Ariel

Plath’s landmark poetry collection; includes “Ariel,” “Daddy,” and “Lady Lazarus.” More

Good to Great

One of the most influential management bestsellers; explores how companies transition from average to extraordinary. More

The Steam-Powered Press

For years, the Harper brothers relied on a white draft horse named Dobbin, who plodded a circular path in the basement of their offices, turning a wooden shaft that powered the Treadwell hand press two floors above, until new technology sent him out to pasture. More

Letter from Agatha Christie

This letter from Agatha Christie (here signing with her second married name, Mallowan) shows the close relationship she had with Collins publisher Billy Collins. More

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943), a story about growing up poor in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, was originally an entry for a Harper & Brothers memoir contest. More

Frank Warren

The book that set a course. At The Book Thing in Baltimore I saw a man persistently searching over the used-book shelves. More

The Bell Jar

A haunting classic that chronicles the breakdown of a brilliant, talented, successful young woman. More

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pulitzer Prize winner; considered one of the classic works of creative nonfiction of the late twentieth century. More

George Eliot

Mary Anne Evans, born in 1819, led a turbulent life that often broke with Victorian social norms. More

Mark Twain

In 1866, with mostly newspaper articles and other short works to his name, Mark Twain accepted an assignment from the Sacramento Union to produce a weekly column from Hawaii. More

To Kill a Mockingbird

Much-loved Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, voted by librarians across America as the best novel of the twentieth century. More

The Woman in White

One of the earliest works of detective fiction, this story caused a sensation with readers at the time. More

V.

Winner of the William Faulkner Foundation Award for best debut novel in 1963. More