Franklin Library
Encyclopedia
The Franklin Library, the distributing arm of the publishing division The Franklin Press (a division of The Franklin Mint), was the United States' largest distributor of great 'classic title' books produced in fine bindings for collectors—similar to the mantle carried now by Easton Press
—until the company permanently closed, ceasing all of its publishing activity, in 2000. Its books were designed and bound by The Sloves Organization, Ltd., an affiliate of the Franklin Mint, whose bindery was one of the few in the world devoted exclusively to the crafting of fine leather book bindings.
The Franklin Mint purchased the Sloves Book Bindery in New York City to help jumpstart its book division in the early 1970s. More recent book offerings were produced for The Franklin Library by R.R. Donnelly.
While The Franklin Mint is now defunct, a similarly named company, Franklin Books, gives an impression that it is, in fact, publisher-related. However, it merely sells secondhand copies of titles published by The Franklin Mint.
PA, near Philadelphia, was one of the two largest publishers of fine leather-bound books in the United States. The unsurpassed quality of Franklin's 'first generation' creations are avidly sought by collectors worldwide. For more than a decade, a veritable army of classic titles were marshaled into the ranks of several series, each consisting of fifty to one-hundred books. Patron-collectors subscribed to a particular series and received one book per month—as long as their subscription(s) remained current—until every title in a given series had been brilliantly boxed and Benjamin-Franklin-foil-medallion sealed and delivered. It thus required more than eight years of consistent 'collector's verve' to complete an entire set of 100 titles, as for example in The 100 Greatest Books of All Time series.
For many collectors of finely crafted books, the earliest Franklin titles (1974–1986) represent the 'final word' in bookbinding: for 'the Mint'—in one brief, shining moment of publishing history—was able to produce in astonishing breadth and array, elegance, beauty, and unsurpassed quality of production, a formidable library of what have since come to represent some of the most definitive 'Rolls Royce' creations ever among leatherbound books, setting a very high standard indeed. It is a standard that perhaps will never again be so brilliantly or so broadly achieved. And for many a bookbinder connoisseur, the early Franklin Mint creations—whether a stunning gold-stamped, image-embossed 'Oxford/Franklin' masterpiece, a highly coveted 'Signed 60' title, or even that more elusive wonder, the 'Patrons Edition'—represent one of the finest leather-bound traditions to have ever issued from the nation's top publishing houses.
Today, Franklin books can only be acquired on the secondary market. The eBay
community is one of the largest online auction
sites by which collectors are able to purchase and sell Franklin books, individually and in lots. Most titles are also easily obtainable on Abebooks
, Biblio.com
, Amazon, and similar sites, or from booksellers and bookshops around the world specializing in antiquarian or collectible books.
Although most of the Franklin Library collections were issued in full-leather bindings (at about $28 to $45 per book), some were simultaneously issued in alternate binding materials, such as 'faux leather'—also called 'leatherette', or imitation leather—and cloth, or a combination of both ($15–17 per book). Like all best-bound books, these were printed on archival or acid-free paper to prevent yellowing or tanning over time. The bindings were gold stamped/decorated and the page edges were laced in 22k gold gilt to protect the paper from damage by dust or humidity. Other books, such as those in the Franklin Heirloom Series, were issued in quarter-bound leather ($19.50 per book): 'cloth coated' creations with Franklin's trademark 'hubbed' leather spines (a tradition long-forgotten or discarded by most publishers today). Most of the Franklin Mystery Masterpiece titles were issued in leatherette, but a few were also given full-leather treatment.
Some of Franklin Library's later 'second generation' collections were bound in 'bonded leather' (made of leather strips and scraps), which has given rise to a myth that all Franklin books are so bound, and are thus inferior to the product quality and standard of other 'high end' publishing houses (such as Easton Press
). While some Franklin books are, indeed, not of a 'genuine leather' binding, they are yet the products of the highest quality of publishing craftsmanship—created from the finest materials available for the bookbinder's art. The easiest way to determine if a Franklin Library edition is bound in full (genuine) or in 'faux' (imitation) leather is the presence of a sewn-in satin bookmarker. If this distinguishing mark is absent—where no bookmarker exists—then the binding is leatherette. Many buyers and sellers are unaware of the difference, often resulting in buyers over- or underpaying, as the case may be.
