Select Life and Works of George MacDonald (25 vols.)

by George MacDonald; Greville MacDonald; Joseph Johnson

Publishers:

Alexander Strahan & Co.; Longman; Strahan & Co.; Smith, Elder and Co.

and

13 more

, 1858–2019

Overview

The Select Life and Works of George MacDonald collection features works from every genre he contributed to. It presents MacDonld’s most famous sermon collections, fantasy novels, poetry, and short stories. The striking imagery of MacDonald’s work has made his stories widely adapted for film and theatre. Considered by many to be a pioneer—if not the father—of the modern fantasy novel, George MacDonald significantly influenced some of the most famous authors who have ever lived including Lewis Carroll, W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, E. Nesbit, Madeleine L’Engle, G. K. Chesterton, Oswald Chambers, Elizabeth Yates, Mark Twain, and C. S. Lewis. Several of these authors reference specific works included in this collection as particularly influential, including Phantastes, Lilith, At The Back of the Northwind, Unspoken Sermons, and David Elginbrod. The series also includes a critical but appreciative intellectual biography of MacDonald, as well as a moving account of George MacDoanld’s marriage to Louisa Powell MacDonald written by their eldest son, Greville MacDonald.

Key Features

• Provides 25 volumes of George MacDonald’s best fiction, poetry, and sermons
• Features George MacDonald’s most famous works, including Phantastes and Lilith
• Presents two biographical accounts of George MacDonald’s incredible life

Endorsements of George MacDonald

I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him . . . I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself. Hence his Christ like union of tenderness and severity. Nowhere else outside the New Testament have I found terror and comfort so intertwined.

—C. S. Lewis, chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Cambridge University

Surely, George MacDonald is the grandfather of us all—all who struggle to come to terms with truth through fantasy.

—Madeleine L’Engle, award-winning author, A Wrinkle in Time

Product Details

• Title: Select Life and Works of George MacDonald
• Authors: George MacDonald, Joseph Johnson, and Greville MacDonald
• Publication Datse: 1858–2019
• Volumes: 25
• Resources: 24
• Pages: 8,372
• Publication Date: 2001
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Resource ID: {83309DBF-C1C7-4EED-98B9-32E32206608C}

Epea Aptera: Unspoken Sermons

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Alexander Strahan
• Publication Date: 1867
• Pages: 245

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

George MacDonald’s Unspoken Sermons includes sermons arranged in a progressive series, building upon one another. Throughout the series MacDonald is more concerned with people developing a love of God than developing dogmas. His sermons are focused more on doing the will of God than believing true things about God. In volume one, MacDonald examines the characteristics of faith, God’s love, and God’s call to love others.

The purpose of Unspoken Sermons is to arouse the reader’s will so to choose, by imparting a clearer understanding of what God’s will is. It is not to argue doctrines intellectually. It is not to formulate a systematic theology. MacDonald’s insights are not for the mind alone, but for the heart. They afford the reader glimpses of truths which to the child-heart of the true Christian are undeniable.

—Rolland Hein, professor emeritus of English, Wheaton College

Epea Aptera: Unspoken Sermons, Second Series

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• Publication Date: 1885
• Pages: 317

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The second volume Unspoken Sermons presents practical studies on the nature of Christian life, prayer, the book of Job, and self-denial. MacDonald’s sermons are arranged in a progressive series, building upon one another. MacDonald is more concerned with a person developing a love of God than developing dogmas. His sermons focus more on doing the will of God than on believing true things about God.

My own debt to this book is almost as great as one man can owe to another: and nearly all serious inquirers to whom I have introduced it acknowledge that it has given them great help—sometimes indispensable help toward the very acceptance of the Christian faith.

—C. S. Lewis, chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Cambridge University

Epea Aptera: Unspoken Sermons, Third Series

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• Publication Date: 1889
• Pages: 262

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The third volume of Unspoken Sermons contains some of MacDonald’s most controversial theology, as well as his most moving sermons. Notable sermons include “Justice,” “Kingship,” and “Righteousness.” MacDonald also examines the nature of Christian conversion and apocalyptic themes. MacDonald’s sermons are arranged in a progressive series, building upon one another. Throughout the series, MacDonald is more concerned with a person developing a love of God than developing dogmas. His sermons are focused more on doing the will of God than believing true things about God.

