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...

Jane Austen has become a pillar of the Western Canon, rising from modest fame during her lifetime to sweeping popularity in the twentieth century and today. Yale literary critic Harold Bloom notes, “We read Austen because she seems to know us better than we know ourselves, and she seems to know us so intimately for the simple reason that she helped determine who we are both as readers and as human beings.” Though Austen is sometimes unjustly reduced to romantic fodder by contemporary readers, she has been adored by writers and critics from Walter Scott to Henry James. In fact, the original Janeites were a group of male scholars devoted to her genius. Charles Darwin’s son Francis describes how his father would request Austen be read to him during the afternoons in his later life; “[My father] was extremely fond of novels . . . and would anticipate the pleasure of having a novel read to him. . . . Walter Scott, Miss Austen, and Mrs. Gaskell were read and re-read till they could...

Insight edition with engaging side notes that offer background on social customs, thoughts on the book's themes of faith, and other engaging information.

Abeloved classic, Austen's first published novel explores the question of what drives your life: your heart or your head? The Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, are as different as sisters can be. Serious Elinor lives by reason and thoughtfulness while her younger sister, Marianne, only follows her passions. But in questions of love, they learn neither the heart nor head alone will lead them to happiness. Filled with romance, Austen's brilliant wit, and rich characterization, this is a…

You know Jane Austen as the beloved author of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and other witty, insightful novels of the early nineteenth century. Now come to know her as a woman of unexpected spiritual depth. Jane Austen wrote beautiful, heartfelt prayers for use during her family’s evening devotions. Each one reveals her gratitude for God’s blessings and her pursuit of a holy life—expressions of a woman whose heart was profoundly moved by faith.

Teach and train the next generation with this library of resources devoted to helping young people become better grounded in Scripture and the classics. Build on the foundation laid by those who came before using digital tools that enhance the great deposit of the past.

Timeless Wisdom from the 19th Century

Get to know the classics with this hand-selected group of books that have inspired readers for decades! Featuring works by Jack London, George MacDonald, and Lewis Carroll, this collection of resources will take you across the world (and to worlds that have yet to be explored).

A fine exclusive edition of one of literature’s most beloved stories. Featuring a laser-cut jacket on a textured book with foil stamping, all titles in this series will be first editions. No more than 10,000 copies will be printed, and each will be individually numbered from 1 to 10,000.

Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s most famous and widely-read work. Begun in 1796 and initially entitled First Impressions, it was renamed Pride and Prejudice before it was finally published in 1813. Rich with satire, this novel of manners features the five Bennet sisters, daughters of a country gentleman of fading fortune in Hertfordshire. Austen follows the two eldest sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, as they navigate nineteenth-century society—as women without income or high family connections—...

A fine exclusive edition of one of literature’s most beloved stories with full page call-outs with quotes from summer.

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...

Jane Eyre. Frankenstein. Sense and Sensibility. You’re familiar with these pillars of classic literature. You have seen plenty of Frankenstein costumes, watched the film adaptations, and may even be able to rattle off a few quotes, but do you really know how to read these books? Do you know anything about the authors who wrote them, and what the authors were trying to teach readers through their stories? Do you know how to read them as a Christian? Taking into account your old worldview, as well…

Meet the women who wrote.

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, is one of literature’s most beloved stories of love, marriage, and sisterhood. Each collectible volume is a limited edition and features a laser-cut jacket on a textured book with foil stamping, making it ideal for fiction lovers and book collectors alike. This exclusive collector’s edition would be a great focal point to any shelf.

“You and Papa, and my sisters, must come down and see us. We shall be at Newcastle all the winter, and I dare say there will be some balls, and I will take care to get good partners for them all.” – Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

The most politically conscious and controversial of Jane Austen’s novels, Mansfield Park critiques the structures that often supported English gentry and lavish estates, with references to British plantations in the West Indies, built on slavery and oppression. The novel also directly juxtaposes different classes as the story follows Fanny Price—born to a lower class family in Portsmouth—who is sent her wealthy aunt and uncle on their estate, Mansfield Park. Austen follows Fanny as she searches ...

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.

Upon creating the titular character of Emma, Jane Austen noted that she was making a heroine “whom no one but myself will much like.” She was proved wrong in the best way as this novel, as with her other fiction, has proved enormously successful. Originally published in 1815, it follows Emma Woodhouse, “handsome, clever, and rich,” through society, family life, and her misguided matchmaking.

In this novel, Jane Austen parodies the popular Gothic novel. Published posthumously by her brother Henry in 1817, the story follows young Catherine Morland, an avid reader of Gothic novels. Catherine is invited to visit Bath with family friends, and eventually the estate, Northanger Abbey, where her fantastical imaginings must mingle with realities on her path to love and adulthood.

Persuasion, though less widely popular among readers, has earned high esteem with many literary critics. Published in 1818, Persuasion departs from Austen’s usual plot, to tell the story of a perceptive, pensive, and passed-over Anne Elliot—whom we meet eight years after she has been persuaded by her godmother to refuse the proposal of a man she loved, Captain Wentworth. After Wentworth is once again thrust into her life, the story follows Anne on her search to find happiness after that difficul...

Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811. A comedy of manners, it follows the Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and sensitive Marianne. Left without fortune or protection upon the death of their father, the girls and their mother are forced to leave the family home—passed to Mr. Dashwood’s son by a first marriage—and rent a small cottage from a cousin. Austen’s sparkling wit and sharp irony portray the girls in their search for security and love, amidst th...

Lady Susan is a selfish, attractive woman, who tries to trap the best possible husband while maintaining a relationship with a married man. She subverts all the standards of the romantic novel: she has an active role, she's not only beautiful but intelligent and witty, and her suitors are significantly younger than she is.

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, is one of literature’s most beloved stories of love, marriage, and sisterhood.

Fanny Price, a poor relation of the rich Bertrams, is reluctantly adopted into the family to be brought up at Mansfield Park, where she is treated condescendingly. Only her cousin Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities. Fanny soon falls in love with him, but Edmund is, unfortunately, drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford. Fanny’s quiet humility, steadfast loyalty, and natural goodness are matched against the wit and brilliance of her lovely rival. The tension is heigh...

The last novel completed by Jane Austen before her death, Persuasion is often thought to reflect on the author’s own lost love. Sir Walter Elliot has raised his three daughters with his own sense of haughty pride. Elizabeth, at twenty-eight, has found no one good enough to marry, while Mary has, with some condescension, married the son of the local squire. The youngest, Anne, was persuaded to throw off her fiancé, Frederick Wentworth, eight years ago due to his lowly station in life. When Wentw...