Of course, the vast majority of Franklin's collections were bound to the highest publishing standards and quality-control rigor, using the finest printing materials available: genuine leather, silken moiré end-sheets, and attached satin-ribbon page-markers (in which Easton Press
now prides itself). As a cost-cutting measure in tandem with shifts in the U.S. economy, Franklin Library Press made its foray into 'marbled' end-sheets with its quarter-bound and leatherette editions series.
In addition to the cost of the book, subscribers were asked to pay shipping and handling charges as well as sales tax. Later subscribers were asked to pay higher prices.
Franklin Library Limited First Editions are, in contrast, true limited first printings—issued in very limited numbers (100-1000, seldom more), with that particular designation and craftsmanship that sets them apart from standard 'trade' issues. This special, genuine distinction was impressively achieved by Franklin through the highest-possible production values in fine binding: elaborately designed premium leather covers, hubbed spines, 24kt gilt stamping, even custom-designed slipcases, hand-numbered authenticity certificates, and the true flat-signed signature of many a celebrated author—and through any combination (or perhaps even utilizing all) of the above. Simultaneously, these true first-edition creations were published alongside a given title's more elemental 'trade' release, or subsequently perhaps, as was also customary.
Other publishing behemoths, however, like The Easton Press, took command eventually also of their own specially 'limited' publications in ventures that enlisted similar, premium grades of manufactured paper and other materials to produce their own 'Limited First Editions'. These often are now issued up to a year or more after a given title's 'trade' edition has been published and has already seen a bookseller's shelves—which peculiar habit, therefore, has made the claim of a 'true' Limited First Edition somewhat questionable.
In contrast, it was standard Franklin Library Press practice to contract first with the author, and then with the mass-market publisher, for the printing rights of all "First Edition" titles, thus making a Franklin Library first limited edition a true first edition (published prior to the trade edition). This impressive distinction added considerably to the value of Franklin Library books. And to emphasize this important difference, all of Franklin's own 'trade'-type quarter-bound editions bore a statement conceding to the higher merit of a given title's true first edition by identifying all inferior issues as 'first trade editions' on a given title's copyright pages while also disclaiming: "A signed first edition of this book has been privately printed by the Franklin Library Press." This statement acknowledges that the original Franklin printing of each classic title was, in fact, the true 'First Edition' to ever be issued by the Press, pointing up also what was indeed the important difference between a truly special 'first ever' printing of a book and its trade-edition successors, accurately defining in the process what a true "first edition" should be.
Among the questions most often asked about Franklin 'first editions': What precisely is the difference between a Franklin 'First Edition Society' publication (1976-82) and a 'First Signed Edition' (1983-2000)?
The difference lies in the fact that a First Edition Society book is prefaced by a special introductory message to subscribers from the author, and often 'signed' with a printed facsimile signature—that is, a 'print' of the authorial signature, not its authentic (personally) flat-signed manifestation in ink, by hand, as seen in Franklin's elite 'Signed 60' series or in The First Edition Society's later 'Signed' designation series. Each beautifully bound copy of any title within The Signed First Edition Society series (which began in 1983) boasts an authentic, hand-wrought signature by its respective author. Signatures were usually committed to additional separate pages that were later bound into the book, with a separate, loose onion-skin tissue paper placed over it for protection.
Here is a list of the individual series:
100 Greatest Books of All Time (leather, 1974–1982, $28.00; and leatherette, 1973–1986, $19.00, each with accompanying 'Notes from the Editors');
The First Edition Society (leather, with some titles bearing a printed facsimile signature of the author, with accompanying Notes, 1976–1982);
Pulitzer Prize Classics series (leather, 1975–1987);
100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature (leather, 1976–1984, $35.00, each with accompanying Notes);
60 Signed Limited Editions ('Signed 60' series, leather, 1977–1982, $45.00; one of Franklin's most spectacular collections, each volume bearing a true signature of its distinguished author, flat-signed, with accompanying Notes);
Patron's Editions (leather, 1982–1986, a very limited edition series, each volume regally encased in a sturdy gold-stamped buckram slipcase, with commemorative Notes and, from the Editors, a special certificate and letter; included are the titles Gone With The Wind and Little Women);
Collected Stories of the World's Greatest Writers (leather, 1977–1985, each volume with accompanying Notes);
Greatest Books of the Twentieth Century (leather, 1977–1982, $39.00, each with accompanying Notes);
World's Best-Loved Books (leather, 1977–1986, $39.00, each with accompanying Notes);
Great Books of the Western World (leather, 1978–1985, each with accompanying Notes—a truly impressive gathering of minds: the 'greatest of the greats' of Western learning and culture, and these editions of their works have a design sensibility to match);
World's Great Books Family Library (quarter-bound, 1979–1984);
Heirloom Library of the World's Greatest Books (quarter-bound, 1979–1983; $19.50);
Oxford Library of the World's Great Books (leather and quarter-bound, 1981–1985, in collaboration with Oxford University Press; each full-leather Oxford edition represents the very finest in Franklin craftsmanship, with most titles brandishing a gorgeous inner-board gilt 'ticking' that elegantly borders the end-sheets' silken moiré);
Oxford Library of Charles Dickens (leather, 1982–1985; a stunning 21-volume limited edition of 750 numbered sets, gold-stamped dual-tone leather, intricately cut and hand-tooled, of elaborate design, with gilded page-ends, satin markers, and silken moiré end-sheets richly lined by inner-board gilt 'ticking');
Great Books of the World's Greatest Writers (cloth, 1981–1985);
Signed First Edition Society (leather, 1983–2000, with true flat-signed signature);
Franklin Mystery Masterpieces series (leather and cloth, 1987–1990; the leather version didn't sell well and was discontinued: the 'classic titles list' of the full-leather edition was different, containing an alternate 'ordering of titles' in varying sequence to the cloth versions);
Metropolitan Museum of Art (cloth and leather, 1987; a 12-volume set highlighting the artistic legacies of myriad cultures and societies); and the Foreign Language Editions (early 1980s), as Franklin also issued 'great books' collections in other languages—for example, in German (The German Masterworks I & II) and Japanese (The Japanese Heirloom Library). These were mostly of leather- or quarter-bound issue, but also with a few Sturdite editions (possibly prototypes only).
Many titles in the several series listed below were printed later—beginning in 1983, giving each a 'second generation' life, as it were—with the same quality-grade paper but using inferior materials and methods to Franklin's traditional hallmark fare: these included both quarter-bound and 'faux leather' or leatherette bindings; stamp-decoration in gold or silver; and featuring designer 'marbled' end-sheets (as opposed to the more luxurious silken moiré) and gilded page-ends. Not a single title issued during this period was graced with the customary satin-ribbon bookmark. Some titles were even substituted with alternates (all of the books consigned to this last caliber of binding were published after 1986).
