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Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated) Kindle Edition

by Ambrose Bierce (Author), Delphi Classics (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 104 ratings
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For the first time in publishing history, Delphi Classics is proud to present the complete works of master storyteller Ambrose Bierce. This comprehensive eBook is spiced with numerous illustrations, rare and forgotten texts, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)



* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Bierce's life and works

* Concise introductions to the collections and other texts

* The rare novella THE DANCE OF DEATH appears here for the first time in digital print

* ALL the short story collections, with individual contents tables

* Featuring 475 tales, many appearing for the first time in digital print

* Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts

* Excellent formatting of the texts

* Famous works such as COBWEBS FROM AN EMPTY SKULL

are fully illustrated with their original artwork

* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry, essays and the short stories

* Easily locate the works you want to read

* The complete non-fiction, with many scarce essays and newspaper articles

* Includes Bierce's letters - spend hours exploring the author’s personal correspondence

* Special criticism section, with essays evaluating Bierce’s contribution to literature

* Also provides a unique ‘Biercian Texts’ section with interesting articles on the works and disappearance of Ambrose Bierce

* Features a bonus full-length biography - discover Bierce's literary life

* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres




CONTENTS:



The Novellas

THE DANCE OF DEATH

THE MONK AND THE HANGMAN’S DAUGHTER

THE LAND BEYOND THE BLOW



The Short Story Collections

THE FIEND’S DELIGHT

COBWEBS FROM AN EMPTY SKULL

PRESENT AT A HANGING, AND OTHER GHOST STORIES

IN THE MIDST OF LIFE: TALES OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS

CAN SUCH THINGS BE?

FANTASTIC FABLES

NEGLIGIBLE TALES

THE PARENTICIDE CLUB

THE FOURTH ESTATE

THE OCEAN WAVE

KINGS OF BEASTS

TWO ADMINISTRATIONS

MISCELLANEOUS TALES



The Short Stories

LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER



The Poetry Collections

BLACK BEETLES IN AMBER

SHAPES OF CLAY

FABLES IN RHYME

SOME ANTE-MORTEM EPITAPHS

THE SCRAP HEAP



The Poems

LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER



The Non-Fiction

THE SHADOW ON THE DIAL, AND OTHER ESSAYS

THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY

WRITE IT RIGHT

ASHES OF THE BEACON

“ON WITH THE DANCE!”: A REVIEW

A CYNIC LOOKS AT LIFE

TANGENTIAL VIEWS

BITS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES AND REVIEWS

UNCOLLECTED ESSAYS



The Essays

LIST OF ESSAYS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

LIST OF ESSAYS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER



The Letters

THE LETTERS OF AMBROSE BIERCE



The Criticism

AMBROSE BIERCE by Vincent Starrett

AMBROSE BIERCE: AN APPRAISAL by Frederic Tabor Cooper

ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO BOOST BIERCE INTO IMMORTALITY

