Delphi Complete Harvard Classics and Shelf of Fiction

by Charles William Eliot (Editor)

Regarded by many as the most comprehensive anthology of all time, ‘The Harvard Classics’ was first published in 1909 under the supervision of the Harvard president Charles W. Eliot. An esteemed academic, Eliot had argued that the elements of a liberal education could be gained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. The publisher P. F. Collier challenged Eliot to make good on this statement and ‘Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf’ was the result. Eight years later Eliot added a further 20 volumes as a sub-collection titled ‘The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction’, offering some of the greatest novels and short stories of world literature. The exhaustive anthology of the ‘The Harvard Classics’ comprises every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject up to the twentieth century. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete anthology, with Eliot’s original introductions, numerous illustrations, rare texts and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to life and works of the authors featured in the anthology
* All 51 volumes of ‘The Harvard Classics’
* Eliot’s original concise introductions
* The complete 20 volume edition of ‘The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction’
* Eliot’s general introduction to the anthology (Volume 50)
* Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Major works include the original illustrations that accompanied the text
* Easily locate the chapters and sections you want to read with individual contents tables
* Precise arrangement of texts into the original anthology order
* A veritable digital library comprised in a single eBook!

Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to see the full contents - too many titles to list fully here.

CONTENTS:

Vol. 1: FRANKLIN, WOOLMAN, PENN
Vol. 2. PLATO, EPICTETUS, MARCUS AURELIUS
Vol. 3. BACON, MILTON’S PROSE, THOS. BROWNE
Vol. 4. COMPLETE POEMS IN ENGLISH, MILTON
Vol. 5. ESSAYS AND ENGLISH TRAITS, EMERSON
Vol. 6. POEMS AND SONGS, BURNS
Vol. 7. CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, IMITATION OF CHRIST
Vol. 8. NINE GREEK DRAMAS
Vol. 9. LETTERS AND TREATISES OF CICERO AND PLINY
Vol. 10. WEALTH OF NATIONS, ADAM SMITH
Vol. 11. ORIGIN OF SPECIES, DARWIN
Vol. 12. PLUTARCH’S LIVES
Vol. 13. AENEID, VIRGIL
Vol. 14. DON QUIXOTE, PART 1, CERVANTES
Vol. 15. PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, DONNE & HERBERT, BUNYAN, WALTON
Vol. 16. THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
Vol. 17. FOLKLORE AND FABLE, AESOP, GRIMM, ANDERSON
Vol. 18. MODERN ENGLISH DRAMA
Vol. 19. FAUST, EGMONT, ETC. DOCTOR FAUSTUS, GOETHE, MARLOWE
Vol. 20. THE DIVINE COMEDY, DANTE
Vol. 21. I PROMESSI SPOSI, MANZONI
Vol. 22. THE ODYSSEY, HOMER
Vol. 23. TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, DANA
Vol. 24. ON THE SUBLIME, FRENCH REVOLUTION, ETC., BURKE
Vol. 25. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ETC., ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES, J.S. MILL, T. CARLYLE
Vol. 26. CONTINENTAL DRAMA
Vol. 27. ENGLISH ESSAYS: SIDNEY TO MACAULAY
Vol. 28. ESSAYS: ENGLISH AND AMERICAN
Vol. 29. VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE, DARWIN
Vol. 30. FARADAY, HELMHOLTZ, KELVIN, NEWCOMB, ETC
Vol. 31. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BENVENUTO CELLINI
Vol. 32. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS
Vol. 33. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS
Vol. 34. FRENCH AND ENGLISH PHILOSOPHERS
Vol. 35. CHRONICLE AND ROMANCE
Vol. 36.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Reference, Literature, Philosophy, Amazon, Poetry

40335 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 1722

About the author

Charles William Eliot was an American academic who was selected as Harvard's president in 1869. He transformed the provincial college into the preeminent American research university. Eliot served the longest term as president in the university's history.

