Robert Hichens

Based on the novel of the same title by the British writer, Robert Smythe Hichens (1864-1950), THE PROPHET OF BERKELEY SQUARE is a send-up of the astrology and psychic reading craze that so permeated London society circa 1900. With its witty dialogue and hilarious plot, Frank Morlock's adaptation of Hichens's satiric masterpiece is just as funny today as the bestselling novel was when first published in 1901. Hennessey Vivian, the would-be Prophet of Berkeley Square, must fend off his rival, Jupiter Malkiel II, to secure the devotion of enough fashionable adherents to win the prophecy "battle of the stars." The over-the-top characters are easily recognizable as familiar types in today's modern society. Great comedic drama!

A Modern Utopia is a 1905 novel by H. G. Wells. Because of the complexity and sophistication of its narrative structure A Modern Utopia has been called "not so much a modern as a postmodern utopia." The novel is best known for its notion that a voluntary order of nobility known as the Samurai could effectively rule a "kinetic and not static" world state so as to solve "the problem of combining progress with political stability." To this planet "out beyond Sirius" the Owner of the Voice and the botanist are translated, imaginatively, "in the twinkling of an eye . . . We should scarcely note the change. Not a cloud would have gone from the sky." Their point of entry is on the slopes of the Piz Lucendro in the Swiss Alps. The adventures of these two characters are traced through eleven chapters. Little by little they discover how Utopia is organized. It is a world with "no positive compulsions at all . . . for the adult Utopian—unless they fall upon him as penalties incurred." The Owner of the Voice and the botanist are soon required to account for their presence. When their thumbprints are checked against records in "the central index housed in a vast series of buildings at or near Paris," both discover they have doubles in Utopia. They journey to London to meet them, and the Owner of the Voice's double is a member of the Samurai, a voluntary order of nobility that rules Utopia. "These samurai form the real body of the State." Running through the novel as a foil to the main narrative is the botanist's obsession with an unhappy love affair back on Earth. The Owner of the Voice is annoyed at this undignified and unworthy insertion of earthly affairs in Utopia, but when the botanist meets the double of his beloved in Utopia the violence of his reaction bursts the imaginative bubble that has sustained the narrative and the two men find themselves back in early-twentieth-century London.

The Compleat Angler, first published in 1653, has become a classic of English literature. Where other angling books are of limited appeal to those who do not fish, The Compleat Angler inspires readers from all walks of life to go in search of the countryside that Walton recreates with such vivid and loving writing. Walton appears to have spent his life in an oasis of calm conviviality and, what's more, he succeeded in bottling it for us to enjoy more and more with each century that glides silently by.

Today, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is synonymous with detective fiction, and, most notably, the indelible character of Sherlock Holmes, with the master investigator and savant who was Conan Doyle's most memorable fictional creation. However, the author was also a leading figure in the Spiritualism movement and was regarded as one of the most important mystical thinkers of his era. This volume details Holmes' belief in the possibility of communication between the spirit world and our own realm.

In this follow-up to Nesbit's classic Five Children and It, Cyril, Robert, Anthea, Jane, and the Lamb have more magical adventures in store when a mysterious egg hatches in the nursery fireplace. Out comes a flame-colored bird, the Phoenix, who, though a bit conceited, proves very helpful indeed. The bird kindly explains that the second-hand Persian carpet recently acquired for the nursery is actually a flying one. On it, they may travel to any place and time that they wish. But once again, the children find that magic does not always go as planned. They find hidden treasure in France, and with it restore the fortunes of a little boy. Meanwhile, their own house is invaded by a thousand Persian cats, a cow, and a burglar, who eventually marries the cook on an island in the South Seas. Full of wit and wonders, The Phoenix and the Carpet is a magical ride for children of all ages.

Arguably her most important and influential book, this controversial work, first published in 1922 by pioneering birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger, attempted to broaden the still-radical idea of birth control beyond its socialist and feminist roots. Moving away from a single-minded focus on women's reproductive rights to the larger issue of the general health and economic prosperity of the whole human race, Sanger argued that birth control was pivotal to a rational approach toward dealing with the threat of overpopulation and its ruinous consequences in poverty and disease. Through this book Sanger hoped to persuade the medical establishment to assume control over contraceptive distribution, and thereby to lessen the religious, legal, and moral opposition that continued to restrict access to contraceptive information. However important this book is to the history of women's rights, it remains a very problematic work from our more scientifically informed perspective today. In arguing for population control Sanger made frequent reference to the then fashionable "science" of eugenics. She also adopted its rhetoric, using such callous phrases as "the feeble-minded" and the "unfit" and advocating birth control as a means of limiting the breeding of "defectives, delinquents and dependents." Although she incorporated views and terminology commonly held in respectable medical and scientific circles of the day, Sanger's writings on eugenics, and this book in particular, have become fodder for her critics both on the left and the right, who seek to diminish her achievements and obscure what is ultimately a powerful feminist message: when women gain greater control over their fertility, they will improve the human race. This unusual and historically significant book is complemented by a thoughtful and informative introduction by Peter C. Engelman, assistant editor of The Margaret Sanger Papers Project, who provides much insight by placing this work in the context of the age and Sanger's life.

This Point Blank Classics edition includes the full original text as well as exclusive images exclusive to this edition and an easy to use interactive table of contents.

Always dress in tennis clothes when engaging in tennis. White is the established colour. Soft shirt, white flannel trousers, heavy white socks, and rubber-soled shoes form the accepted dress for tennis. Do not appear on the courts in dark clothes, as they are apt to be heavy and hinder your speed of movement, and also they are a violation of the unwritten ethics of the game.

Based on the novel of the same title by the British writer, Robert Smythe Hichens (1864-1950), THE PROPHET OF BERKELEY SQUARE is a send-up of the astrology and psychic reading craze that so permeated London society circa 1900. With its witty dialogue and hilarious plot, Frank Morlock's adaptation of Hichens's satiric masterpiece is just as funny today as the bestselling novel was when first published in 1901. Hennessey Vivian, the would-be Prophet of Berkeley Square, must fend off his rival, Jupiter Malkiel II, to secure the devotion of enough fashionable adherents to win the prophecy "battle of the stars." The over-the-top characters are easily recognizable as familiar types in today's modern society. Great comedic drama!

"Whether or not the English owe a grudge to their Lord Chamberlain for depriving them of the pleasure of seeing operas based on Biblical stories I do not know. If they do, the grudge cannot be a deep one, for it is a long time since Biblical operas were in vogue, and in the case of the very few survivals it has been easy to solve the difficulty and salve the conscience of the public censor by the simple device of changing the names of the characters and the scene of action if the works are to be presented on the stage, or omitting scenery, costumes and action and performing them as oratorios. In either case, whenever this has been done, however, it has been the habit of critics to make merry at the expense of my Lord Chamberlain and the puritanicalness of the popular spirit of which he is supposed to be the official embodiment, and to discourse lugubriously and mayhap profoundly on the perversion of composers' purposes and the loss of things essential to the lyric drama.

Merlin by Edwin Arlington Robinson