The Halloween shelf is open
The great dark classics, without the homework.
Dracula, Frankenstein, Poe, the Headless Horseman: the real books, never retellings, with a short note before every chapter, letter, story or poem, a who's who and a glossary. You'll always know whose diary you're in, who everyone is, and what "belly-timber" means.
Shop the Halloween shelf See a real page →
Ebook from US$12.99 · Paperback from US$21.99 · Hardcover from US$34.99
- A note before every chapter, letter, story or poem
- An introduction and a glossary
- The book itself, never a retelling or a summary
- Hardcover, paperback or ebook
In the shop now
The Halloween shelf
Eleven classics for the long dark nights.
Vampires, monsters, ghosts and a headless horseman, each with a note before every chapter, letter, story or poem so you never lose your way in the dark. Buy them together and save. Want to read one this October? Ebooks are emailed within 5 days.
You've been meaning to read it.
Everyone has one. The classic on the shelf with the bookmark stuck at page forty. The one you were assigned at school and skimmed. The one you started on vacation and lost somewhere in the second chapter, when the names piled up and nobody explained why a pair of dances mattered so much.
It isn't you. These books were written for readers who knew things we don't: what the money was worth, what the words meant then, who the people in the headlines were, which poem everyone had by heart. Take that away and even a thrilling book turns into hard work.
We put it back. Before every chapter, letter, story or poem, a short note tells you where you are, who's there and what to watch for. Where the cast is large, a who's who keeps the names straight. A glossary explains the words, the money and the customs. In between runs the book itself. You just read.
What's in every Bookhawk edition
-
The book itself
Never a retelling or a summary, and our notes are always kept apart from it. Printed from a named early edition (usually the first) or, for a book first written in another language, a named English translation, and the book tells you which. Each book's page says exactly what's inside.
-
An introduction for today's reader
The story behind the book, and how to enjoy it. Where Stoker found the name Dracula. The dare that became Frankenstein. The novel read aloud in court against its own author.
-
Notes that explain the world
Before every chapter, letter, story or poem, a minute's reading: where you are, who's there, what to notice. A note may say what happens in its own chapter, but never what happens in a later one.
-
A who's who, where the cast needs one
Everyone who matters, and plenty who don't, each in a line or two. Lost a name? It's a quick flip away.
-
A glossary
The words that changed meaning, the money, the food, the dialect, the customs. In Dracula alone, over 400 terms.
A real page
The note comes first. Then Laclos takes over.
Reader's note Madame de Volanges replies with alarm. She warns her young friend that Valmont never says a word without a wicked purpose, that he chooses women as his victims, and that being seen alone with him could ruin her reputation. She advises her to get him sent away, or else to leave. Her warning is shrewd, yet the one woman she praises for having resisted him is the Marquise de Merteuil. Laclos's footnote spells out the irony. She also reports that Gercourt's regiment is ordered to Corsica, postponing the wedding until winter.
That's Letter IX of our Dangerous Liaisons. Thirty seconds of reading, and the whole letter lands: you know who is writing, what she's afraid of, and the joke she can't see.
The same words, and the world behind them
| In a plain copy | In our edition |
|---|---|
| The bride-to-be comes with "an income of sixty thousand livres." Rich, or just comfortable? Dangerous Liaisons | The glossary: the livre was the chief unit of French money before the Revolution, and sixty thousand a year made a very rich match. |
| "Rouerie" or "ten louis" turns up and you're left to guess. Dangerous Liaisons | The glossary: a roué's calculated trickery; a gold coin worth twenty-four livres. |
| A "little house" comes up in a letter, and it sounds like nothing at all. Dangerous Liaisons | The glossary: a small house kept secretly for romantic meetings. Owning one was a suspicious sign in itself. |
| "Four or five thousand a year" goes by as a bare number, and the joke goes with it. Pride and Prejudice | The introduction explains the incomes and the entail, with a rough guide to an 1813 pound today. |
| Harker sits down to paprika hendl and mamaliga. What are they? Dracula | The glossary: chicken cooked with paprika; a cornmeal porridge much like polenta. |
| A "commodious fly" waits for her in Chapter I, and you picture an insect. The Turn of the Screw | The glossary: a light one-horse carriage, often hired. |
| Montresor's motto, Nemo me impune lacessit, sits there in Latin. Poe | The note before the tale gives it to you: "No one provokes me with impunity." |
| "Cow-boys" turn up in the old war stories, and you picture the Wild West. Sleepy Hollow | The glossary: Loyalists who stole cattle and plundered farms in Westchester's no-man's-land. |
From the Journal
- Who's who in Dracula, without spoilers
- One wet summer, two monsters: the 1816 ghost-story dare
- How to read Dangerous Liaisons: five habits for a novel in letters
- The King in Yellow: the play no one should read
- Ten thousand a year: what the money in Pride and Prejudice really means
- Why Frankenstein's creature reads Paradise Lost
Our promise
If a book arrives damaged or misprinted, or isn't what we described, we'll refund you in full, or send a replacement where we can. Just write to us.
Secure checkout by Stripe: your card details go to Stripe, never to us.
Ship dates
Every order ships, or for an ebook is emailed to you, within the time shown on the book's page, and your order confirmation gives the exact date. If it looks as though we might miss that date, we'll email you before it, and you can keep waiting or cancel for a full refund.
Pick up the one you've been meaning to read.
Every book's page has a free sample, notes included.