The Miracles of Our Lord

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Strahan and Co.
• Publication Date: 1870
• Pages: 280

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The life of Jesus Christ speaks with equal force in word and deed. Yet, while most people know what Jesus said, his miracles are often perplexing to the modern mind. George MacDonald’s The Miracles of Our Lord shows that the deeds and words of Christ belong together and that they interpret and explain one another. Readers will encounter much in this book that challenges traditional teaching on Christ’s miracles, but they will also encounter profound examinations of Christ’s deeds from a unique perspective.

The Hope of the Gospel

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Ward, Lock, Bowden and Co.
• Publication Date: 1892
• Pages: 240

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In The Hope of the Gospel, George MacDonald examines the nature of the gospel, seeking to draw out its profound depths. MacDonald’s reflections invite readers to a deeper meditation on Scripture, and lead Christians toward a fuller ongoing meditation of the Gospel.

The Poetical Works of George MacDonald, vol. 1

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly
• Publication Date: 1893
• Pages: 438

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Combining sonnets, songs, and ballads, George MacDonald’s poetry explores life, faith, and myth. Offering poems of varying lengths—from book long epics such as Within Without, to shorter pieces such as “The Unseen Face”—MacDonald’s verse explores the depths of human existence, allowing readers to meditate on the unspoken aspects of human relationships and to ponder the encounter between God and humanity.

The Poetical Works of George MacDonald, vol. 2

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly
• Publication Date: 1893
• Pages: 424

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Combining sonnets, songs, and ballads, George MacDonald’s poetry explores life, faith, and myth. In the second volume of his Poetical Works, MacDonald demonstrates remarkable poetic dexterity that includes poetic commentary on Jesus’ parables, children’s poems, ditties, motes, and ballads. Individual highlights include “Little Boy Blue,” “Love’s Ordeal,” and “The Lily of the Valley.”

The Princess and the Goblin

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Blackie and Son
• Publication Date: 1911
• Pages: 308

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

One of the most influential novels of the Victorian age, George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin tells the story of Princess Irene and her friend Curdie. Together, they must outwit threatening Goblins who live in caves beneath Irene’s mountain home and wish to capture the princess and marry her to the goblin prince. Using fantasy as a literary device, MacDonald’s allegorical tale significantly influenced the fantasy stories of Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, Madeline L’Engle, and C. S. Lewis. This 1911 edition of the The Princess and the Goblin has long been this book’s most popular edition, and it remains in strong demand today.

I for one can really testify to a book that has made a difference to my whole existence . . . Of all the stories I have read, including even all the novels of the same novelist, it remains the most real, the most realistic, in the exact sense of the phrase the most like life. It is called The Princess and the Goblin and is by George MacDonald.

—G. K. Chesterton

The Princess and Curdie

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: J. B. Lippincott
• Publication Date: 1914
• Pages: 305

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The sequel to The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie picks up the story of Irene and Curdie, who now must overthrow a group of corrupt ministers who threaten Irene’s father, the King, and seek to poison him. Curdie is enjoined to embark upon a special quest, and special gifts, creatures, and adventure accompany him. The Princess and Curdie along with the Princess and the Goblin, cemented MacDonald’s reputation as a pioneer in fantasy fiction.

[T]he only English children’s book in the same class as the Alice books.

—W. H. Auden

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Smith, Elder and Co.
• Publication Date: 1858
• Pages: 323

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Among the most popular and influential of George MacDonald’s fantasy novels, Phantastes follows the story of Anodos and his adventures in fairyland. Mythic creatures, objects, and danger await Anodos as he confronts tree-spirits and the shadow, searches for the spirit of the earth, and resides in the palace of the fairy queen. Though influential on many authors, Phantastes transformed C. S. Lewis. Lewis affirmed its power over him in a 1962 interview with The Christian Century, listing Phantastes first among the books that influenced him most.

Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later, I knew that I had crossed a great frontier . . . I saw the bright shadow coming out of the book into the real world and resting there, transforming all common things and yet itself unchanged. Or, more accurately, I saw the common things drawn into the bright shadow.

—C. S. Lewis, chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Cambridge University

Lilith: A Romance

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly
• Publication Date: 1896
• Pages: 351

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Likely the most intricate and layered of MacDonald’s novels, Lilith explores the nature of life, death, and salvation. It has been noted as the darkest of MacDonald’s works for its exploration of eternal sleep and the torture of souls. The novel also leads the reader through the healing of souls and eternal salvation. MacDonald brings all of these themes to vivid life through the memorable protagonist, Mr. Vane, as well as the mysterious Mr. Raven and Lilith. Like Phantastes, Lilith also influenced C. S. Lewis, and in his book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, he pays tribute to MacDonald by making Lilith a primary ancestor of the White Witch.