Reviews

[Jo Walton]

I'm going to be reading this for a long long time, so I'll update as I go.

1) Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Reread. I wish he'd finished it, it's great, and was as delightful to read again as it was the first time. I get the feeling that if he'd finished it I would understand and feel more sympathetic towards the US Revolution. Lovely, even in unfinished form.

2) Journal of John Woolman. Well, I'd never have picked this up, so this compilation justifies itself already. A Quaker who decided that slavery was wrong and went around telling people so, very earnest and sincere and full of moral courage and slightly odd opinions-- he was also against dye in clothes -- and convinced Quakers to quit practicing and endorsing and profiting by slavery, because it was wrong. Who says people can't make a difference? Not exactly a fun read, but I'm glad I have read it.

N.B. I'm going to be reading this essentially forever. That's OK, but I'm still no more than 1% of the way through.

3) William Penn The Fruits of Solitude. Well, that was a yawnfest of proverbs. Glad to be done with that.

4) Plato, Apology. I have read it a million times and this is not an exciting translation. Skipping.

5) Plato, Crito. I practically know it by heart. Skipping.

6) Plato, Phaedo. I absolutely agee with the inclusion of these, though actually I might have put the Phaedrus and the Symposium instead of the Crito and the Phaedo if anyone had asked me. But still skipping.

7) Epictetus, The Golden Sayings.

8) The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet Baby Jesus...
I actually finished this behemoth!!!

It will take me a year to decompress after this.
This endeavor was more grueling than when I tried to swim across Lake Erie from Cleveland to Canada when I was 17. That damn near killed me, but it was over sooner!

In the meantime, now probably could figure out how to end hunger and have world peace.

Yeah, if only.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this at Delphi publishing site about the Harvard Classic offering and has to have it, though I am not quite sure how many books I will read before I die but as I read at my convince and definitely not in order. I just have to mention after watching a "Waltons" tv episode earlier this year where John Boy wants to buy the whole Harvard Classic Collection of books with his mother's help. I had recently seen that this edition would be coming out before seeing the show but the show cliched it for me. The Walton paid dearly for them but today electronically, it is very inexpensive.
My reviews are listed under the title of the book but I will read from here and highlight/ take notes. Great navigation in this Kindle version!

[Chainsaw]

As this is a collection of 71 different works (which will take me a VERY long time to read), I've decided to update this review as I work my way through the collection.

1. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" - Recommended! Quite an interesting read.

2. "The Journal" by John Woolman - A first-hand view of life in colonial America in the mid-1700s by a Quaker who traveled extensively through his adult life. Woolman's journal focuses largely on his own walk of faith and how it intersected with topics including civil government and, primarily, the use and abuse of slave and poor labor in his time. A worthy read.

3. "Fruits of Solitude" by William Penn - A collection of brief, typically single-sentence statements, grouped by topics such as "The Wise Man," Of Ambition," "Of State," and "Of Charity." Many of these will reinforce the thoughts of a reader of moral character, and surprisingly few are outdated. Worth reviewing.

4. "The Apology (of Socrates)" by Plato - A fictional account of Socrates' defense in 399BC against charges of "corrupting the youth" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes." Though the text provides sufficient information for a reader to build a reasonable picture of what is happening in the trial, it probably would be of benefit to scan the related Wikipedia article [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apology...] before reading "The Apology." (Alas, this reader did not.) While the account of the trial and Socrates' defense may not be of particular interest to a reader, the use of logic and interrogation within that defense are instructive. Worth reading.

5. "Crito" by Plato - An account of Crito's plea to Socrates to allow Crito and others to facilitate Socrates' escape from prison and his impending execution. Good reading for the Socratic logic and his commitment as a citizen to leave himself subject to the laws and judgments of the government to which he has committed himself throughout his life, even when those judgments are flawed, as was the case in his death sentence.

