“The biography of luminaries of science … is entertaining for every audience,” – says the author of the book “The Wonders of Science”, which became one of the first collections of stories about the lives of great scientists. French writer and naturalist of the 19th century, Louis Figuier (1819 – 1894) tells the story of the great scientists – from antiquity to his era, from philosophical treatises era through the industrial revolution to the modern world. Most of the names that appear on the pages of the book are well known to the educated reader. A beautiful gift edition of three volumes will be a worthy addition on the shelves of a bibliophile and the personal collection of any intelligent person.

“The Will to Power” is a book by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900), nearly iconic and believed to be his most important work, although it is an edition comprising the author’s notes published by his sister. Quite literally, one can say that this work produced almost every modern school of thought. Calling the morality of the day false, Nietzsche associated will to power with will to live. He saw it as the major impetus and the prime human ability. The will to power – this is the basis of the world, the most internal essence of existence. The author calls to radical reappraisal of cultural, philosophic, and religious values.

This gift book is intended for a Superman, powerful, strong, successful, having a will to succeed.

We know Napoleon Bonaparte as a gifted diplomat, outstanding politician, and ingenious commander. A German historian Gertrude Kircheisen invites the reader to get to know the Emperor as a person of fine mind and strong will, a person that managed to keep balance in the epicenter of intrigues and passions. The author tells about Napoleon’s victories and defeats on the dating front.

“They say Napoleon was lascivious, but it is groundless and unfair. Indeed, Napoleon wasn’t deprived of weaknesses and mistakes. He had mistresses and adulterized, and made other people to do so. On his way, he slipped off many flowers, which he later scornfully abandoned. However, even the Sun has spots. Napoleon was great enough to have his right to make mistakes. Weaknesses and mistakes alone aren’t lasciviousness yet.

We need to understand another important thing: Napoleon took everything a woman could give him, but he never yielded to her. There definitely wasn’t ever any spiritual commonality, or we would have seen a woman that managed to rise up to his level…”

Well-informed people agree that “Main Problems of Civil Law” is one of the most bright and significant works for the Russian civil law. Professor Iosif Pokrovsky (1868 – 1920), a Russian legal expert, answers the key questions of the law science that generations of masterminds have been tackling. The author displays a tight connection of the global civil law history and Russia’s civil law, demonstrating not only his professionalism, but deep insights in regard to the problem. Significance of this book can hardly be overestimated. It is definitely worthy its valuable collectors’ cover, and any lawyer or legal expert will gladly enrich their home library with this book.

One of the best editions on the history of the construction of St. Petersburg that contains a story about how Peter the Great built the city. How he dreamed of living in a city surrounded by water, how, during the preparation for the Northern War, he found in old Swedish maps a winding Neva delta, as he was looking for the best architects. The book by Felix Lurie contains reproductions of works by Russian and Western masters of the 18th and 19th centuries, depicting the new capital. The illustrations are given according to the topographical principle and are accompanied by information about the buildings that stood earlier and were planned to be buit in future.

“It is time that the national idea started to pursuit economics beyond Russia and foul the native ground with invasive replanting; it is high time that we came back home and came to know all the power of our people, in the absence of true connection with which economic arrangements will never become coordinated with the needs of our people,” the author writes. A brilliant businessman and patron of 60 to 70s of the 19^th century, Vasily Kokorev (1817 – 1889) always surprised his contemporaries with his original mind and large-scale schemes. His most important work concludes his reasoning about traditionalism, the national spirit, patriotism, and the appeal for abandoning bureaucracy and copying of the West and turning to the pursuit of our own economic basics.

Every meeting with heroes of Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904) brings peaceful and tranquil pleasure. His characters are ordinary people with their own concerns and reflections, hopes and worries, with their personal present and future. The Russian classic, being a subtle psychologist and a master of implication, ingeniously combines lyrics and drama. All his works are beautiful thanks to their good humor, biting social context, and artistic performance. In the collection edition “Humdrum” you will find some familiar stories and works that have been published in magazines.

The compilation work of the 19th century historian Alexander Arsenyev (1818 – 1872) contains stories and essays from the judicial practice of the Preobrazhensky Department and the Secret Office. Everything in it is based on real cases and the judicial practice of secret investigative institutions of the 18 – mid 19th centuries, from Peter the 1st to Paul the 1st. The book even includes stories about women involved in the Pugachev rebellion. At the same time, the book is read easily and with pleasure, with archive documents interspersed with colourful descriptions of the mores of that era and vernacular vocabulary. Irrefutable facts coexist with humor, sarcasm and glimpses of national epic. The reader learns a lot not only in terms of historical facts, but also a great deal about the values of ancestors.