Annotated Books - Böcker

"Remarkably, a nineteen-year-old, writing her first novel, penned a tale that combines tragedy, morality, social commentary, and a thoughtful examination of the very nature of knowledge", writes Leslie S. Klinger. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often reductively dismissed as a monster film or a cautionary tale about experimental science gone haywire. Illuminating every hidden dimension of the "first truly modern myth", Klinger does for Shelley’s story of early nineteenth-century horror what he did for Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and H.P. Lovecraft, bringing this gothic tale to nightmarish life by reproducing the original text with the most lavishly illustrated and comprehensively annotated edition to date.

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway once declared. First published in 1885, the book has delighted millions of readers, while simultaneously riling contemporary sensibilities, and is still banned in many schools and libraries. Now, Michael Patrick Hearn, author of the best-selling The Annotated Wizard of Oz, thoroughly reexamines the 116-year heritage of that archetypal American boy, Huck Finn, and follows his adventures along every bend of the mighty Mississippi River. Hearn's copious annotations draw on primary sources including the original manuscript, Twain's revisions and letters, and period accounts. Reproducing the original E. W. Kemble illustrations from the first edition, as well as countless archival photographs and drawings, some of them previously unpublished, The Annotated Huckleberry Finn is a book no family's library can do without; it may well prove to be the classic edition of the great American novel.

The publication of Leslie S. Klinger's brilliant new annotations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's four classic Holmes novels in 2005 created a Holmes sensation. Klinger reassembles Doyle's four seminal novels in their original order, with over 1,000 notes, 350 illustrations and period photographs, and tantalizing new Sherlockian theories. Inside, readers will find:A Study in Scarlet (1887)—a tale of murder and revenge that tells of Holmes and Dr. Watson's first meeting;The Sign of Four (1889)—a chilling tale of lost treasure...and of how Watson met his wife;The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901)—hailed as the greatest mystery novel of all time; andThe Valley of Fear (1914)—a fresh murder scene that leads Holmes to solve a long-forgotten mystery.Whether as a stand-alone volume or as a companion to the short stories, this classic work illuminates the timeless genius of Conan Doyle for an entirely new generation.

Frances Hodgson Burnett was famous in her time for her adult novels and her forays into children's literature with Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess. The Secret Garden, her story of an orphan girl who moves from India to the British countryside, has become a favorite book of every generation thereafter. Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, the author of the definitive biography of Burnett, brings out aspects of Burnett's life that led her to write the book, details of the Victorian England time period, attitudes toward children, and Burnett's spiritual leanings. Gerzina captures the magical nature of the tale and the coming together of three children through restoring a hidden garden. With over one hundred illustrations, many in vibrant color, The Annotated Secret Garden is an enchanting gift for any child or for any adult who is still a feisty child underneath.

Since its publication in 1868, the beloved children’s classic Little Women, has been handed down from mother to daughter. It has inspired an opera, three films and a musical. In this lavish four-colour edition, renowned Alcott expert John Matteson brings unprecedented vibrancy to the book, to the March family it creates and to the Alcott family who inspired it. With numerous photographs taken for this edition, readers discover the extraordinary links between the real and the fictional family. Matteson’s annotations bring us back in touch with the objects and culture of a distant but still-relevant time. His introductory essays examine Little Women’s pivotal place in children’s literature and tell the story of Alcott herself, a tale every bit as captivating as her fiction.

One summer afternoon in 1862, the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took a rowboat out on the Thames. With him were three young friends from the Liddell family—the sisters Lorina, Edith, and Alice. Dodgson often spun fairy tales on these boating trips to pass the time, and on this particular afternoon the story was particularly well received by Alice, who afterwards entreated him to write it down for her. Dodgson recalled the pivotal moment thusly: "In a desperate attempt to strike out some new line of fairy-lore, I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole, to begin with, without the least idea what was to happen afterwards."The tale, initially titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground, became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Dodgson published in 1865 as Lewis Carroll. So began the journey, now in its 150th year, of one of the most beloved stories of all time.The Annotated Alice: 150th Anniversary Deluxe Edition compiles over half a century of scholarship by leading Carrollian experts to reveal the history and full depth of the Alice books and their enigmatic creator. This volume brings together Martin Gardner’s legendary original 1960 publication, The Annotated Alice; his follow-ups, More Annotated Alice and the Definitive Edition; his continuing explication through the Knight Letter magazine; and masterly additions and updates edited by Mark Burstein, president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. In these pages Lewis Carroll's mathematical riddles and curious wordplay, ingeniously embedded throughout the Alice works, are delightfully decoded and presented in the margins, along with original correspondence, amusing anecdotal detours, and fanciful illustrations by Salvador Dalí, Beatrix Potter, Ralph Steadman, and a host of other famous artists.Put simply, this anniversary edition of The Annotated Alice is the most comprehensive collection of Alice materials ever published in a single volume. May it serve as a beautiful and enduring tribute to the charming, utterly original "new line of fairy-lore" that Lewis Carroll first spun 150 years ago.The deluxe anniversary edition of The Annotated Alice includes:A rare, never-before-published portrait of Francis Jane Lutwidge, Lewis Carroll's motherOver 100 new or updated annotations, collected since the publication of Martin Gardner's Definitive Edition of The Annotated Alice in 1999More than 100 new illustrations, in vibrant color, by Salvador Dalí, Beatrix Potter, Ralph Steadman, and 42 other artists and illustrators, in addition to the original artwork by Sir John TennielA preface by Mark Burstein, president emeritus of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, and all of Gardner's introductions to other editionsA filmography of every Alice-related film by Carroll scholar David Schaefer