What he does best is fantasy—fantasy that hovers between the allegorical and the mythopoeic. This, in my opinion, he does better than any man.

—C. S. Lewis, chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Cambridge University

Adela Cathcart, vol. 1

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
• Publication Date: 1864
• Pages: 140

Adela Cathcart is the story of a girl in deep depression. Her uncle, who is also the book’s narrator, visits over Christmas and devises a plan to revitalize her life. This plan is to get some of the local people together and have them tell short stories. Soon they realize the power of the stories, and the more beautiful the stories are, the more powerful their effect. MacDonald presents both the main story of Adela Cathcart and the complete short stories told by the characters in the book. He creates a rich, integrated and tension-filled narrative which provides telling revelations about MacDonald’s own theological and philosophical views. This first edition of the first volume of Adela Cathcart contains several stories removed from later editions including The Light Princess and The Golden Key.

Adela Cathcart, vol. 2

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
• Publication Date: 1864
• Pages: 320

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Adela Cathcart is the story of a girl in deep depression. Her uncle, who is also the book’s narrator, visits over Christmas and devises a plan to revitalize her life. This plan is to get some of the local people together and have them tell short stories. Soon they realize the power of the stories, and the more beautiful the stories are, the more powerful their effect. MacDonald presents both the main story of Adela Cathcart and the complete short stories told by the characters in the book. He creates a rich, integrated and tension-filled narrative which provides telling revelations about MacDonald’s own theological and philosophical views.

Adela Cathcart, vol. 3

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
• Publication Date: 1864
• Pages: 360

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Adela Cathcart is the story of a girl in deep depression. Her uncle, who is also the book’s narrator, visits over Christmas and devises a plan to revitalize her life. This plan is to get some of the local people together and have them tell short stories. Soon they realize the power of the stories, and the more beautiful the stories are, the more powerful their effect. MacDonald presents both the main story of Adela Cathcart and the complete short stories told by the characters in the book. He creates a rich, integrated and tension-filled narrative which provides telling revelations about MacDonald’s own theological and philosophical views.

Alec Forbes of Howglen, vol. 1

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
• Publication Date: 1865
• Pages: 304

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

First published in 1865, Alec Forbes of Howglen is a fictional account of life in the Scottish countryside. Unlike many of MacDonald’s novels, Alec Forbes of Howglen is intended for adults, and examines life in Victorian Scotland. He presents a world filled with harsh demands but redeemed by an ethereal romanticism found within human experience.

The whole story is one of surpassing excellence and beauty.

—Daily News

Alec Forbes ... is very enjoyable, and the character of Annie Anderson is one of the most delightful I have ever met with in fiction.

—Lewis Carroll, author, Alice in Wonderland

Alec Forbes of Howglen, vol. 2

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
• Publication Date: 1865
• Pages: 300

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

First published in 1865, Alec Forbes of Howglen is a fictional account of life in the Scottish countryside. Unlike many of MacDonald’s novels, Alec Forbes of Howglen is intended for adults, and examines life in Victorian Scotland. He presents a world filled with harsh demands but redeemed by an ethereal romanticism found within human experience.

Alec Forbes of Howglen, vol. 3

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Hurst and Blackett
• Publication Date: 1865
• Pages: 300

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

First published in 1865, Alec Forbes of Howglen is a fictional account of life in the Scottish countryside. Unlike many of MacDonald’s novels, Alec Forbes of Howglen is intended for adults, and examines life in Victorian Scotland. He presents a world filled with harsh demands but redeemed by an ethereal romanticism found within human experience.

St. George and St. Michael

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: C. Kegan Paul and Co.
• Publication Date: 1878
• Pages: 432

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

An early historical novel, St. George and St. Michael tells the story of a young couple who find themselves on opposite sides of the bloody English Civil War. King and Parliament are at a standoff, the Church of England and Puritan dissenters are at odds, and young Dorothy Vaughan—who knows nothing of the conflict—is convinced that her loyalty must be to her king and nation. Her conviction compels her to demand that her life-long friend and fiancée, Richard Heywood, side with her, but he finds that his own political and spiritual convictions lie with his Puritan father. Though Richard and Dorothy both want to do what is right, both agonize over what to do and find that they cannot give up their conscience.

Salted with Fire: A Story of a Minister

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company
• Publication Date: 1897
• Pages: 324

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Salted with Fire is the story of a young aspiring minister who finds himself in the midst of an impulsive and consuming romance, which intially interfered with his life—and his vocational calling. After bouts with sin and much testing or “salting with fire,” he overcomes his obstacles and is genuinely united with the girl he loves. Readers will find this relatively simple story to be among the most difficult of MacDonald’s work to read. Rich in description of the Scottish countryside, it is also replete with local dialects and cultural references.

