William Dean Howells's warm, intimate portrait of Mark Twain begins with their first meeting in Boston and grows into a lifelong friendship marked by laughter, admiration, and repeated visits in Hartford and New York. Twain emerges as a dazzling presence: theatrically dressed, mischievous, endlessly talkative, and yet rooted in a boyish originality that made his humor feel inseparable from deeper wisdom. Howells moves through literary gatherings with Fields, Aldrich, Bret Harte, and Ralph ...

An Ohio family — a judge, his wife, and a daughter recovering from an unsuitable attachment — is taken to Europe to get over it, and the Atlantic and the Dutch canals do not much help. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary broker in America; this 1902 novel is his quiet study of ordinary decent people being wrong about their own children, and the father is beautifully done.

A middle-aged American in Florence, comfortable and finished with life, is courted by a girl of twenty and by her chaperone, who is his own age — and behaves badly, then better, then badly again. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary broker in America; this 1886 novel is his lightest and his best, and the humiliation of a man discovering he is not young is done with no cruelty at all.

The Marches, married twenty-five years, take the European tour they could not afford as newlyweds — the ship, the Rhine, Carlsbad, a young couple in trouble whom they cannot help minding about. Howells edited The Atlantic and wrote for Harper's, and was the most powerful literary broker in America; here he does middle age exactly, and the kindness of the book is not softness.

This holiday, we proudly present to you this unique collection of the greatest Christmas stories. Over 250 of them are included by your favourite authors:Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Willa Cather, Beatrix Potter, Louisa May Alcott, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Hans Christian Andersen, E.T.A. Hoffmann, O. Henry, Mark Twain and many more!

A self-made paint millionaire from Vermont builds a house on the water side of Beacon Street and discovers that Boston's old families will accept his money and not his daughters. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary man in America; he made his hero's crisis a matter of business ethics rather than romance, which nobody had thought to do.

A Vermont girl of no family is taken up by a rich woman as a companion and carried to Italy — where the arrangement, and everyone's exact idea of what she is owed, comes apart. Howells edited The Atlantic and was the most powerful literary broker in America; this 1899 novel is his quietest anatomy of patronage, and the girl's refusal to be grateful on cue is the whole book.

Deans History of the Ottoman Empire is a fascinating chronicle of Ottoman Empire from the 13th to the mid 19th centuries.

"My Literary Passions" by William Dean Howells is a reflective exploration of the author's deep-seated love for literature and the writers who have influenced him. In this work, Howells shares his thoughts on various literary figures, discussing their styles, themes, and the impact they had on his own writing. His passion for storytelling and the written word shines through as he articulates the profound connection between literature and life, inviting readers to appreciate the beauty and ...

Basil March jumps at the chance to leave his boring job to become the founding editor of a new magazine. But this also means that he must leave comfortable Boston for the confusion and chaos of 1890s New York. As March and his wife try to find a decent place to live, he also struggles to find contributors and readers. The Marches are quickly drawn into the tangled lives of their fellow New Yorkers: a bitter German socialist who lost his hand fighting for the Union in the Civil War, a colon...

Bartley Hubbard, a sharp-eyed Boston journalist, arrives to profile Silas Lapham for a series on "solid men," and the interview quickly becomes a vivid portrait of American self-making. Lapham, prosperous, plainspoken, and proud, recounts his Vermont boyhood, his mother's exhausting labor, and the hard-won path that took him from sawmills and stage driving to a hotel, a marriage to the schoolteacher Persis, and finally a business fortune. At the center of his rise is the accidental discove...

"Italian Journeys" by William Dean Howells is a captivating travel narrative that explores the beauty and culture of Italy through the eyes of an American writer. Howells, known for his keen observations and vivid descriptions, takes readers on a journey through various Italian cities, including Venice, Florence, and Rome. His reflections on the art, architecture, and the Italian way of life provide a rich tapestry of experiences that highlight the charm and complexity of the Italian lands...