This selection brings together the best prose writings of the great early nineteenth-century essayist Charles Lamb, whose shrewd wit and convivial style have endeared him to generations of readers. These pieces include early discussions of Hogarth and Shakespeare; masterly essays written under the pen-name 'Elia' that range over such subjects as drunkenness, witches, dreams, marriage and the joy of roast pig; and letters to Lamb's circle of contemporaries, among them Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Wryly amused by the world, allusive, searching and endlessly inventive, these...

An autobiography by a World War II Fleet Air Arm Swordfish pilot. Charles Lamb fought and survived an exceptional war flying the obsolete and inelegant Fleet Air Arm biplane, the 90-knot Fairey Swordfish, popularly known as the Stringbag.

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb was written to be an 'introduction to the study of Shakespeare', but are much more entertaining than that. All of Shakespeare's best-loved plays, comic and tragic, are retold in a clear and robust style, and their literary quality has made them popular and sought-after ever since their first publication in 1807.

This edition contains the delightful pen-and-ink drawings of Arthur Rackham.

According to an ancient Greek myth, Ulysses and his companions wandered while making their way back from Troy after the Grecians had destroyed that renowned Asian city. After a ten-year hiatus, he was driven by the need to see his wife and Ithaca once again. Because of this, he turned down the goddess Calypso's invitations to stay with her and share in her immortality on the lovely island. Ulysses provided a striking illustration of wedded love as well as a deserving illustration of how precious his nation is to every good man.But a life that would never end in shame has less allure for a...