Harvard Classics: Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf

[Toonces]

I found this link after reading an article online about Teddy Roosevelt's library.  This link takes you to the full collection of the Harvard Classics, available to read online or download in a variety of formats, pdf, Kindle, etc.

https://archive.org/details/harvardclassics

Info on the Five Foot Shelf:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Classics

The Harvard Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, is a 51-volume anthology of classic works from world literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot and first published in 1909.[1]

Eliot had stated in speeches that the elements of a liberal education could be obtained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. (Originally he had said a three-foot shelf.) The publisher P. F. Collier and Son saw an opportunity and challenged Eliot to make good on this statement by selecting an appropriate collection of works, and the Harvard Classics was the result.

Eliot worked for one year with William A. Neilson, a professor of English; Eliot determined the works to be included and Neilson selected the specific editions and wrote introductory notes.[1] Each volume had 400-450 pages, and the included texts are "so far as possible, entire works or complete segments of the world's written legacies."[2] The collection was widely advertised by Collier and Son, in Collier's and elsewhere, with great success.

[airboy]

I own this for Kindle.  I think I paid $5 for it.  My copy is fully indexed, which is essential for a file that big.

There is a ton of very good books in this series.  And the selection of the books themselves tell you quite a bit about "high middlebrow" thought of the time. 

My parents had a copy of these.  I did not pick them up when they died because they got musty after 75 years or so.  God Bless Kindles and all other e-readers!

[Toonces]

My mom has my dad's hardback collection at her house still.  She boxed them up for me, but I'm waiting until I figure out where my final move is to before I decide whether or not to keep them.  No way I'm hauling all those books to Hawaii, kindle is just too much more practical.  They sure look great on the shelf, though.   :nerd: