Barnes Noble: 2826 books

In this 1859 publication, Ruskin sets forth the fundamental rules of perspective in a short mathematical form. Written not for a select few, the book conveys complex information in a way that art students at many levels will understand. A classic that is still relevant today.

In an effort to give his friends and the public what they wanted, Ruskin republished parts of his monumental Modern Painters in this volume: a collection of selections a dear friend decided were most relevant at the time. Here are Ruskin’s “Principles of Art,” “Power and Office of Imagination,” “Education,” “Moralities,” and musings on different aspects of nature.

This 1867 volume contains twenty-five letters written by Ruskin to Mr. Thomas Dixon, a working cork-cutter of Sunderland, on the occasion of debates over Parliamentary reform in the area of workers' rights.

Edith Wharton called William C. Brownell “the most discerning literary critic of our day.” Noteworthy for its serious consideration of American literary expression, comparable with that of the English masters, this collection features studies of Poe, Henry James, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Emerson—showcasing Brownell’s astute literary expertise and elegant prose.

The name of Casanova (1725-1798) is synonymous with seduction. But the Venetian adventurer’s life story is also one of the most reliable sources of how Europeans lived in the eighteenth century. In this first of his six-volume Memoirs, Casanova relates his childhood, first love affair, and his schooling...

Norman Douglas’s novels are characterized by his sardonic wit and trenchant satire and, like his travel books, are distinguished by his evocative descriptions of the local. In They Went, published in 1921 and set in a mythic city in Brittany during the late Roman era, Douglas presents an allegory of goodness pitted against beauty.

Edited by Butler’s friend and posthumous biographer, Henry Festing Jones, this volume is a compendium of Butler’s thoughts, insights, and reflections, gathered over the course of his lifetime. In addition to his descriptions of incidents and conversations from his life, there are Butler’s fascinating...

“The only thing of which I am sure is, that the distinction between the organic and inorganic is arbitrary.” So writes Samuel Butler is his work of biological philosophy, Unconscious Memory, where he presents his theories of the mind through the lens of his criticism of established scientific ideas.

Published in 1917, this volume is based on a series of articles published by Butler in the 1870s and revised by him prior to his death.  Here Butler sets forth his conception of the divine, as a evolutionary force that encompasses all living things and tends toward ever-greater unity and self-awareness.

Published in 1878, this is the first book in which Butler attacks Darwinism, and sets out an alternative, neo-Lamarckian theory which explores the role of memory in shaping organisms. Butler initially wrote the book as a tribute and complement to Darwin’s theory. Darwin chose to ignore the attack, but Butler continued to challenge the scientific establishment with three additional books.

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. The Way of All Flesh (1903) mercilessly exposed Victorian hypocrisies of religion and social life. The novel built up a large following for its unsparing and often bitterly comic depiction of generations of the deluded...

An invaluable resource for students of decorative arts, this compelling collection of essays passionately and eloquently makes the case for the legitimacy of the decorative arts in an era when painting and sculpture were considered superior. Walter Crane looks at the infinite methods of expression of decorative arts, their place in architecture, and more.

This 1921 play, subtitled "A Comedy in One Act," is Cabell's only published play script.  The drama is based on the short story "Balthazar's Daughter" that originally appeared in Cabell's 1916 collection, The Certain Hour.   In his prologue, the author confesses that the play "lacks moral fervor" and hopes it will "corrupt no reader irretrievably."

These lambent essays, published in 1873, focus on Renaissance masters like Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.  The book's brief conclusory essay was to prove far more influential than what preceded it, as Pater laid out his iconoclastic artistic philosophy and called for what was essentially a hedonistic approach to art.