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We’ve recently discussed authors whose entire catalogs you’ve read (and boy was it a fun discussion!)…but what about collections of literature by multiple authors? One of the ultimate literary collections is the Harvard Classics (aka Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Shelf) — my family owns two complete sets, but I have to admit I’ve only read a few volumes. Writer Christopher R. Beha is spending a year with the Harvard Classics, which amounts to roughly one volume each week. (Be sure to read Beha’s reasons for engaging in the project.)
What are the Harvard Classics? According to the Wikipedia entry:
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.
Dr. 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.”
Beha’s year with the Classics is documented on a web site entitled The Whole Five Feet. He’s currently on Volume 34, which includes selections by Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Hobbes. Beha is discussing each volume as he completes it, making for a pretty impressive body of summaries.
If you’re keen to spend some time with the Classics, you can find lots of complete Harvard Classics sets for less money than you’d expect. If you don’t want to buy (and lug around) all those books, the complete text of the Harvard Classics is available for free online from Bartleby.com. Seriously — the whole thing, free, as web pages.
So, dear readers, have you ever engaged in a project like Beha’s — reading a major series or collection of books? I have to admit, the closest I got was when I decided to read all the Harry Potter books (I held out until late 2006, then read them all over the course of six weeks). I’ve occasionally fantasized about reading The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection (which I might term “the whole 77 feet”), but I think the Harvard Classics are a more achievable goal. Maybe I’ll get started when I finish my current six-foot “to read” shelf.
Comments (11)
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The closest I’ve come to reading a collection was reading the entire set of “The Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire”.
And when i don’t have any new books to read, I usually re-read the 10 book set from David Eddings; “The Belgariad” and “The Mallorean” series.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 10-3-2007 at 4:36 pm
my husband made me read the entire lord of the rings trilogy and the hobbit when the peter jackson movies were about to come out. it took just about forever, and i was almost in tears of agony by the end of the hobbit. i regularly read classic literature, but those were the hardest to physically get through. it felt like i was reading a textbook. must be a boy thing. after i finished the books i had leverage to get my husband to watch the bbc series “bleak house” with me. we both enjoyed it, but i don’t think i could get him to actually read dickens.
posted by lindsay m on 10-3-2007 at 4:40 pm
Lord of the Rings a boy thing??? I fell madly in love with Aragorn, the ideal man. I don’t know how many times I’ve read the trilogy, loving it every time.
I read Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia when I was a kid. It was a children’s encyclopedia, and quite reader friendly. It started or fostered, I’m not sure which, a life-long love of history. It also lead to the sobriquet Walking Encyclopedia.
posted by Barbara on 10-3-2007 at 8:43 pm
I stumbled on the Complete Writings of John Burroughs in a library, beginning with Birds and Poets, and after reading it I was hooked. I began looking for similar sets for sale and eventually found one (in the days before ebay). It didn’t take me long to read through all 23, and I still go back to re-read some of my favorite volumes. The man was way ahead of his time, especially in his views on religion and it is a mystery to me why he is not more widely read today.
posted by john b on 10-4-2007 at 6:28 am
There’s no way Lord of the Rings is only a “boy thing.” I’ve read Tolkien many times, too many to count, and fell in love with his work instantly. However, if you want something a little more “textbook,” try the Silmarillion.
posted by Brynde on 10-4-2007 at 6:57 am
I would pick up and read random volumes in the World Book Encyclopedia, but never read the whole collection straight through. So I guess the only collection I’ve read is my own that I’ve accumulated over the years.
posted by Meagan on 10-4-2007 at 7:00 am
I also have a full set of the Harvard Classics that my parents had forever and then gave me. I have thought many times about reading all of them but I just don’t have the time or commitment to read all of them. In the 7 years that I have had the full set I’ve probably only read 5 of them.
posted by Marta on 10-4-2007 at 8:05 am
I’ve read every book by Dickens and Dostoevsky. Also Jane Austen and Tolstoy. When I find authors I really like, I tend to try to get my hands on all their novels.
I tried to read all of the Tolkien books, but I really could not finish The Silmarillion.
posted by jenni on 10-4-2007 at 10:22 am
When it comes to compilations, I’ve read all of Thieves World, Wild Cards and Heroes in Hell.
posted by TerryS on 10-4-2007 at 11:25 am
If I could afford it — I would love to read the complete LIBRARY OF AMERICA — which is exclusively US Authors (although not all are complete works).
How about Will Durant’s 11-volume STORY OF CIVILIZATION? I have begun it. He suggests in the first volume, read only 1 per month. Ha. I forgot to add — I’ve begun it twice.
posted by WizardBoy on 10-4-2007 at 12:23 pm
I’ve read the whole canon of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes — that’s just 56 short stories and 4 novellas, though. Not too tough. It’s a wonderful read and a great insight into life in the late 19th and early 20th c. and what interested popular readers (especially British) readers of the day.
I’m currently reading 2 monumental series (I alternate) by Winston Churchill: I’m about 3/4 through his 4 volume History of the English Speaking Peoples (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_English-Speaking_Peoples) and about half through his mammoth (4500 pages?) The Second World War (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_World_War_%28Churchill%29). Dang, this guy could write!!! His prose and choice of language is engrossing. Both are wonderful series and (although still in print) quite readily available in the used book market.
Kudos for WizardBoy metioning the WIll Durant series. I’ve been picking them up at used bookstores and gar(b)age sales, but haven’t started reading it yet (other then some from the Christ and Caesar volume). The Durants wrote some very engrossing history.
posted by Sid Morrison on 10-5-2007 at 9:19 am