Hans Christian Andersen

George Eliot

Ivan Turgenev

Victor Hugo

Honoré Balzac

Jane Austen

Henry James

Edgar Alan Poe

Aesop

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Washington Irving

Mark Twain

Miguel de Cervantes

Leo Tolstoy

Oliver Goldsmith

Tacitus

Robert Louis Stevenson

Voltaire

Charles Darwin

Herodotus

William Shakespeare

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Robert Browning

Homer

Guy de Maupassant

Daniel Defoe

David Hume

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Jonathan Swift

Niccolo Machiavelli

Alphonse Daudet

William Makepeace Thackeray

Aeschylus

Richard Henry Dana

Adam Smith

John Bunyan

Dante Alighieri

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Hobbes

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Walter Scott

George Gordon Byron

Benvenuto Cellini

Thomas More

John Dryden

Plutarch

Virgil

Blaise Pascal

John Milton

Plato

Henry David Thoreau

John Stuart Mill

Thomas Malory

Robert Burns

René Descartes

Henry Fielding

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

John Webster

Euripides

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Edmund Burke

Leigh Hunt

Laurence Sterne

Marcus Aurelius

Michel de Montaigne

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Sophocles

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Wilhelm Grimm

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Immanuel Kant

Izaak Walton

Bret Harte

Charles Lamb

Marcus Tullius Cicero

John Locke

Martin Luther

George Berkeley

Molière

Thomas à Kempis

George Sand

Jean Froissart

Francis Bacon

Hippocrates

Thomas De Quincey

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Alexander L. Kielland

Samuel Johnson

James Russell Lowell

Epictetus

Friedrich von Schiller

Aristophanes

Christopher Marlowe

Saint Augustine

Thomas Dekker

William Penn

Thomas Carlyle

Michael Faraday

Walter Raleigh

The Harvard Classics Shelf presents an unparalleled literary voyage that spans centuries and continents, uniting the canonical giants of Western thought with influential literary voices. This anthology showcases an array of genres and styles—from philosophical dissertations and theatrical masterpieces to poignant essays and heralded novels. The collection is a testament to the enduring power of the human mind, comprising remarkable pieces such as Plato's profound dialogues, Shakespeare's timeless dramas, and Twain's incisive humor, each contributing a unique luminescence to this ever-relevant compendium. The anthology doesn't merely reflect literary brilliance; it encapsulates the evolution of human understanding and societal values. Curated by erudite figures like Charles W. Eliot, this assembly draws from a wide historical spectrum to provide insights into pivotal cultural and intellectual movements. Reflecting the genres of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romanticism, and beyond, contributors such as Voltaire, Descartes, and Darwin represent an impressive geographical and philosophical range. These authors, through their collective legacies, engage in an intellectual dialogue that traverses national boundaries, providing multifaceted perspectives on perennial themes such as morality, existentialism, and the human condition itself. The Harvard Classics Shelf is not just a collection but an intellectual odyssey, perfect for scholars, students, and casual readers alike, seeking to immerse themselves in the profound dialogues and narratives that have shaped literary and intellectual traditions. This anthology offers an exceptional opportunity to encounter myriad perspectives and enrich one's understanding of world literature and philosophy. Moreover, it provides a platform for cross-temporal discourse, inviting readers to recognize the interconnectedness of these works and their continued relevance today.

DigiCat

The Harvard Classics Shelf: All 51 Volumes of Essential Classics + 20 Volumes of the Greatest Works of Fiction