A selection of sonnets by William Shakespeare. There are 24 in number in this first selection. They are in order:Numbers: 18, 33, 11, 3, 5, 6, 29, 10, 22, 2, 4, 7, 1, 9, 27, 8, 30, 116, 34, 54, 12, 66, 77, 60.

This adaptation of Dickens' much loved “Ghost Story of Christmas” is subtitled "Scrooge and the Three Spirits” and concentrates on the miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge's dealings with the spirits that visit him on Christmas Eve to bring about his redemption.

“Why should I not publish my diary?” asks Mr. Pooter.George and Weedon Grossmith were born in London into a theatrical family and it was natural that they should both take up careers on the stage. Weedon initially studied art but later joined his brother George in the theatre. “The Diary of a Nobody” was a joint effort with Weedon also providing illustrations. It first appeared as a serial in “Punch”between 1888 and 1889 and was published in book form in 1892. The diary chronicles 15 month...

Robert Browning (1812-1889) playright and poet is known and admired for his dramatic monologues in blank verse of which he is a recognized master. He was not always popular in his own time but is now considered one of the foremost poets of Victorian England.This volume contains some of the best of the monologues including “Porphyria's Lover”, “How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix”,”The Bishop orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church”, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came” and“...

Robert Browning (1812-1889) playright and poet is known and admired for his dramatic monologues in blank verse of which he is a recognized master. He also wrote many lighter poems with a humorous touch. Here is one of his best known: “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.”

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. His “Fairy Books”, each named a colour, were twelve volumes of tales collected from many sources and were published between 1889 and 1910. The eight stories in this collection are taken from the Blue, Red and Green Fairy Books and are:“Rapunzel”“Toads and Diamonds”“Cinderella”"Little Red Riding Hood”“Rumpelstilzkin”“Three Bears”“Jack, Giant-Killer”“Bronze Ring”

Although Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is known mainly for his tales of the macabre and the supernatural and is an acknowledged master of these genres, he thought of himself primarily as a poet. Here is a collection of over thirty of his poems including two of the best known “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee.”

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 1873) was born in Dublin, Ireland and is acknowledged as an influential writer in the genre of gothic and supernatural fiction of the nineteenth century. Many of his short stories were originally published severally in various magazines. Here are six of them:“The White Cat of Drumgonnial”“Dickon the Devil”“The Drunkard's Dream”“The Secret of the Two Plaster Casts”“The Vision of Tom Chuff”“An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House”

E. Nesbit is best known for her children's books such as “The Railway Children”, the “Psammead” series. and the stories of the “Bastable” family. She was also a poet and wrote many works for adults including short stories in the genre of the supernatural and the macabre. “The Head” is one of her most strange and disturbing.

CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER was first published anonymously in 1821 in the London Magazine and was published in book form a year later. A revised edition was published in 1856. It is an account by the author of his addiction to laudanum and the effects it had on his life. This recording presents an abridged version of the 1856 edition.

“The Thing Invisible” is a story featuring Thomas Carnacki, a detective who investigates cases of an occult or supernatural nature. It is one of five tales of Carnacki's ghost hunting exploits which first appeared serially in “The Idler” magazine in 1910 and were published together with one more as a collection “Carnacki the Ghost-Finder” in 1913.After a good dinner Mr. Carnacki relates his experiences of ghost-finding to his limited circle of four friends whom he has summoned to his home ...

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is known for his tales of the macabre and the supernatural. “The Black Cat” is one of his most celebrated. In it the narrator tells of his growing hatred for his pet cat and how in a drunken rage he maims the animal by cutting out one of it's eyes. Worse is to follow when in an episode of alcohol induced depravity he kills the cat by hanging it from a tree, with the most horrifying of consequences.