THE UNDERGROUND REPUTATION OF AMBROSE BIERCE

AMBROSE BIERCE by Ella Sterling Cummins



Biercian Texts

LIST OF BIERCIAN ARTICLES AND REVIEWS



The Biography

AMBROSE BIERCE: A BIOGRAPHY by Carey McWilliams



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  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    December 1, 2013
  5. File size
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00BNWVP5S
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Delphi Classics; 1st edition (December 1, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 10480 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 5416 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 104 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
104 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Richard Christou
5.0 out of 5 stars A neglected author well worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2020
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Ambrose Bierce was a famous author in his time, highly thought of by H P Lovecraaft, but is now little read. This collection is a great opportunty to renew your acquaintance with him or get to know him if you have never read any of his books. You will find in here his witty and cynical Devil's Dictionary and all of his short stories, essays and poems. His style is straghtforward and his stories move quickly. He is best known for his fantasy fiction and strange tales of the unexpected, but he wote a great deal of satire, horror and science fiction. Do read two of his most famous stories - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Moxon's Master. For the price of this collection, if you only read those and the Devil's Dictionary your money will have been well spent.
8 people found this helpful
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Steven Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2020
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This is a wonderful and complete collection of his works. An amazingly versatile writer. This is easy to navigate on a Kindle.
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Jeff Merryman
4.0 out of 5 stars Ambrose writes with suspense.
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2018
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This guy is a precursor to The twilight zone! He keeps you on the edge of your seat.
One person found this helpful
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Robert
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection, but there's at least one public domain story which seems to be missing
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2015
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I've purchased a fairly sizable number of Delphi Classics collections thus far and have been pleased with them on the whole. This one is very good, but I cannot seem to locate For the Akhoond in here. It's included in The Collected Stories of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 1, which was first published in 1909 and is thus in the public domain and should be in here. Everything else from that volume I can easily find in here, so its apparent absence puzzles me somewhat.

Still, it's hard to quibble about one story when there's so much else from and about Bierce here to enjoy. I'll probably send an e-mail to Delphi, as they seem to be prompt and responsive. There was a similar absence from their Twain collection (two stories) which was rectified. If you like Bierce, then you will enjoy this immensely. I'll be adding more Delphi collections in the future.
11 people found this helpful
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hank wms
3.0 out of 5 stars Read Bierce, but not this volume.
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2015
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Maybe I shouldn't rate this because I couldn't finish it. Deleted it from my kindle. Stories are too repetitive. However I very much enjoyed "Civil War Stories" by Bierce. Five stars for that one.
2 people found this helpful
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jackel88
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite an original
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2014
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Ambrose Bierce wrote one of the most haunting short stories I've ever read , "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". This story alone is worth the price of the book. But then you get "The Devil's Dictionary",and a host of other wonderful stories, such as "Chickamauga".

Bierce is witty with such a wry humor, you find yourself smiling while you are reading. And on the other hand, his other stories are nightmare producing.

After reading all of this, I really would like to know more about his disappearance. He was definitely a true man of mystery.

I don't think anyone will be disappointed who reads this collection of fine literature.
14 people found this helpful
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Lou1492
5.0 out of 5 stars Trust Anything From Delphi Classics!
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2013
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Here is the bottom line; if you enjoy reading classic authors like Ambrose Bierce and others, just seek out their works from Delphi Classics. I've tried the free Gutenberg public domain editions and while some are fine, they all have drawbacks. The main reasons to go with Delphi are first and foremost, having an author's entire works in one collection AND with a clickable table of contents. This allows you to go directly to a story, poem, biography, etc., without searching page by page. Delphi also includes nice bonuses, like images and scholarly reference materials. I was very excited to receive this collection, as I'm a lover of weird fiction and it does not disappoint. Check out their website also, for special offers and early releases. I've signed-up for their newsletter and they notify when they add to their collections, often including a discount. I probably have around a dozen of these collections on my Kindle and they are all very satisfying.
48 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2018
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This item was likely OCR copied, but never proofed. It has many OCR type errors.
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Top reviews from other countries

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north of 60
5.0 out of 5 stars brainy
Reviewed in Canada on May 18, 2018
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great stories
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Florestan
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitter Bierce
Reviewed in Germany on October 5, 2019
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Ich habe Ambrose Bierce schon früher gerne gelesen, ich hatte zwei Bücher in deutscher Übersetzung mit einer Auswahl seiner Geschichten. Bierce hat auch den Beinahmen "Bitter Bierce", denn er ist ein sehr bitterer Autor. Seine Geschichten sind teilweise der phantastischen Literatur zuzurechnen, ein bißchen in der Nachfolge von Poe. Es sind sehr bittere, zynische, teilweise auch makabere Geschichten.

