A selection of short works about Christmas. (Summary by david wales)

"In 1840 Louisa Stuart Costello published in Fraser's Magazine an article on classic Persian poetry, which included a section on Omar Khayyam with translations of some verses. Interest in the poetry of Omar Khayyam received its first major boost in the English speaking world when Edward Fitzgerald published a translation of 75 quatrains in 1859. Fitzgerald's mentor was Professor Edward Byles Cowell, who, in the previous year, had published an essay entitled Omar Khayyam, the astronomer-poet of Persia which included translations of thirty quatrains. In 1885 Whitley Stokes, a renowned Irish orientalist and linguist, published an English translation of eighteen quatrains in the journal 'Academy', nr. 663. In the National Review, December, 1890 Charles J. Pickering published a lengthy essay entitled Umar of Nishapur, in which he compared several notable translations including those in English by Fitzgerald and Edward Whinfield and that in German by Von Hammer. In 1896 Nathan Haskell Dole, acting as editor, published the following tome in two volumes: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam English, French, German, Italian, and Danish translations comparatively arranged in accordance with the text of Edward Fitzgerald's version with further selections, notes, biographies, bibliographies and other material. Included in the further selections are translations of assorted quatrains by Henry George Keene and Frank Siller. In 1901 Dole and Belle Walker published two volumes of Flowers from Persian Poets. The first volume contains a short article about Omar Khayyam and translations of twenty two quatrains by an unknown translator. Omar Khayyám: some verses and an introduction by W.E.B. Whittaker & R. Lwenberg, which was published in 1907, contains a short commentary and a translation of fifty-three quatrains by the authors. This recording is a sequel to A Rubaiyat Miscellany, published by Librivox on 28th November, 2013 - Summary by Algy Pug"

An example of one of the leading literary magazines of the early 20th Century. Poetry by e.e. cummings and Louise Bryant (aka Mrs. John Reed, of "Reds" fame), a short story by Sherwood Anderson, a memoir of the late poet James Flecker, theater and book reviews by Gilbert Seldes, and other critical works. (Summary by Matt Pierard)

Sixteen Christmas stories or essays. (David Wales)

St. Nicholas was a popular magazine aimed at young folks in the late nineteenth - early twentieth century. Its articles were usually well-written and often by authors who became famous later on. This collection of articles published in 1920, aimed at the youth market, can be easily enjoyed by adults as well. - Summary by David Wales

"A collection of some of the most significant literary work on the English Lake District prior to Thomas West's A guide to the Lakes (1778). The poet Thomas Gray takes the reader from Brough south to Kendal on his return from a tour in Scotland. An agricultural reformer, Arthur Young, also returning from Scotland, begins his journey in the northern parts of Cumberland with dry descriptions of local farming, but on arriving in Keswick, his account turns to the picturesque scenery around Derwent Water, Ullswater and Windermere. `Wild and romantic' is Young's phrase, yet the agriculturalist in him comes to the fore as he declares the enclosed landscapes around Kendal and Windermere to be the most picturesque of all. Thomas Pennant's account of his journey through the district is cursory, and he seems not have noticed the lakes or mountains at all. West's Guide quotes Gray, Young and Pennant, and its second edition included the full text of Gray's unpublished letters as an addendum. It also included four short pieces. John Brown's letter to his former pupil William Gilpin (who would become the foremost exponent of the `picturesque') connects the scenery of the Lakes to European landscape painting. Experimental philosopher Adam Walker provides a note on a local curiosity, the underground passages of Dunald Mill Hole. John Dalton and Richard Cumberland were among the first in a long line of Lakeland poets to be inspired to verse.> - Summary by Phil Benson"

This book is a compilation of scholarly lectures by distinguished experts delivered at Cambridge in August 1916. The titles of the lectures reveal the contents of each presentation and include the following: The war and Balkan politics; the representative system in Russia; past and present of Russian economics; Poland, old and new; the nationalities of Russia; and the development of science and learning in Russia. - Summary by Jan Moorehouse

A collection of mindful ancient Chinese poetry by Li Po, Wan Ts'u, Mei Chang and other masters set in English prose by anonymous translators. (summary by Frédéric Surget)