Harvard Classics Complete 52 Volume Set: Vols. 1-50 plus Lectures and Reading Guide (The Five-Foot Shelf of Books) (Registered Edition / Edition Deluxe)

Fifty-two hardcover volumes -- vols. 1-50, plus the Lectures and Reading Guide. 8vo. Original bindings, gilt titles and decorations, blind-stamped Veritas seal and borders. The definitive Harvard Classics collection, also known as the Five-Foot Shelf of Books, is a monument to the world's great works of literature and history, and has been eagerly collected since it was first published in 1909. "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 that was first published in 1909. Eliot, then President of Harvard University, 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 him to make good on this statement by selecting an appropriate collection of works; the Harvard Classics was the result. Eliot worked for one year together 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. Each volume had 400 to 450 pages or so; and the included texts are "so far as possible, entire works or complete segments of the world's written legacies." INCLUDES: Vol. 1: FRANKLIN, WOOLMAN, PENN: His Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin; Journal, by John Woolman; Fruits of Solitude, by William Penn; Vol. 2. PLATO, EPICTETUS, MARCUS AURELIUS: The Apology, Phædo and Crito, by Plato; The Golden Sayings, by Epictetus; The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius; Vol. 3. BACON, MILTON'S PROSE, THOS. BROWNE: Essays, Civil and Moral & The New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon; Areopagitica & Tractate of Education, by John Milton; Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne; Vol. 4. COMPLETE POEMS IN ENGLISH, MILTON: Complete Poems Written in English, by John Milton; Vol. 5. ESSAYS AND ENGLISH TRAITS, EMERSON: Essays and English Traits, by Ralph Waldo Emerson; Vol. 6. POEMS AND SONGS, BURNS: Poems and Songs, by Robert Burns; Vol. 7. CONFESSIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, IMITATIONS OF CHRIST: The Confessions of St. Augustine; The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis; Vol. 8. NINE GREEK DRAMAS: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Furies & Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus; Oedipus the King & Antigone, by Sophocles; Hippolytus, The Bacchæ, by Euripides; The Frogs, by Aristophanes; Vol. 9. LETTERS AND TREATISES OF CICERO AND PLINY: On Friendship, On Old Age & Letters, by Cicero; Letters, by Pliny the Younger; Vol. 10. WEALTH OF NATIONS, ADAM SMITH: Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith; Vol. 11. ORIGIN OF SPECIES, DARWIN: The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin; Vol. 12. PLUTARCH'S LIVES: Lives, by Plutarch; Vol. 13. AENEID, VIRGIL: Aeneid, by Virgil; Vol. 14. DON QUIXOTE, Part 1, CERVANTES: Don Quixote, Part 1, by Cervantes; Vol. 15. PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, DONNE & HERBERT, BUNYAN, WALTON: The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan; The Lives of Donne and Herbert, by Izaak Walton; Vol. 16. THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS: Stories from the Thousand and One Nights; Vol. 17. FOLKLORE AND FABLE, AESOP, GRIMM, ANDERSON: Fables, by Aesop; Household Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen; Vol. 18. MODERN ENGLISH DRAMA: All for Love, by John Dryden; The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan; She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith; The Cenci, by Percy Bysshe Shelley; A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, by Robert Browning; Manfred, by Lord Byron; Vol. 19. FAUST, EGMONT, ETC. DOCTOR FAUSTUS, GOETHE, MARLOWE: Faust, Part I, Egmont & Hermann and Dorothea, by J.W. von Goethe; Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe; Vol. 20. THE DIVINE COMEDY, DANTE: The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri; Vol. 21. I PROMESSI SPOSI: I Promessi Sposi, by Alessandro Manzoni; Vol. 22. THE ODYSSEY, HOMER: The