Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author's brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted 'Top Tens' across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions - Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

Across the globe many European nations are trading with and conquering new lands in a frantic burst of Empire building. At home, governments and societies eye one another with alarm, greed and even fear. What will tomorrow bring? For literature its sons and daughters, of whatever tongue, are bringing new stories with new ambitions to the eyes and ears of a hungry public.

1 - The Top 10 - The 1880's - The Europeans - An Introduction
2 - How Much Land Does A Man Need by Leo Tolstoy
3 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 1 by Oscar Wilde
4 - Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Part 2 by Oscar Wilde
5 - Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson
6 - The Kiss by Anton Chekhov
7 - The Daughter of Lilith by Anatole France
8 - A Legend of Old Egypt by Boleslaw Prus
9 - Cohen of Trinity by Amy Levy
10 - Arachne by Marcel Schwob
11 - Cavalleria Rusticana by Giovanni Verga
12 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin