The Scarlet Pimpernel. Baroness Orczy

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Название The Scarlet Pimpernel
Автор произведения Baroness Orczy
Жанр Классическая проза
Серия
Издательство Классическая проза
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9780008280192



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      THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL

      Baroness Orczy

       Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       WilliamCollinsBooks.com

      This eBook edition published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018

      Life & Times section © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      Cover by E-Digital Design

      Silvia Crompton asserts her moral rights as author of the Life & Times section

      Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from

       Collins English Dictionary

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins

      Source ISBN: 9780008278762

      Ebook Edition © 2018 ISBN: 9780008280192

      Version: 2018-03-01

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      History of William Collins

      Life & Times

      Chapter I: Paris: September, 1792

       Chapter IX: The Outrage

       Chapter X: In the Opera Box

       Chapter XI: Lord Grenville’s Ball

       Chapter XII: The Scrap of Paper

       Chapter XIII: Either – Or?

       Chapter XIV: One O’Clock Precisely!

       Chapter XV: Doubt

       Chapter XVI: Richmond

       Chapter XVII: Farewell

       Chapter XVIII: The Mysterious Device

       Chapter XIX: The Scarlet Pimpernel

       Chapter XX: The Friend

       Chapter XXI: Suspense

       Chapter XXII: Calais

       Chapter XXIII: Hope

       Chapter XXIV: The Death-Trap

       Chapter XXV: The Eagle and the Fox

       Chapter XXVI: The Jew

       Chapter XXVII: On the Track

       Chapter XXVIII: The Père Blanchard’s Hut

       Chapter XXIX: Trapped

       Chapter XXX: The Schooner

       Chapter XXXI: The Escape

       Classic Literature: Words and Phrases

       About the Publisher

       History of William Collins

      In 1819, millworker William Collins from Glasgow, Scotland, set up a company for printing and publishing pamphlets, sermons, hymn books, and prayer books. That company was Collins and was to mark the birth of HarperCollins Publishers as we know it today. The long tradition of Collins dictionary publishing can be traced back to the first dictionary William co-published in 1825, Greek and English Lexicon. Indeed, from 1840 onwards, he began to produce illustrated dictionaries and even obtained a licence to print and publish the Bible.

      Soon after, William published the first Collins novel; however, it was the time of the Long Depression, where harvests were poor, prices were high, potato crops had failed, and violence was erupting in Europe. As a result, many factories across the country were forced to close down and William chose to retire in 1846, partly due to the hardships he was facing.

      Aged 30, William’s son, William II, took over the business. A keen humanitarian with a warm heart and a generous spirit, William II was truly ‘Victorian’ in his outlook. He introduced new, up-to-date steam presses and published affordable editions of Shakespeare’s works and The Pilgrim’s Progress, making them available to the masses for the first time.

      A new demand for educational books meant that success came with the publication of travel books, scientific books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. This demand to be educated led to the later publication of atlases, and Collins also held the monopoly on scripture writing at the time.

      In the 1860s Collins began to expand and diversify and the idea of ‘books for the millions’ was developed, although the phrase wasn’t coined until 1907. Affordable editions of classical literature were published, and in 1903 Collins introduced 10 titles in their Collins Handy Illustrated Pocket Novels. These proved so popular that a few years later this had increased to an output of 50 volumes, selling nearly half a million in their year of publication. In the same year, The Everyman’s Library was also instituted, with the idea of publishing an affordable library of the most important classical works, biographies, religious and philosophical treatments, plays, poems, travel, and adventure. This series eclipsed all competition at the time, and the introduction of paperback books in the 1950s helped to open that market and marked a high point in the industry.

      HarperCollins is and has always been a champion of the classics, and the current Collins Classics series follows in this tradition – publishing classical literature that is affordable and available to all. Beautifully packaged, highly collectible, and intended to be reread and enjoyed at every opportunity.

       Life & Times

      The Scarlet Pimpernel, the enigmatic alter ego of upper-class fop Sir Percy Blakeney, is a hero who’s as English as can be: discreet, chivalrous and fiercely