The makers of Encyclopaedia Britannica bring you the Great Books of the Western World. Comprising 60 volumes containing 517 works written by 130 authors, these texts capture the major ideas, stories, and discoveries that shaped Western culture.

Journey through Harvard University president Charles Eliot’s “five-foot shelf” of classics. This collection, first published in the early 1900s, remains one of the most comprehensive and well-researched anthologies of all time. Making good on earlier claims that he could fit the elements of a liberal education on a five-foot shelf, Eliot gathered this collection of key works, together with English professor William Neilson—who selected editions and wrote introductions. The massive collection covers major literary figures, philosophers, theologians, folklore, and historical subjects through the end of the nineteenth century. Originally published as a 51-volume collection of classics, the rise of modernism prompted Dr. Eliot to create an additional 20-volume collection of fiction—“The Shelf of Fiction”—to supplement his first collection. These two collections come together to create The Harvard Classics and Fiction Collection (71 vols.). Among...

Enrich your study of early English history with over 25,000 historical documents and literary works. Spanning from the first works mass produced in English to the end of the seventeenth century, this collection provides insight into sixteenth and seventeenth century English literature, politics, and culture.

A commentary on guilt, material wealth, community, religion, and more, this novel is a thought provoking yet heartwarming tale. Banished from his church after being falsely accused of theft, Silas Marner becomes a bitter hermit consumed only by the wealth and goods he has been able to attain in exile. After losing everything he loved from his past, he clings now to the materials he has gained since. However, he must suffer through losing those too and instead gain the love of an innocent orphan ...

The makers of Encyclopaedia Britannica bring you one of the Great Books of the Western World. This text captures major ideas, stories, and discoveries that helped shape Western culture.

Harvard Classics and Fiction Journey through “Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Shelf.” This massive collection, designed to provide the elements of a liberal education, was compiled by distinguished Harvard University president Charles Eliot in the early 1900s. The massive collection covers major literary figures, philosophers, theologians, folklore, and historical subjects through the end of the nineteenth century. Originally published as a 51-volume collection of classics, the rise of modernism prompted Dr. Eliot to create an additional 20-volume collection of fiction—“The Shelf of Fiction”—to supplement his first collection. These two collections come together to create The Harvard Classics and Fiction Collection (71 vols.), which remains one of the most comprehensive and well-researched anthologies of all time—a must-have library for students and lovers of the classics. Check out the complete The Harvard Classics and Fiction Collection. Keep reading with Harvard Classics Shelf...

Silas Marner, a gentle linen weaver, is framed by his best friend for a heinous theft. Exiled from his small community, Marner retreats into bitter and miserly reclusion, caring only for the gold he receives for his work. When his small treasure horde is stolen, Marner feels betrayed by life yet again—until one fateful New Year’s Eve, an abandoned golden-haired child appears mysteriously on his doorstep. Through his unselfish love for this child, Marner’s heart reawakens to spiritual rebirth and...

One of the masterpieces of English literature, Daniel Deronda tells the intertwined stories of two different characters as they each come to discover of the truth of their natures. Gwendolen Harleth is the high-spirited beauty of an impoverished upper-class family. In order to restore their fortunes, she unwittingly traps herself in an oppressive marriage. She turns for solace and guidance to the high-minded young Daniel Deronda, the adopted son of an aristocratic Englishman, who is searching f...