapper in the early 1800s. Charlie Kennedy lives in the arctic colony known as the Red River Settlement with Indians, Scotsmen, and French-Canadian settlers. His father, an old fur trader, hopes to convince his son to become a clerk by recounting the dangers of the trapper’s life, but the stories only inspire the boy more to explore the vast Canadian wilderness. A variety of circumstances lead to Charlie trapping in the vast forests, on a journey with voyagers down perilous rivers, and surviving all sorts of scrapes and adventures with a new acquaintance, Jacques Caradoc, and an Indian named Red Feather. Many of Charlie’s exploits are taken from the real-life experiences of R.M. Ballantyne’s own time with the Hudson Bay Company in Canada. Just as Ballantyne had done, Charlie learns to shoot mercury from his rifle through a two inch board in 39 degree below zero temperatures. Discover the strenuous and vigorous life of a trapper through the eyes of Charlie and his friends. -
An A-Z of eccentrics and eccentricities for teenagers. Featuring: the artist who exhibited an exploding bull; the Russian admiral who invented the circular battleship; the Duchess who rode through London in a boat on wheels; the Marquis who erected a tombstone to his leg and many more. A real collection of eccentrics, nutters, enthusiasts and ideas-people - and all crazy in the best possible way. -
Things To Come: H.G. Wells
$20.00Wells' own novelisation of the 1935 film inspired by The Shape of Things To Come. When Dr Philip Raven, an intellectual working for the League of Nations, dies in 1930 he leaves behind a powerful legacy - an unpublished 'dream book'. Inspired by visions he has experienced for many years, it appears to be a book written far into the future: a history of humanity from the date of his death up to 2105. The Shape Of Things To Come provides this history of the future, an account that was in some ways remarkably prescient - predicting climatic disaster and sweeping cultural changes, the Second World War, the rise of chemical warfare and political instabilities in the Middle East. -
Trying to be remarkable is painful whereas trying to be remembered is simply humiliating. The Sandman believes that in this, his second book, he has captured his fourth most humiliating experience to date. The Sandman (real name Steve Abbott), a noted radio host and comedian on Triple J Radio, is a master of ironic - often dubious - social adaptations. His methods for fitting in can be plausible and ridiculous at the same time and as a misfit with an overwhelming desire to please, can capture the essence of Australian beach culture. -
A drama takes place in a small town in Northern England following the life of a young doctor who has returned from the Congo to take over his uncle's practice. Very likely to have been based on Wallace's own time in the Congo reporting on the brutality and violence of Belgian colonialism, this novel follows the young doctor as he fights the intolerance, ignorance and religious fanaticism of his local townsfolk. -
For eleven-year-old Badge the world is bounded by the high ridges that enclose his valley home, deep in the heart of Tasmania. He delights in the wild life that surrounds him, and cares little for the world Outside. But one day visitors arrive from Outside - Russ, a splendid cousin from America, and his friend Dr Heftman, who have come to study the local natural history: and they bring a new interest into Badge's life. He had once been shown one of the country's rarest animals, the nearly extinct Tasmanian tiger, coming to a pool to drink: and he had promised never to reveal its whereabouts. But, carried away by the admiration of his cousin, he tells the secret: and then faces a terrible dilemma, for now Russ will want to carry the rare animal away from the free life of the wilds into captivity. -
Considered a must for every child's Christmas stocking. Tiger Tim's annual has stories, games, puzzles, cartoons, jokes and riddles - something for all ages and just the thing to keep children occupied in the post-Christmas aftermath, especially in England. -
A thrilling story of a strange caravan - a group of British colonists in the Raj travel in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant in 1867 - that penetrates the Terai, the immense forest that stretches across India at the foot of the mighty Himalayas. In this forest wild men, wilder beasts and even more adventures are encountered in the aftermath of the Sepoy rebellion. -
A story of sibling devotion told from The Mill On The Floss. This excerpt of Tom and Maggie's early years was first published as a stand-alone in 1909. Little Maggie worships Tom and wants his approval - but Tom is unpredictable; sometimes he acts as if he loves Maggie and other times he is very unpleasant to her. Tom is sent to school to get a proper education and Maggie misses him greatly. But when his school days are done, Tom may have learnt to love his studies; he has made a very good friend; and Maggie is becoming a young lady. -
No collection of nautical fiction would be complete without the inclusion of Tom Cringle's Log, a novel that - together with the works of Marryat - became a cornerstone of the genre on its publication some 150 years ago. Told in an irresistible and immediate style, the story follows the life of young midshipman Tom Cringle: his imprisonment in occupied Germany by Napoleon's forces, his West Indian cruise on the Torch, a British man-of-war, his daring escape from West Indian pirates and his ultimate promotion to the officer ranks. Edited by Ernest Rhys. -
Tony: Patrick Dennis
$25.00Tony makes an impression wherever he goes - he knows all the right people, wears all the right clothes, is seen in all the right places and is always in the society columns. Yet there are some odd stories also circulating...a messy divorce case...blackmail and Mob involvement...a very peculiar wedding...He's a rogue, a rascal and a reprobate. Patrick Dennis tells a good story and has a sly dig at society pretensions and the cult of so-called celebrity at the same time. -
The hilarious story of how Graham 'Screw' Turner established a bus touring company using old converted double-decker buses. From humble beginnings in London 1973, Screw, together with a crew of colonial larrikins, builds up a fleet of 100 deckers. Screw, Spy, Bill Speaking, Wombat. Filthy, Grilly, Budgie, the mysterious Graham James Lloyd and other incorrigible crew members lead their unsuspecting punters on riotous escapades to the far flung, exotic corners of the world. Today, Graham 'Screw' Turner is one of Australia's wealthiest men and is the CEO of Flight Centre, which he began in the 1980s. With caricatures by Bill Leak and cartoons by Warren Brown. Illustrated with black and white photographs and newspaper clippings. -
Can one think of Torquay without the image of Basil Fawlty cropping up? This charming guide book covers not only the Torquay of 1920 but also delves into history, folklore and local customs. With beautiful colour plate illustrations by Frederick J. Widgery. Reprinted in 2016.
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