Franklin's most sought after collection—and its most valuable, as each volume, beyond receiving a true flat-signed signature from the illustrious author, is a masterpiece—in both written word and design. All, of course, were bound in the highest grade leather available, with 22kt-gold accents:
Later the series name was changed to The Signed First Edition Society, and the books issued to members were authentically flat-signed by the authors, and in some cases were also numbered as to the limitation (from 1983 to 2000). The celebrated titles of this 'later' series include, among many others, Updike's The Witches of Eastwick, Roger's Version, Rabbit at Rest, and In the Beauty of the Lilies; Roth's American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, The Counterlife, Operation Shylock, The Anatomy Lesson, and The Human Stain; Uris's The Haj, Redemption, and A God In Ruins; Vidal's Lincoln, Empire, and The Smithsonian Institution; Bradbury's Death Is A Lonely Business and Quicker Than the Eye; Toland's The Gods of War; Vonnegut's Galapagos, Bluebeard, and Hocus Pocus; Angelou's All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes; Turow's The Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty, The Laws of Our Fathers, and Personal Injuries; Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy; Schlesinger's The Cycles of American History; Miller's Timebends; Wolfe's The Bonfire of The Vanities; Stegner's Crossing to Safety; Tyler's Breathing Lessons; Huffington's Picasso; Keillor's We Are Still Married; Spock's Spock On Spock; Irving's The Cider House Rules; Doctorow's Billy Bathgate, The Waterworks, and City of God; Crichton's Jurassic Park, Lost World, and Rising Sun; Potok's The Gift of Asher Lev; Sontag's The Volcano Lover and In America; Morrison's Jazz; Ackroyd's English Music; Fisher's Delusions of Grandma; Michener's Recessional; Puzo's The Last Don; Heller's Closing Time; Groom's Gump & Co; and Rice's Merrick and Vittorio, The Vampire.
Easton Press
Easton Press, a division of MBI Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in high-quality leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, poetry and art books, they publish a large library of science fiction and popular literature as well.Some of Easton Press's...
—until the company permanently closed, ceasing all of its publishing activity, in 2000. Its books were designed and bound by The Sloves Organization, Ltd., an affiliate of the Franklin Mint, whose bindery was one of the few in the world devoted exclusively to the crafting of fine leather book bindings.
The Franklin Mint purchased the Sloves Book Bindery in New York City to help jumpstart its book division in the early 1970s. More recent book offerings were produced for The Franklin Library by R.R. Donnelly.
While The Franklin Mint is now defunct, a similarly named company, Franklin Books, gives an impression that it is, in fact, publisher-related. However, it merely sells secondhand copies of titles published by The Franklin Mint.
History
From its founding in 1973 until its permanent closure in 2000, the Franklin Library, headquartered at Franklin CenterFranklin Center
The John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies is located at Duke University in the United States. It is a consortium of programs dedicated to studying and revitalizing theories of how knowledge is gained and exchanged...
PA, near Philadelphia, was one of the two largest publishers of fine leather-bound books in the United States. The unsurpassed quality of Franklin's 'first generation' creations are avidly sought by collectors worldwide. For more than a decade, a veritable army of classic titles were marshaled into the ranks of several series, each consisting of fifty to one-hundred books. Patron-collectors subscribed to a particular series and received one book per month—as long as their subscription(s) remained current—until every title in a given series had been brilliantly boxed and Benjamin-Franklin-foil-medallion sealed and delivered. It thus required more than eight years of consistent 'collector's verve' to complete an entire set of 100 titles, as for example in The 100 Greatest Books of All Time series.
For many collectors of finely crafted books, the earliest Franklin titles (1974–1986) represent the 'final word' in bookbinding: for 'the Mint'—in one brief, shining moment of publishing history—was able to produce in astonishing breadth and array, elegance, beauty, and unsurpassed quality of production, a formidable library of what have since come to represent some of the most definitive 'Rolls Royce' creations ever among leatherbound books, setting a very high standard indeed. It is a standard that perhaps will never again be so brilliantly or so broadly achieved. And for many a bookbinder connoisseur, the early Franklin Mint creations—whether a stunning gold-stamped, image-embossed 'Oxford/Franklin' masterpiece, a highly coveted 'Signed 60' title, or even that more elusive wonder, the 'Patrons Edition'—represent one of the finest leather-bound traditions to have ever issued from the nation's top publishing houses.
Today, Franklin books can only be acquired on the secondary market. The eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
community is one of the largest online auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
sites by which collectors are able to purchase and sell Franklin books, individually and in lots. Most titles are also easily obtainable on Abebooks
Abebooks
AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books. Most books listed are used, many are rare or out-of-print, and a growing number are new books. The company is based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Düsseldorf, Germany, and in the US. It was incorporated in 1995 and launched its...
, Biblio.com
Biblio.com
Biblio.com is the third largest used book marketplaces in the US. Established in 2003 in Asheville, NC, Biblio.com has grown to become one of the largest global book marketplaces, with over 50 million books for sale from over 5,000 booksellers in countries around the world.-A used book...
, Amazon, and similar sites, or from booksellers and bookshops around the world specializing in antiquarian or collectible books.
Although most of the Franklin Library collections were issued in full-leather bindings (at about $28 to $45 per book), some were simultaneously issued in alternate binding materials, such as 'faux leather'—also called 'leatherette', or imitation leather—and cloth, or a combination of both ($15–17 per book). Like all best-bound books, these were printed on archival or acid-free paper to prevent yellowing or tanning over time. The bindings were gold stamped/decorated and the page edges were laced in 22k gold gilt to protect the paper from damage by dust or humidity. Other books, such as those in the Franklin Heirloom Series, were issued in quarter-bound leather ($19.50 per book): 'cloth coated' creations with Franklin's trademark 'hubbed' leather spines (a tradition long-forgotten or discarded by most publishers today). Most of the Franklin Mystery Masterpiece titles were issued in leatherette, but a few were also given full-leather treatment.
Some of Franklin Library's later 'second generation' collections were bound in 'bonded leather' (made of leather strips and scraps), which has given rise to a myth that all Franklin books are so bound, and are thus inferior to the product quality and standard of other 'high end' publishing houses (such as Easton Press
Easton Press
Easton Press, a division of MBI Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in high-quality leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, poetry and art books, they publish a large library of science fiction and popular literature as well.Some of Easton Press's...
). While some Franklin books are, indeed, not of a 'genuine leather' binding, they are yet the products of the highest quality of publishing craftsmanship—created from the finest materials available for the bookbinder's art. The easiest way to determine if a Franklin Library edition is bound in full (genuine) or in 'faux' (imitation) leather is the presence of a sewn-in satin bookmarker. If this distinguishing mark is absent—where no bookmarker exists—then the binding is leatherette. Many buyers and sellers are unaware of the difference, often resulting in buyers over- or underpaying, as the case may be.
Of course, the vast majority of Franklin's collections were bound to the highest publishing standards and quality-control rigor, using the finest printing materials available: genuine leather, silken moiré end-sheets, and attached satin-ribbon page-markers (in which Easton Press
Easton Press
Easton Press, a division of MBI Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in high-quality leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, poetry and art books, they publish a large library of science fiction and popular literature as well.Some of Easton Press's...
now prides itself). As a cost-cutting measure in tandem with shifts in the U.S. economy, Franklin Library Press made its foray into 'marbled' end-sheets with its quarter-bound and leatherette editions series.
In addition to the cost of the book, subscribers were asked to pay shipping and handling charges as well as sales tax. Later subscribers were asked to pay higher prices.
First Editions
Many bookbinders today (including a featured work's original publishers) often issue, as a strategic or practical financial move, what they refer to as a 'limited first edition'. This so-called special edition—what often amounts to a modestly glorified hardback issue—is often produced to promote the popularity of an author 'since made important' by 'tinsel-town' nominations, awards, movie deals, or critical acclaim. But such a 'limited first edition' represents a very different kind of book indeed, for it is often no more than a title's initial 'trade edition' outing—which is often a publication's true first printing.Franklin Library Limited First Editions are, in contrast, true limited first printings—issued in very limited numbers (100-1000, seldom more), with that particular designation and craftsmanship that sets them apart from standard 'trade' issues. This special, genuine distinction was impressively achieved by Franklin through the highest-possible production values in fine binding: elaborately designed premium leather covers, hubbed spines, 24kt gilt stamping, even custom-designed slipcases, hand-numbered authenticity certificates, and the true flat-signed signature of many a celebrated author—and through any combination (or perhaps even utilizing all) of the above. Simultaneously, these true first-edition creations were published alongside a given title's more elemental 'trade' release, or subsequently perhaps, as was also customary.
Other publishing behemoths, however, like The Easton Press, took command eventually also of their own specially 'limited' publications in ventures that enlisted similar, premium grades of manufactured paper and other materials to produce their own 'Limited First Editions'. These often are now issued up to a year or more after a given title's 'trade' edition has been published and has already seen a bookseller's shelves—which peculiar habit, therefore, has made the claim of a 'true' Limited First Edition somewhat questionable.
In contrast, it was standard Franklin Library Press practice to contract first with the author, and then with the mass-market publisher, for the printing rights of all "First Edition" titles, thus making a Franklin Library first limited edition a true first edition (published prior to the trade edition). This impressive distinction added considerably to the value of Franklin Library books. And to emphasize this important difference, all of Franklin's own 'trade'-type quarter-bound editions bore a statement conceding to the higher merit of a given title's true first edition by identifying all inferior issues as 'first trade editions' on a given title's copyright pages while also disclaiming: "A signed first edition of this book has been privately printed by the Franklin Library Press." This statement acknowledges that the original Franklin printing of each classic title was, in fact, the true 'First Edition' to ever be issued by the Press, pointing up also what was indeed the important difference between a truly special 'first ever' printing of a book and its trade-edition successors, accurately defining in the process what a true "first edition" should be.
Among the questions most often asked about Franklin 'first editions': What precisely is the difference between a Franklin 'First Edition Society' publication (1976-82) and a 'First Signed Edition' (1983-2000)?
The difference lies in the fact that a First Edition Society book is prefaced by a special introductory message to subscribers from the author, and often 'signed' with a printed facsimile signature—that is, a 'print' of the authorial signature, not its authentic (personally) flat-signed manifestation in ink, by hand, as seen in Franklin's elite 'Signed 60' series or in The First Edition Society's later 'Signed' designation series. Each beautifully bound copy of any title within The Signed First Edition Society series (which began in 1983) boasts an authentic, hand-wrought signature by its respective author. Signatures were usually committed to additional separate pages that were later bound into the book, with a separate, loose onion-skin tissue paper placed over it for protection.
The Series
Due to Franklin Library's overlapping series themes, the same title may appear in more than one series, but usually with a different design aesthetic and binding. Also, many of the book collections that were eventually issued were 'open' or 'trade' editions (and comprise, therefore, the lion's share of the 'second generation' of Franklin's publication life); therefore, no edition figures are available.Here is a list of the individual series:
100 Greatest Books of All Time (leather, 1974–1982, $28.00; and leatherette, 1973–1986, $19.00, each with accompanying 'Notes from the Editors');
The First Edition Society (leather, with some titles bearing a printed facsimile signature of the author, with accompanying Notes, 1976–1982);
Pulitzer Prize Classics series (leather, 1975–1987);
100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature (leather, 1976–1984, $35.00, each with accompanying Notes);
60 Signed Limited Editions ('Signed 60' series, leather, 1977–1982, $45.00; one of Franklin's most spectacular collections, each volume bearing a true signature of its distinguished author, flat-signed, with accompanying Notes);
Patron's Editions (leather, 1982–1986, a very limited edition series, each volume regally encased in a sturdy gold-stamped buckram slipcase, with commemorative Notes and, from the Editors, a special certificate and letter; included are the titles Gone With The Wind and Little Women);
Collected Stories of the World's Greatest Writers (leather, 1977–1985, each volume with accompanying Notes);
Greatest Books of the Twentieth Century (leather, 1977–1982, $39.00, each with accompanying Notes);
World's Best-Loved Books (leather, 1977–1986, $39.00, each with accompanying Notes);
Great Books of the Western World (leather, 1978–1985, each with accompanying Notes—a truly impressive gathering of minds: the 'greatest of the greats' of Western learning and culture, and these editions of their works have a design sensibility to match);
World's Great Books Family Library (quarter-bound, 1979–1984);
Heirloom Library of the World's Greatest Books (quarter-bound, 1979–1983; $19.50);
Oxford Library of the World's Great Books (leather and quarter-bound, 1981–1985, in collaboration with Oxford University Press; each full-leather Oxford edition represents the very finest in Franklin craftsmanship, with most titles brandishing a gorgeous inner-board gilt 'ticking' that elegantly borders the end-sheets' silken moiré);
