Arnold Bennett Collections books in order

Arnold Bennett Collections gathers ten short story compilations published between 1905 and 2011, including early crime fiction, posthumous volumes, and recovered uncollected work.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 The Loot of Cities 1905 Arnold Bennett Buy
2 Elsie and the Child and Other Stories 1924 Arnold Bennett Buy
3 The Woman Who Stole Everything and Other Stories 1927 Arnold Bennett Buy
4 The Night Visitor and Other Stories 1931 Arnold Bennett Buy
5 The Penguin Arnold Bennett 1954 Arnold Bennett N/A
6 Polite Farces for the Drawing Room 1975 Arnold Bennett Buy
7 The Feud; The Lion’s Share; The Silent Brothers 2005 Arnold Bennett Buy
8 The Dog; The Elixir of Youth; The Baby’s Bath 2005 Arnold Bennett Buy
9 Lord Dover & Other Lost Stories 2011 Arnold Bennett Buy
10 Arnold Bennett’s Uncollected Short Stories, 1892-1932 2011 Arnold Bennett Buy

Arnold Bennett’s ten story collections span from The Loot of Cities (1905), an early set of crime tales about a wealthy adventurer, to Arnold Bennett’s Uncollected Short Stories, 1892-1932 (2011), which gathers work that had never appeared in book form.

The earlier collections include Elsie and the Child (1924) and The Woman Who Stole Everything (1927). The Night Visitor (1931) was published the year Bennett died. Later scholarly editions, including Lord Dover & Other Lost Stories (2011), have recovered pieces that fell out of print for decades. Polite Farces for the Drawing Room (1975) collects his lighter comic pieces. The collections are uneven in quality, as you would expect from such a prolific writer, but the best stories match the careful observation of his novels.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Arnold Bennett Collections series?

There are ten books in the Arnold Bennett Collections series, published between 1905 and 2011.

What is the first book in the Arnold Bennett Collections series?

The first book in the Arnold Bennett Collections series is The Loot of Cities, published in 1905.

Which Arnold Bennett collection is best to start with?

The Loot of Cities (1905) is a good starting point. It collects crime stories about a millionaire adventurer and shows a more entertaining side of Bennett than his realist novels.

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