6. "Phaedo" by Plato - A Socratic dialogue concerning the immortality of the soul. An interesting, if lengthy and flawed, discussion between Socrates and others just prior to his suicide by poison to avoid execution. 2 stars.

7. "The Golden Sayings," by Epictetus - In Progress.

[Joan Prout · Rating 5 out of 5]

I owned the hard-cover collection and carted them around the US for 40+ years. The ebook version is so much more manageable.

[TimetoFangirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I rated this five stars (^^ see?) not in respect to the content since I haven't read the entire thing - it's like 38,000 pages - but just the value. You can get a huge amount of some of literature's greatest works for $1.99? Insane.

[Darta]

Completed: Volume 1:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (also called "His Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin") - 5/5
The Journal of John Woolman - 4/5
Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims by William Penn - 4/5

Volume 2:
The Apology, Phaedo, and Crito by Plato - 4/5
The Golden Sayings by Epictetus - 4/5
The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - 4/5

The Harvard Classics Shelf of Finction:
Vol 11: The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - 3.5/5

[Zoltan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reproduction

I added this to my Kindle library, not certain of the reproduction quality. I was looking for something else so I don’t plan to start reading till I’m done reading what I was looking for. I did check the quality of the reproduction and am pleased to report, so far so good.

[Laura Alexander · Rating 1 out of 5]

This version of The Complete Harvard Classics (Kindle Edition), did not work on my fairly new Kindle Paperwhite. It caused the Kindle to malfunction, would not keep the page I read to, prevented my Kindle from turning off, was VERY slow, often did not turn pages, went to white blank screen often, and other bizarre occurrences. I thought my Kindle was the problem, but all other books on it work fine. No matter what I did: restart, charge, trouble shoot, etc. these problems persisted. I have tried to search which version of this book works best on Kindle, and find this version highly recommended. Not so for me!! This is the only forum I found to warn future purchasers. I’ll try another version, hope that works. Regards

[Jim]

So one can get the complete Harvard Classics set on Kindle for 99 cents.

Am I reading this ??? Unlikely will complete this but feel like I want to put it on my currently reading list to remind me. Note some 30 plus years ago I bought a set in a Cambridge bookstore for 100 bucks and it has been collecting dust....

If I make any progress I will update here.
One can also get a kindle edition of the great books of the western world Part 1 and 2 for a total of 6 bucks. Wild .....

[Tony Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good compilation of must read texts.

[john Calkin]

Didn't read.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably didn't finish 37000 pages but I've finished many.

[Sortior · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the two years of reading

From Ancient Greece to mid 1800s the literature
that western civilization is based upon. Happy reading. Worth the time and the effort

[David Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Luis Cervantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

⛽️

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many typos! Needs better editing.
Got rid of it on my iPad.

[Mark Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning collection available at your fingertips

This collection could keep me occupied for more than a decade.
When I'm looking for something else to read I can always find something new in here.
I am a big fan of western civilization and this is a wonderful, curated source of learning, complete with scholarly commentary.
I gave it a 4 instead of 5 star because I believe that many of the original texts would have images pictures maps and these volumes are all text, hardly any graphics.

[AJ Flamingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating for Franklin’s Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin was a wise man. His story of self-improvement and his ideas which he put into action are as relevant today as they were two centuries plus ago.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not something you read through; it is to be browsed over time. I have a hardbound set for nearly 50 years so I've read most of it. Got the Kindle set just to have for browsing too whenever I am out and about.

[Jaqueline E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

corrupted text in this 2022 edition

A joking editor substituted crass language in place of the original text in volume 8 “nine Greek dramas” in the last story called “the frogs”. Otherwise it is an excellent series.

[James P · Rating 4 out of 5]

No table of contents

I can't find any table of contents, so it is almost impossible to find anything in this book. If there's one it needs to be at the beginning.

[Daniel Loween · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title... That's pretty much my review

[George Huddleston]

No

[Joan D]

Actually, I am just reading Oliver Twist, not the whole Harvard Classics, and enjoying it immensely.