Oxford Library of Charles Dickens (leather, 1982–1985; a stunning 21-volume limited edition of 750 numbered sets, gold-stamped dual-tone leather, intricately cut and hand-tooled, of elaborate design, with gilded page-ends, satin markers, and silken moiré end-sheets richly lined by inner-board gilt 'ticking');
Great Books of the World's Greatest Writers (cloth, 1981–1985);
Signed First Edition Society (leather, 1983–2000, with true flat-signed signature);
Franklin Mystery Masterpieces series (leather and cloth, 1987–1990; the leather version didn't sell well and was discontinued: the 'classic titles list' of the full-leather edition was different, containing an alternate 'ordering of titles' in varying sequence to the cloth versions);
Metropolitan Museum of Art (cloth and leather, 1987; a 12-volume set highlighting the artistic legacies of myriad cultures and societies); and the Foreign Language Editions (early 1980s), as Franklin also issued 'great books' collections in other languages—for example, in German (The German Masterworks I & II) and Japanese (The Japanese Heirloom Library). These were mostly of leather- or quarter-bound issue, but also with a few Sturdite editions (possibly prototypes only).
The 100 Greatest Books of All Time (1974-1982)
Probably Franklin Library's most popular collection, the titles shown below were beautifully bound from 1974 to 1982 in genuine premium-grade leather with 22kt gold accents.Many titles in the several series listed below were printed later—beginning in 1983, giving each a 'second generation' life, as it were—with the same quality-grade paper but using inferior materials and methods to Franklin's traditional hallmark fare: these included both quarter-bound and 'faux leather' or leatherette bindings; stamp-decoration in gold or silver; and featuring designer 'marbled' end-sheets (as opposed to the more luxurious silken moiré) and gilded page-ends. Not a single title issued during this period was graced with the customary satin-ribbon bookmark. Some titles were even substituted with alternates (all of the books consigned to this last caliber of binding were published after 1986).
- The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
- Oresteia by AeschylusAeschylusAeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
- The Divine ComedyThe Divine ComedyThe Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...
by Dante AlighieriDante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ... - Fairy Tales of Hans Christian AndersenHans Christian AndersenHans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
- Five Comedies by AristophanesAristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
- PoliticsPolitics (Aristotle)Aristotle's Politics is a work of political philosophy. The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the...
by AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology... - ConfessionsConfessions (St. Augustine)Confessions is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by St. Augustine of Hippo, written between AD 397 and AD 398. Modern English translations of it are sometimes published under the title The Confessions of St...
of St. AugustineAugustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province... - Pride and PrejudicePride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
by Jane AustenJane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived... - Selected Writings of Sir Francis BaconFrancis BaconFrancis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
- Le Père GoriotLe Père GoriotLe Père Goriot is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac , included in the Scènes de la vie Parisienne section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine...
by Honoré de BalzacHonoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon.... - The Flowers of EvilLes Fleurs du malLes Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. First published in 1857 , it was important in the symbolist and modernist movements...
by Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century... - Songs of Innocence and of ExperienceSongs of Innocence and of ExperienceSongs of Innocence and of Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of...
by William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age... - The DecameronThe DecameronThe Decameron, also called Prince Galehaut is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people....
by Giovanni BoccaccioGiovanni BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular... - Jane EyreJane EyreJane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
By Charlotte BrontëCharlotte BrontëCharlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards... - Wuthering HeightsWuthering HeightsWuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
by Emily BrontëEmily BrontëEmily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother... - The Pilgrim's ProgressThe Pilgrim's ProgressThe Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been...
by John BunyanJohn BunyanJohn Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,... - Tales From The Arabian NightsThe Book of One Thousand and One NightsOne Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age...
