Classic Literature
From To Kill a Mockingbird to Ulysses, from Great Expectations to Frankenstein, we can help you find the classic literature books you are looking for. As the world's largest independent marketplace for new, used and rare books, you always get the best in service and value when you buy from Biblio.com, and all of your purchases are backed by our return guarantee.
Top Sellers in Classic Literature
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with serious issues of rape and racial inequality.
The Catcher In the Rye
by J D Salinger
Published in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye has become a common part of high school and college curricula throughout the English-speaking world and has been translated into all major languages. Since its publication with a $3.00 sticker, it has reportedly sold more than 65 million copies. The novel's antihero, Holden Caulfield, has become a cultural icon for teenage rebellion. Due to its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst, it has frequently been...
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The Great Gatsby
by F Scott Fitzgerald
Written in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is widely
considered to be one of the author’s greatest works. Set in New York City and
Long Island during the Roaring Twenties, the focus of the story is (of course)
its title character, Jay Gatsby, and his unswerving desire to be reunited with
Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. However, Nick Carraway,
who happens to be both Gatsby’s neighbor and Daisy’s cousin, narrates Gatsby's journey
from poverty to wealth, into the... Read more about this item
considered to be one of the author’s greatest works. Set in New York City and
Long Island during the Roaring Twenties, the focus of the story is (of course)
its title character, Jay Gatsby, and his unswerving desire to be reunited with
Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. However, Nick Carraway,
who happens to be both Gatsby’s neighbor and Daisy’s cousin, narrates Gatsby's journey
from poverty to wealth, into the... Read more about this item
The Grapes Of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
stands as a pivotal piece of American literature. The story follows
the Joad family (and thousands of others) as they are driven from the
Oklahoma farm where they are sharecroppers during the Great
Depression. The drought, economic hardship, and changes in financial
and agricultural industries send them searching for dignity and
honest work in the bountiful state of California.
The novel earned Steinbeck the Pulitzer
Prize for fiction in 1940, and inspired the... Read more about this item
stands as a pivotal piece of American literature. The story follows
the Joad family (and thousands of others) as they are driven from the
Oklahoma farm where they are sharecroppers during the Great
Depression. The drought, economic hardship, and changes in financial
and agricultural industries send them searching for dignity and
honest work in the bountiful state of California.
The novel earned Steinbeck the Pulitzer
Prize for fiction in 1940, and inspired the... Read more about this item
The Old Man and The Sea
by Ernest Hemingway
This novella, only 140 pages, was first
printed in its entirety in Life Magazine on September 1, 1952. It inspired a buying frenzy - selling over five million copies of the
magazine in just two days!
The story about an aging Cuban
fisherman wrangling a large marlin in the gulf stream was written in
1951 in Cuba and published in 1952. In 1953, it won the Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction and led to Hemingway's nomination for the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1954.
Man's struggle against nature is the... Read more about this item
printed in its entirety in Life Magazine on September 1, 1952. It inspired a buying frenzy - selling over five million copies of the
magazine in just two days!
The story about an aging Cuban
fisherman wrangling a large marlin in the gulf stream was written in
1951 in Cuba and published in 1952. In 1953, it won the Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction and led to Hemingway's nomination for the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1954.
Man's struggle against nature is the... Read more about this item
Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. This was Rand's fourth, longest and last novel, and she considered it her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. As indicated by its working title The Strike, the book explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society.
Tuesdays With Morrie
by Mitch Albom
Tuesdays with Morrie is a 1997 non-fiction book by American writer Mitch Albom. The story was later adapted by Thomas Rickman into a TV movie of the same name directed by Mick Jackson, which aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Hank Azaria. It tells the true story of sociologist Morrie Schwartz and his relationship with his students. Both the film and the book chronicle the lessons about life that Mitch learns from his professor, who is dying. After five years in hardcover, it was released as a trade...
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Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice is the second novel by English author Jane Austen, after Sense and Sensibility. First published on 28 January 1813, Austen sold the copyright for just £110. Its manuscript was initially written between 1796 and 1797 in Steventon, Hampshire, where Austen lived in the rectory. Originally called First Impressions, it was never published under that title, and in following revisions it was retitled Pride and Prejudice. It was first published anonymously. A...
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Night
by Elie Wiesel
Original German Title: Un di Velt Hot Geshvign
In Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a pious teenager is guilt-ridden because he survived the Nzai death camps, and yet his family was killed. He questions his faith, the loss of his innocense, and the nature of evil that can allow such genocide to occur.
Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
“For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.”
In Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a pious teenager is guilt-ridden because he survived the Nzai death camps, and yet his family was killed. He questions his faith, the loss of his innocense, and the nature of evil that can allow such genocide to occur.
Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
“For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.”
Gone With the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell only published one complete novel, but it was quite the book - Gone With the Wind earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and National Book Award for 1936. The epic romance tale set in and around Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War has remained a bestseller, even before the equally popular film starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh was made in 1939.
Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway
Based on real events and acquaintances of Hemingway, Sun Also Rises is about American and English expats in Pamplona.
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California.An intimate portrait of two men who cherish the slim bond between them and the dream they share in a world marred by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. Clinging to each other in their loneliness and alienation, George and his simple-minded...
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Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart is a 1958 English-language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African novels written in English to receive global critical acclaim. The title of the novel comes from William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming".
Lord Of the Flies
by William Golding
Even though Lord of the Flies
is a frequent submission on any banned books list, many high school
students are first introduced to this classic piece of literature in
their freshman English class. Using very young protagonists set in a
harsh, wild environment, author William Golding's disturbing and
engaging novel addresses the themes of human nature and personal
welfare, often resulting in violence and murder. Despite its
controversial subject matter, it is often considered one of the best
novels... Read more about this item
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre is a famous and influential novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre, an Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell". Orphaned as a child, Jane felt like an outcast during her childhood. She was sent by her cruel aunt to a boarding school where she was met with further torment. After the devastating loss of a friend, she finds herself enrolled under a new headmaster at the Lowood School...
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Animal Farm
by George Orwell
Animal Farm is a dystopian novella by George Orwell. Published in England on 17 August 1945, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II. Orwell, a democratic socialist and a member of the Independent Labour Party for many years, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences with the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War.
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 (Ballantine Books, 1953) by Ray Bradbury is a dystopian novel that presents a future American society in which the masses are hedonistic and critical thought through reading is outlawed. Written in the early years of the Cold War, the novel is a critique of what Bradbury saw as issues in American society of the era. Bradbury combined two of his early short stories, "The Pedestrian" and "Bright Phoenix," into The Fireman, a novella published in the...
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In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
In Cold Blood is a nonfiction book by American author Truman Capote. The book details the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, and his wife and two of their children. When Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers were captured, he decided to travel to Kansas and write about the crime.
A Farewell To Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
Set during World War 1, Ernest Hemingway’s A
Farewell to Arms is the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving
as an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and his love affair with an English
nurse named Catherine Barkley. The novel is semi-autobiographical, based on
Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the war.
While some assume the title of the work to be taken from a poem by 16th century
English dramatist George Peele, others believe it to be a simple pun... Read more about this item
Farewell to Arms is the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving
as an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and his love affair with an English
nurse named Catherine Barkley. The novel is semi-autobiographical, based on
Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the war.
While some assume the title of the work to be taken from a poem by 16th century
English dramatist George Peele, others believe it to be a simple pun... Read more about this item
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights, the only book written by Emily Brontë, and originally published in 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, is a classic work of English literature. The Brontë sisters are known for classical and important literature, such as Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë) and Agnes Grey (by Anne Brontë). The first edition of Wuthering Heights was first published in three volumes, the first two composed of Wuthering Heights, with the third volume containing Anne...
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The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Commonly named among the Great American novels, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is generally regarded as the
sequel to his earlier novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; however, in
Huckleberry Finn, Twain focused increasingly on the institution of
slavery and the South. Narrated by Huckleberry “Huck” Finn in Southern
antebellum vernacular, the novel gives vivid descriptions of people and
daily life along the Mississippi River while following the adventure of
Huck and... Read more about this item
Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, is generally regarded as the
sequel to his earlier novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; however, in
Huckleberry Finn, Twain focused increasingly on the institution of
slavery and the South. Narrated by Huckleberry “Huck” Finn in Southern
antebellum vernacular, the novel gives vivid descriptions of people and
daily life along the Mississippi River while following the adventure of
Huck and... Read more about this item
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
Many consider For Whom the Bell Tolls to be author Ernest Hemingway’s finest work. Inspired by Hemingway’s time as a war correspondent for The North American Newspaper Alliance during the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls is a stark and brutal commentary on the nature of war, sacrifice, and death. In fact, many believe his work is among the best depictions of the Spanish Civil War written. As with some of Hemingway’s other work, many of the characters, experiences, and...
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel and the best-known work by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston wrote the novel in a reported seven weeks while visited Haiti. Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel garnered attention and controversy at the time of its publication but fell out of print for a number of years. Its popularity was resurrected in the 1970s by an article in Ms. Magazine by Alice Walker "Looking for Zora." Their Eyes Were Watching...
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Ulysses
by James Joyce
Ulysses is a modernist novel by James Joyce. It was first
serialized in The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920 and later
published by Shakespeare and Company in 1922. Originally, Joyce conceived of
Ulysses as a short story to be included in Dubliners, but decided instead to
publish it as a long novel, situated as a sort of sequel to A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man, picking up Stephen Dedalus’s life over a year later.
Ulysses takes place on a single day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin -... Read more about this item
serialized in The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920 and later
published by Shakespeare and Company in 1922. Originally, Joyce conceived of
Ulysses as a short story to be included in Dubliners, but decided instead to
publish it as a long novel, situated as a sort of sequel to A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man, picking up Stephen Dedalus’s life over a year later.
Ulysses takes place on a single day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin -... Read more about this item
Classic Literature Books & Ephemera
Great Expectations
by Dickens, Charles
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens first serialised in All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It is regarded as one of his greatest and most sophisticated novels, and is one of his most enduringly popular novels; having been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times.
A Tale Of Two Cities
by Dickens, Charles
Written by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel that follows Manette, a French doctor imprisoned for 18 long years in Paris’s Bastille. Following his release, he goes to live in London with his daughter Lucie, who had never met him and believed him to be dead. Set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, A Tale of Two Cities is a fictitious story that falls both into the historical and adventure genres. The famous book is one of the...
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Moby Dick
by Melville, Herman
Melville's classic was first published in England as three volumes titled The Whale in October 1851. Slow sales of Melville's previously books convinced Publisher L. Richard Bentley to reduce the printing to only 500 copies, and of that, only 300 sold in the first 4 months. The remaining unbound sheets were bound in a cheaper casing in 1852, and in 1853 there were still enough remaining sheets to again bind into an even cheaper edition.Melville changed the title to Moby Dick a month later, November 1851,...
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Gulliver's Travels
by Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships, is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. The book became tremendously popular as soon as it was published.
Oliver Twist
by Dickens, Charles
Oliver Twist, published in 1838, became one of English writer Charles Dickens's better-known stories and was the first Victorian novel with a child protagonist. Oliver Twist (Parish Boy's Progress) focuses on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets the "Artful Dodger", a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by an elderly criminal Fagin. The book shows an unromantic...
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Treasure Island
by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story was originally serialised in the children's magazine Young Folks under the title The Sea Cook over a period of several months from 1881-82.Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is the classic pirate tale, known for its superb atmosphere, character and action. It is one of the most frequently dramatised of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perception of...
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David Copperfield
by Dickens, Charles
"The most perfect of all the Dickens novels' Virginia WoolfWhen David Copperfield escapes from the cruelty of his childhood home, he embarks on a journey to adulthood which will lead him through comedy and tragedy, love and heartbreak and friendship and betrayal. Over the course of his adventures, David meets an array of eccentric characters and learns hard lessons about the world before he finally discovers true happiness.
The Odyssey
by Homer
Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning new modern-verse translation. "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy." So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey, which Jasper...
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The Scarlet Letter
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance (1850) is considered the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'masterwork.' A work of historical fiction set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Puritan settlement of 1642-1949 itells the story of Hester Prynne, who after having a child as a result of an extra-marital affair attempts to live a life of repentance and dignity although she is marked by having to wear a Scarlett A on her person. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and...
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The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer
by Twain, Mark
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, is a popular 1876 novel about a young boy growing up in the antebellum South on the Mississippi River in the town of St. Petersberg, based on the town of Hannibal, Missouri.
A Christmas Carol
by Dickens, Charles
The full title of Charles Dickens' most famous work is technically A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas. This novella was published on December 19, 1843, and the first edition run of 6000 copies were sold out by Christmas Eve of that year. The publication of the first edition was fraught with complications, and even though the book was received to positive reviews, profits of the book fell far below Dickens' expectations, and the financial strain caused rifts between Dickens and...
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Emma
by Austen, Jane
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a comic novel about the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively 'comedy of manners' among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.
Kidnapped
by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Considered one of Robert Louis Stevensn's best works, Kidnapped is a historical fiction adventure novel, first published in Young Folks magazine from May to July 1886. The novel is considered a companion to Stevenson's Treasure Island. A Sequel, Catriona, was published in 1893.The full title of the book is Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; his...
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Robinson Crusoe
by Defoe, Daniel
Robinson Crusoe was first published in April 1719, in London. In the beginning, the story was published as an autobiography, but it was later established that the author was Daniel Defoe. The novel became an instant classic, with four editions printed in the first year of publication. Often called the first English novel, it follows the story of Robinson Crusoe, a man marooned on an island. Crusoe’s adventure-packed story of survival started the genre of realistic fiction and inspired a slew of other...
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The Last Of the Mohicans
by Cooper, James Fenimore
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 by James Fenimoore Cooper is the second and best-known book of his Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy. Like the rest of the books in the series, the story follows the adventures of Natty Bumppo, nicknamed “Hawkeye” by his Native American friends. Set in 1757 in the American wilderness that would become New York State, The Last of the Mohicans takes place during the Seven Years' War (known in America as the French and Indian War). The book is widely read in...
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Frankenstein
by Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a novel written by Mary Shelley. Shelley started writing Frankenstein when she was 18 and finished when she was 19. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in 1831.