Nun habe ich ihn mir mal den kompletten Bierce auf Englisch geholt. Was dabei positiv ist, daß Bierce teilweise Kurzgeschichten schreibt, die wirklich sehr sehr knapp sind, teilweise nur ein, zwei Seiten, was natürlich den Vorzug für einen deutschen Leser hat, daß die Konzentrationsspanne für einen deutschen Leser, der des Englischen nicht völlig mächtig ist, nicht so groß ist. Allerdings muß man sagen, daß Ambrose Bierce nicht immer das einfachste Englisch schreibt. Zwar sind seine Sätze selten übermäßig verschachtelt, aber er greift teilweise in ausgefallene Wortkisten auch von Wörtern, die schon etwas Staub angesetzt haben. Aber mit dem Kindl kann man sich ja die meisten Wörter übersetzen lassen.

Nun muß man allerdings sagen, daß Bierce ein toller Autor ist, man auf dem Kindl viel Platz hat, und Bierce als copyrightfreier alter Klassiker next to nothing zu bekommen ist, so daß ich diese sehr günstige Gesamtausgabe von Bierce allen Leuten, die ein passables Englisch können, dringend an's Herz legen möchte, zumal im Gegensatz etwa zu Edgar Allen Poe eine deutschsprachige Ausgabe des Bierce für den Kindl gar nicht zu bekommen ist.

Und wiegesagt, dieses etwas Makabere und Zynische, wobei Bierce als Mensch sicherlich alles andere als ein Zyniker war, nur die Welt oft sehr zynisch betrachtet hat, ist nicht nur literarisch sehr befriedigend, sondern auch sehr unterhaltsam. Es ist eine Literatur, die wirklich rein gar kein Fett angesetzt hat.
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Anselm
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Delphi collection - as usual
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2013
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I've got a rather large book that claims to be the complete Ambrose Bierce. Well, actually I HAD such a book. Now it's in the charity shop, thanks to this Delphi collection. No regrets, only one fabulous surprise after another as I discover whole rafts of items that weren't in the book. I didn't realise the guy wrote a manual of English usage, for example, or poetry. (Well, I say "poetry" - it's just the sort of cynicism you'd expect from him. Think of them as extended derogatory epitaphs. There's certainly nothing highfalutin or pretentious about them. They're just trenchantly funny.)

Bierce is one of those "niche" authors: he sticks to the cynicism he's best at, and that he does so superbly well. If you're in the mood to cock a snook at pretension, deceit, self-deception and every other form of human folly, Bierce is your man. In the short stories, this spills over into a very dark look indeed at humanity. Several of them end with what can only be described as a stinging slap in the face.

As well as the nearly complete works - three novellas, short stories, various essays and letters - there are the add-ons you'd expect from Delphi: a collection of highly enlightening criticism, articles and reviews on the great man. The collection is "nearly" complete because Bierce's most famous work, his "Devil's Dictionary" is missing many entries. It's the standard version published in the complete works in 1906 and 1911. Since then, a whole bunch of additional definitions have been found in various places and published in Penguin's "Enlarged Devil's Dictionary", which thus results in duplicate, or occasionally even triplicate, entries for the same word. That's twice, or occasionally thrice, the fun. I've alerted Delphi to this, and they say that they'll try to incorporate the extras in subsequent versions, which are as usual free, so there are no long-term worries about completeness.

I'd also suggest that the additional material should include Aesop's fables. This is because of Bierce's hilarious twistings of those tales in his "Aesopus Emendatus" (and in allegorical form in "Old Saws with New Teeth"). It would be great to have links between the two, so that you could read the original fable and then jump to Bierce's outrageous take on it.

If the foregoing isn't enough to lose the collection so much as a single star for me, then I certainly wouldn't subtract even the tip of one point for the most minor of formatting niggles: my fat fingers find it difficult on my Kindle Paperwhite to accurately tap individual items in the excellent interactive Table of Contents.

Hats off to Delphi, who have done their usual brilliant job at what I can only describe as an absurdly low price. With their free updates, each collection can only get better over time. If I were to review this one again in a year's time, on their present form I'd be expecting to give it six stars!
13 people found this helpful
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Cindy H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2018
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Far-reaching old classics.
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George Clarke
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Happy!
Reviewed in Canada on April 28, 2016
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Excellent!
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