At the Back of the North Wind

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: J. B. Lippincott
• Publication Date: 1909
• Pages: 352

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Considered by some to be George MacDonald’s masterpiece, At the Back of the North Wind tells the story of a young man named Diamond. Everywhere he goes, joy follows. Soon he befriends the beautiful North Wind whom he meets while trying to stop a winter wind from blowing through his bedroom. Together they go on many adventures, and Diamond watches as the North Wind helps people, but also does seemingly cruel things, such as sinking ships. Throughout, each character and the events they experience represent significant theological and existential themes such as life, death, and the nature of eternity. Provoking the mind with alluring imagery and striking stories, At the Back of the Northwind is a powerful story that asks some of humanity’s most perennially poignant questions.

The Elect Lady

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Kegan, Paul, Trench and Co.
• Publication Date: 1888
• Pages: 345

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In most of George MacDonald’s novels, theological and existential motifs provide the context within and the substance that determines the character of MacDonald’s fictional subjects. The Elect Lady continues this allegorical approach through the character of Andrew, a poor but scholarly and godly man, as well as Dawtie and Alexa.

David Elginbrod

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Loring
• Publication Date: 1872
• Pages: 459

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

David Elginbrod is George MacDonald’s first novel to illuminate existential themes through stories set in the Scottish countryside. In the novel, MacDonald focuses on two morally exemplary people—a dignified and pious Scottish peasant and his daughter. He traces the challenges they encounter living in rural Scotland and imbues their experiences with a high level of mysticism.

David Elginbrod is the finest character we have met in fiction for many a day. The descriptions of natural scenery are vivid, truthful, and artistic; the general reflections are those of a refined, thoughtful, and poetical philosopher, and the whole moral atmosphere of the book is lofty, pure, and invigorating.

—Globe

A Dish of Orts: Chiefly Papers on the Imagination, and On Shakespeare

• Author: George MacDonald
• Publisher: Sampson Low Marston and Co.
• Publication Date: 1895
• Pages: 322

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Despite the self-deprecating title MacDonald assigned to this work, A Dish of Orts presents pieces of wisdom on the arts and the human imagination from one of the nineteenth century’s greatest sages. MacDonald provides unique perspectives on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Wordsworth’s poetry, the imagination, and the Christian ministry.

George MacDonald: A Biographical and Critical Appreciation

• Author: Joseph Johnson
• Publisher: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons
• Publication Date: 1906
• Pages: 302

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Written by George MacDonald’s close friend Joseph Johnson, George MacDonald: A Biographical and Critical Appreciation examines the various public roles MacDonald occupied during his life. Johnson begins with an examination of MacDonald’s early and formative years, then shifts to examine his writing, ideas, and achievements. Predominantly concerned with intellectual matters, the author intentionally avoids MacDonald’s private life out of respect for MacDonald’s wishes to keep his family away from the public eye.

Joseph Johnson was a writer, historian, and close friend of George MacDonald.

 

George MacDonald and His Wife

• Author: Greville MacDonald
• Publisher: George Allen and Unwin
• Publication Date: 1924
• Pages: 619

Greville MacDonald’s biographical account of his mother and father’s marriage first appeared in 1924 at the George MacDonald Centenary Celebration. Married for more than 50 years, MacDonald and his wife Louisa Powell MacDonald created a rich home environment for their children and participated in a remarkable marriage that contributed significantly to George MacDonald’s understanding of love and to his literature.

Greville MacDonald (1856–1944) was George MacDonald’s eldest son. After his father’s death he became a noted doctor, a pioneer of the Peasant Arts movement, and wrote numerous fairy tales for children. He kept a watchful eye on his father’s books, ensuring that they continued to be published in new editions during his lifetime.

 

About George MacDonald

George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and minister. Though he only achieved wide-spread fame posthumously, his work—especially his poignant fairy tales—was highly influential on many of the twentieth century’s most important writers, including Lewis Carroll, W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, E. Nesbit, Madeleine L’Engle, G. K. Chesterton, Oswald Chambers, and Elizabeth Yates. C. S. Lewis openly regarded MacDonald as his “master.” MacDonald was educated at Aberdeen and Highbury College. He was raised in the Congregationalist Church, but was uncomfortable with some Reformed doctrines, and he at times departed from Calvinist orthodoxy.