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Beware the Cat (1533) is the earliest original piece of long prose fiction in English. It far surpasses in narrative sophistication such immediate predecessors as Elyot's Image of Governance or Borde's Scoggin's Jests. This edition provides a modernized text and identifies the pseudonymous author as William Baldwin, editor and principal author of Mirror for Magistrates (1599). “Delightfully odd and astonishingly complex…the last of Professor Ringler's many benefactions to Renaissance scholarship.”—Times Literary Supplement “Beware the Cat is a very cunning piece of work.”--New York Times Book Review “This text...richly deserves wider circulation, providing new light on the development of humanist narrative self-consciousness, and an arcane delight for cat-lovers.”--Review of English Studies “Beware the Cat is arguably the most enjoyable work to come out of the brief Reformist days of Edward VI, a satire that is by turns robust and sly, direct and wildly—I am tempted to say eccentrically—witty....One of the best things about the Ringler-Flachmann edition is the [appendix with its] definitive, if abbreviated, history of the English novel to 1558 and its annotated textual listing, with plot summaries, of earlier works of prose fiction in English; these...will be of immense use.”—Modern Philology 160 pages, 6 x 9, illus., paper |
| Forging Connections:
Women's Poetry from the Renaissance to Romanticism Essays by John Rogers, Helen Wilcox, Donna Landry, Margaret A. Doody, Susan J. Wolfson, John M. Anderson, and Stuart Curran on the way that women poets found their vocation, looking not only at individual poets such as Aemilia Lanyer, Margaret Cavendish, and Charlotte Smith; but also at how the vocation of woman poetess was perceived in other literature, especially eighteenth-century novels. All of the essays touch on the differences between male and female poetic vocation: the ways in which family, community, and forms of biological generation allowed women to situate their own vocational space and "line," separately from men's but often in dialogue with it. The first two essays, by John Rogers and Helen Wilcox, present a rich picture of Lanyer's self-initiation; through devotional verse, she at once "delivered to posterity a new literary tradition" (Rogers); and "slipped in the back door" (Wilcox). Donna Landry then explores the natural muse, which, she argues, inspired a particularly empathic view of flora and fauna that at the same time did not neglect scientific taxonomy; and Margaret Doody shows that women refused the male preoccupation with courtship and marriage, fashioning their own categories for a wider range of affections. Susan Wolfson and John Anderson show how Charlotte Smith consciously situated her poetry in relation to, but to the side of, the male-authored poetic and political traditions. Stuart Curran closes the volume by looking at the mother-daughter dyad in poetic inspiration, in terms of a metaphorical collaboration either of assimilation or reanimation. 180 pages, 7 x 10, illus., paper |
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"Image of that Horror": History, Prophecy, and the
Apocalypse in King Lear An innovative book that draws attention with force and clarity to the prophetic center and apocalyptic framework of King Lear. Wittreich demonstrates how Shakespeare mined scripture for analogies that pluralize the play's meaning and universalize its significance. In exploring the play's literary and cultural relations, this book addresses the larger question of King Lear's sources, genre, and Christian character. "An extraordinarily well-researched study that renews the reader's sense of the richness of King Lear, and of the critical tradition that it has spawned."—Modern Language Review 200 pages, 6 x 9, cloth |
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| Jack London:
One Hundred Years a Writer Ten leading experts on Jack London probe contradictions and controversies surrounding his life and work in this new book from the Huntington Library Press. The volume marks the centenary of London's first publications. The essays address questions that have long preoccupied readers of London, including seeming contradictions between his avowed socialism and unmistakable belief in individualism, and his use of both naturalism and romanticism. His handling of racial and sexual issues is also explored. Other topics include London and his first love, Anna Strunsky; fathers and sons in the short story "The House of Pride;" the short fiction of his late period; Martin Eden; and the novel The Little Lady of the Big House. Sixteen photographs from London's personal collection are featured in the book, including snapshots of him as an equestrian, mariner, traveler, and proponent of the physical culture movement. "This is an impressive collection. It comprises essays not only by some of the most eminent London scholars but also by 'new London voices.' All the contributions are first-rate, and every essay provides fresh new insights into the complex creations of one of America's greatest 'world authors,' one of those whose literary genius is only now . . . becoming fully recognized."—Earle Labor, Wilson Professor of American Literature, Centenary College of Louisiana "The eight essays in this tribute are well chosen and not of the cheap publish-or-perish ilk that dilutes that basis of academic discovery. . . . Most interesting of all is an essay by Sam Basket, who uses London himself as a text, then in turn reflects on the works through the character study."--CHOICE "Celebrating the centennial of London's authorial beginnings, this collection features essays by established London scholars, such as Sam Baskett and Earle Labor, as well as new voices in London studies. Essays explore aspects of London's life--his relationship with Anna Strunsky Walling, for example--and analyze his work, including short stories and two of his novels."--American Literature 224 pages, 6 x 9, 20 b&w illus., cloth |
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Jack London and the Klondike: The Genesis of an American Writer
In Jack London & the Klondike Franklin Walker presents for the first time an accurate and detailed account of the young London’s experiences in the famous gold rush that furnished the substance for his most successful books. His exciting winter in the Yukon is recreated through quotations from his fiction, travel diaries, and the testimony of his companions. First published in 1966, at a time when London was still regarded by many as little more than a writer of stories for children, this was to be the first of many studies of his outstanding contributions to literature. “This excellent study of London’s sortie to the Klondike illuminates the gap between London’s actual experience and his romantic pessimism.”—Times Literary Supplement “Walker’s account . . . reads as crisply as London’s fictional accounts of that period . . . An admirable biographical memoir and solid piece of literary detective work.”—San Francisco Chronicle “The fullest and most scholarly account of London’s life in the Klondike during 1897 and 1898 . . . an indispensable source for the study of London's life and work.”--Pacific Northwest Quarterly “From beginning to end, Jack London’s Klondike adventure lasted almost exactly a year; and it was, without question, the most significant--and to biographers the most tantalizing--year of his life.”--The American Book Collector 288 pages, 6 x 9, illus., paper |
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This book offers a fresh way of thinking about Milton and his writings by exploring the intimate and complex relation between an understanding of his poems and a deep understanding of their maker. "Recommended to all readers in search of a judicious and appealing evaluation of John Milton, Englishman, poet, and at length, human being."—English Studies "John Milton: The Inner Life is the product of a mature scholar's lifelong reflection on Milton. The subject matter is thus significant and intelligent. The style is lively, straightforward, and lucid. Thorpe brings to the study of Milton a breadth of general literary knowledge which is never paraded but which is pervasive in ways which enrich his understanding and ours. There are many good things to savor throughout, and the fifth chapter in particular is the best I remember on Milton's treatment of the natural world. This is an idealistic book, in the best sense, emphasizing basic human values, rather than the minutiae of technical scholarship, but it will attract wide scholarly attention, and I should think also from the general public of intelligent readers."--Roland Mushat Frye, University of Pennsylvania "A truly elegant and engaging book. Thorpe is a marvelous stylist, his prose crisp and lucid. And the individual chapters mesh wonderfully: they provide a series of perspectives on Milton, an emerging profile of the poet, especially of his inner life. That profile is strongly and finely etched and while it fixes on Milton's inner life, it also takes stock of Milton's sense of others and of the world around him. Throughout, the book is marked by an impressive mastery of Milton's poetry and prose by an agile movement between the efforts of his right, and left, hand, by a sensitive understanding and grasp of a poet who thought that the poet himself would be a true poem. I can think of no book I've read in recent years that is a better introduction to the poet through his writings, of none that makes Milton so attractively accessible to a general reading public." --Joseph A. Wittreich, Jr., University of Maryland "This is a thoughtful and well-proportioned book, lucidly and gracefully written. It should be welcomed by teachers and students of Milton's poetry and also by non-specialists. It combines fresh insights with sound judgments, and explores with tact and sensitivity the complex problem of the relations between Milton's life and personality and the major themes of his poetry and prose." --John M. Steadman, University of California, Riverside 200 pages, 6 x 9, illus., cloth |
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Kidnapped; or, the Lad with the Silver Button: The Original
Text See our special page on this title Barry Menikoff's edition of Kidnapped; or, the Lad with the Silver Button is the first publication of Robert Louis Stevenson's original text. A substantial introduction covers the immediate reception of the novel and at the same time situates it for a modern audience. Explanatory notes illustrate the linguistic and historical range of the text, while a Scots glossary lists all of Stevenson's own definitions along with citations from the Oxford English Dictionary and the Scottish National Dictionary. A gazetteer identifies all relevant place-names. "Undoubtedly one of the finest editions of Kidnapped ever offered.—Library Journal "Menikoff has reproduced the text exactly as Stevenson wrote it, restoring his idiosyncratic punctuation and recovering the distinctive language that had been altered or deleted."--The Scotsman "Includes an excellent introduction by Menikoff, a Scots glossary, and reproductions of the original 1886 drawings that appeared when Kidnapped was serialized in a British magazine. A few of the original manuscript pages also are reproduced, which gives an idea of what Menikoff and his publishing predecessors were up against."--The Oregonian "The context and understanding Menikoff provides is precisely what both the general reader and the most serious Stevenson student would desire. As a result, this carefully researched and meticulously prepared volume offers readers the ultimate standard text that a novel with the reputation of Kidnapped deserves.--CHOICE 400 pages, 6 x 9, 29 illus., cloth |
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This delightful volume of poetry inspired by the wonders—both natural and man-made—of the Huntington Library was written by James Thorpe, who was Director of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens from 1966 to 1983 and a Senior Research Associate from 1983 to 1999. Read sample poems 142 pages, 6 x 9, paper, illustrations ISBN: 978-0-87328-188-1; $12.95
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A comprehensive study of the principles that govern the editing of literary texts. The focus is on English and American literature, and the discussion is illuminated by a multitude of examples from the Renaissance to the present time. "Thorpe's book formulates principles of first importance to editors and teachers and aspirants in the 'arduous profession' of textual criticism, . . . and its generalizations arise from a spectrum of lively examples, from Marlowe to T. S. Eliot and from Donne to Scott Fitzgerald. Without in the least subverting textual criticism, it keeps textual criticism constantly related and proportioned to the literary works it serves."--American Literature "Mr. Thorpe's book, so clear, witty, readable and comprehensive, is an excellent introduction to the subject for the less experienced, and also has much to say to the eminent."--English Language Notes "Mr. Thorpe's ready erudition shows how completely familiar he is with American and British bibliographical and literary scholarship. He relies continuously on his own experience as an editor and on examples of editorial precept and practice, good and bad, drawn from a very wide range of work between Johnson's time and our own."--Review of English Studies
216 pages, 6 x 9, paper
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Sir Richard Burton left a large working library at the time of his death in 1890. This library, formerly held by the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, is now at the Huntington Library. The catalogue lists the more than 2,500 books, pamphlets, collections, and manuscripts that make up the archive. 182 pages, 6 x 9, paper
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In Search of Richard Burton: Papers from a Huntington Library
Symposium Today, the achievements of the great Victorian explorer and linguist Sir Richard Burton (1821–1890) may be more widely acknowledged than they were in his own time. In this volume, eight leading scholars and book collectors present a remarkable composite picture of Burton's legacy to the twentieth century: his adventures as an explorer of unknown lands and little-known cultures, his achievements as a geographer and translator, the mysteries of his relations with other explorers and of his personal life. The book includes papers given at a 1990 Huntington Library symposium as well as transcriptions of unpublished letters and illustrations from rare books and manuscripts in Burton's own library and the collections of Edwards H. Metcalf and Quentin Keynes. 200 pages, 6 x 9, illus., paper "Donald Young presents new evidence about the controversy surrounding the search for the sources of the Nile; Quentin Keynes offers droll anecdotes about his experiences collecting Burton letters, rare editions, etc. Curiously, the most telling comment may have come from Burton's priggish wife, Isabel: 'Richard was such a many-sided man, he will have appeared different to every set of people who knew him . . . loads of books will be written about him, and every one will be different.'"--Los Angeles Times "The contributors, without belittling the extent of Burton's personal prejudices, draw attention to his sympathetic, relativistic research methods--exemplified by his study of Arabs and of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City--and show by their personal enthusiasm what a vivid figure he remains today, with an ability almost to 'possess' some of his admirers. . . . Written and edited with a light touch and well illustrated, this little book is an appropriate tribute to the centennial of Burton's death of 1890 and may be warmly recommended to students and devotees of Burton."--Anthropology Today "Eight fascinating papers about the great traveler."--Nineteenth-Century Literature |
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Sir Richard Burton's Travels in Arabia and Africa: Four Lectures
from a Huntington Library Manuscript In 1866, while British Consul in Brazil, Sir Richard Burton delivered a series of lectures on his most daring and dramatic expeditions: his pilgrimages to Mecca and Medinah and his travels to East Africa. The first two lectures record the journey Burton made to Mecca and Medinah disguised as a Moslem pilgrim. The rites of pilgrimage, framed by the drama of Burton's disguise and its attendant dangers, are described in extensive and sympathetic detail. The accounts of the visits to Harar and Dahomey, which Burton undertook as a (not always official) representative of the British government, mix the perspectives of the traveler and the ethnographer. "Burton's lectures…give the full flavor of both his fierce temperament and his fiercer curiosity."—Los Angeles Times "Burton's experiences in Africa and Arabia are brought vividly to life in these fascinating lectures, which combine travelogue with ethnological study. There is also great drama, and Burton succeeds in conveying something of the sense of danger and excitement that he must have felt -- not least in gaining access to places normally forbidden to white men. Yet at the same time, his accounts are modest, restrained and never boastful. This is travel writing of the very highest quality and, 140 years on, it has surely stood the test of time." 120 pages, 7 x 10, illus., paper |
Beware
the Cat: The First English Novel 
Poems Written
at the Huntington Library
Principles
of Textual Criticism 
Catalogue
of the Library of Sir Richard Burton, K. C. M. G. 
