Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 01 — Fiction By: Arthur Mee (1875-1943) |
---|
![]()
FICTION JOINT EDITORS
ARTHUR MEE
Editor and Founder of the Book of Knowledge J. A. HAMMERTON
Editor of Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia MCMX Table of Contents ABOUT, EDMOND
King of the Mountains AINSWORTH, HARRISON
Tower of London ANDERSEN, HANS
Improvisatore APULEIUS
The Golden Ass ARABIAN NIGHTS AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE AUERBACH, BERTHOLD
On the Height AUSTEN, JANE
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Northanger Abbey
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion BALZAC, HONORÉ DE
Eugénie Grandet
Old Goriot
Magic Skin
Quest of the Absolute BECKFORD, WILLIAM
History of the Caliph Vathek BEHN, APHRA
Oroonoko BERGERAC, CYRANO DE
Voyage to the Moon BJÖRNSON, BJÖRNSTJERNE
Arne
In God's Way BLACK, WILLIAM
Daughter of Heth BLACKMORE, R.D.
Lorna Doone BOCCACCIO
Decameron A Complete Index of THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS will be found at the end
of Volume XX. INTRODUCTION An enterprise such as THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS is to be judged from
two different standpoints. It may be judged with respect to its specific
achievement the material of which it consists; or it may be judged with
regard to its general utility in the scheme of literature to which it
belongs. In an age which is sometimes ironically called "remarkable" for its
commercialism, nothing has been more truly remarkable than the
advancement in learning as well as in material progress; and of all the
instruments that have contributed to this end, none has been more
effective, perhaps, than the practical popularisation of literature. In THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS an attempt has been made to effect a
compendium of the world's best literature in a form that shall be at
once accessible to every one and still faithful to its originals;
or, in other words, it has been sought to allow the original author to
tell his own story over again in his own language, but in the shortest
possible space. Such a method differs entirely from all those in which an author is
represented, either by one or more extracts from his work, or else by
a formal summary or criticism of it in a language not his own. And,
since the style and language of an original is what often constitutes
the wings upon which alone its thought will fly, to have access to its
thought without its form is too often to possess a skeleton without the
spirit which alone could animate it. Notwithstanding this, however, we are aware that even THE WORLD'S
GREATEST BOOKS will not escape the criticism of a small class of people
who will profess to object to this, as to any kind of interference with
an author's original in reply to which it can only be said that such
objections are seldom, if ever, made in the true interests of learning,
or in a genuine spirit of inquiry, and too often only proceed from a
knowledge of books or love of them which goes no deeper than their
title page. For better than all books are the truths which books contain, and to
condense those truths into a form that makes them available is not only
to invest them with new powers and an enlarged range of usefulness, but
is also not necessarily to interfere with any of those essential
qualities that make up the exquisite literary flavor of a fine original. The selections in THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS have been collected, and
are alphabetically arranged, in ten different divisions, namely,
Fiction, Lives and Letters, History, Religion, Philosophy, Economics,
Science, Poetry and Drama, Travel and Adventure and Miscellaneous
Literature. An important additional feature of the work is the brief, yet highly
critical biographical and bibliographical note which accompanies every
author and every selection throughout the twenty volumes. To this must
be also added the not less important Introductories , and other
explanations written by experts, which often accompany the selections in
the text cardinal examples of which will be found in particular in the
section of Religion of this work, in the articles dealing with such
subjects as the Book of the Dead, Brahmanism, Confucianism, the Koran,
Talmud, etc... Continue reading book >>
|
Book sections | ||
---|---|---|
Genres for this book |
---|
Fiction |
Literature |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Arthur Mee |
Wikipedia – The World's Greatest Books — Volume 01 — Fiction |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|