"Howard Phillips Lovecraft is beginning to emerge as one of that tumultuous period’s most critically fascinating and yet enigmatic figures", writes Alan Moore. But at the time of his death, Lovecraft was maligned by critics and ignored by the public. Leslie S. Klinger reanimates Lovecraft and charts the rise of the pulp writer. Lovecraft’s vast body of work—a mythos in which humanity is a blissfully unaware speck in a cosmos shared by ancient alien beings—is increasingly being recognised as the foundation for American horror and science fiction. With nearly 300 illustrations and more than 1,000 annotations, Klinger illuminates every hidden dimension of 22 of Lovecraft’s most canonical works.

The New Annotated African American Folktales revolutionises the canon like no other volume. Henry Louis Gates Jr and Maria Tatar assemble a ground-breaking collection of folktales, myths and legends that revitalise a vibrant African American past. Beginning with introductory essays and 20 seminal African tales, Gates and Tatar present nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics but also stories like “Witches Who Ride”, out-of-print tales from the Southern Workman and stories that bring Caribbean and Latin American literature in to the canon.

Originally published in 1885 by Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant’s landmark memoir has been annotated by Elizabeth Samet in this lavish edition. No previous edition combines such a sweep of historical and cultural contexts with the literary authority that Samet, obsessed with Grant for decades, brings to the table.Whether exploring novels Grant read at West Point or presenting majestic images culled from archives, Samet curates a richly annotated edition. Never has Grant’s transformation from tanner’s son to military leader been more insightfully and passionately explained than in this timely edition, appearing on the 150th anniversary of Grant’s 1868 presidential election.

In 2014, The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft was published and devoured by the Lovecraft community and general readers alike. The landmark volume included twenty-two stories but there are many others worthy of attention, including Lovecraft’s favourites.In this follow-up, twenty-five more Lovecraft stories are re-presented as well as a number of never-before-seen revisions and collaborations with other authors. Included are “Rats in the Wall”, a post–First World War story about the terrors of the past and the newly contextualised “The Horror at Red Hook”, which has been adapted recently by Victor LaValle. The stories magnify the creative ideas and writing processes of the literary genius. Best-selling author and editor Klinger reanimates Lovecraft with clarity and historical insight, offering a revelatory volume in which the author’s story-writing method is uncovered, his vivid dreams are recorded and first drafts of stories are seen in immaturity. In addition to his ground-breaking writing, we glimpse a personal side of Lovecraft: his favourite stories are highlighted and his vulnerability as a young writer is obvious.With hundreds of annotations and dozens of rare images, Beyond Arkham provides the complete picture of Lovecraft’s achievements in fiction. No lover of Gothic literature will want to be without this literary keepsake.

Starting in 1999 with the publication of The Definitive Annotated Alice, the Norton and Liveright annotated books have become the leading series of classic, illustrated works in the English language. The long-anticipated publication of The Annotated Arabian Nights extends this tradition with a strikingly modern translation—the first of Shahrazad’s tales into English by a woman—as well as erudite notes that will illuminate the stories for both dedicated readers and newcomers. Yasmine Seale’s translations from both Arabic and French capture the musicality and rhythm of the Nights’ poetry and prose, while Paulo Lemos Horta’s annotations wrestle with the extraordinarily complex origins and history of the stories, showing that, far from being inventions of French antiquarians or English explorers, they have clear antecedents in Arabic folklore and tradition. This stunningly illustrated edition selects core stories as well as treasured later additions such as “Aladdin” and “Ali Baba” to offer an unparalleled account of a cornerstone of world literature that can be treasured by children, students and literature-lovers alike.