by Sir Richard F. BurtonRichard Francis BurtonCaptain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his... - Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
by Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the... - Don Quixote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
- Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
- Plays by Anton ChekhovAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
- Analects of ConfuciusConfuciusConfucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
- Lord JimLord JimLord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900.An early and primary event is Jim's abandonment of a ship in distress on which he is serving as a mate...
by Joseph ConradJoseph ConradJoseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties... - The Last of the MohicansThe Last of the MohicansThe Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
by James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo... - The Red Badge of CourageThe Red Badge of CourageThe Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane . Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound—a "red badge of courage"—to...
by Stephen CraneStephen CraneStephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism... - The Origin of SpeciesThe Origin of SpeciesCharles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the...
by Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory... - Moll FlandersMoll FlandersThe Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, after his work as a journalist and pamphleteer. By 1722, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719...
by Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,... - Robinson CrusoeRobinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
by Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,... - Stories of Guy de MaupassantGuy de MaupassantHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
- Essays of Michel de MontaigneMichel de MontaigneLord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...
- Philosophical Works of René DescartesRené DescartesRené Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
- David CopperfieldDavid Copperfield (novel)The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...
by Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic... - Great ExpectationsGreat ExpectationsGreat Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
by Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic... - Poems of John DonneJohn DonneJohn Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
- Crime and PunishmentCrime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his...
by Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.... - The Mill on the FlossThe Mill on the FlossThe Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot , first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was by Thomas Y...
by George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era... - Collected Poems (1909–1962) of T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
- Essays of Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
- Plays by EuripidesEuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
- The Sound and the FuryThe Sound and the FuryThe Sound and the Fury is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It employs a number of narrative styles, including the technique known as stream of consciousness, pioneered by 20th century European novelists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Published in 1929, The Sound and...
by William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career... - Tom JonesThe History of Tom Jones, a FoundlingThe History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. First published on 28 February 1749, Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel...
by Henry FieldingHenry FieldingHenry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones.... - The Great GatsbyThe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
by F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost... - Madame BovaryMadame BovaryMadame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...
by Gustave FlaubertGustave FlaubertGustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,... - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
- The Basic Works of Sigmund FreudSigmund FreudSigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
- The Poetry of Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
- FaustGoethe's FaustJohann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long... - Favorite Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm Brothers GrimmBrothers GrimmThe Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
- The FederalistFederalist PapersThe Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
by HamiltonAlexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
and JayJohn JayJohn Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States .... - The Return of the NativeThe Return of the NativeThe Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth published novel. It first appeared in the magazine Belgravia, a publication known for its sensationalism, and was presented in twelve monthly installments from January to December 1878...
by Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a... - The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
by Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials... - A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway concerning events during the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The book, which was first published in 1929, is a first-person account of American Frederic Henry, serving as a Lieutenant in the ambulance...
by Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the... - The IliadIliadThe Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
by HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is... - The OdysseyOdysseyThe Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
by HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is... - Plays by Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
- The AmbassadorsThe AmbassadorsThe Ambassadors is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review . This dark comedy, one of the masterpieces of James's final period, follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad, his widowed fiancée's supposedly...
by Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.... - Nine Tales of Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
- UlyssesUlysses (novel)Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
by James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century... - The TrialThe TrialThe Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader.Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never...
by Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century... - Poems of John KeatsJohn KeatsJohn Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
- Women in LoveWomen in LoveWomen in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an...
by D. H. LawrenceD. H. LawrenceDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation... - The PrinceThe PrinceThe Prince is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus . But the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after...
by Niccolò MachiavelliNiccolò MachiavelliNiccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic... - Five Stories of Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
- Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd.... - Political Writings of John Stuart MillJohn Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
- Paradise LostParadise LostParadise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
by John MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell... - Seven Plays by MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
- Four Plays of Eugene O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
- Political Writings of Thomas PaineThomas PaineThomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
- PenseesPenséesThe Pensées represented a defense of the Christian religion by Blaise Pascal, the renowned 17th century philosopher and mathematician. Pascal's religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pensées was in many ways his life's work. "Pascal's Wager" is found here...
by Blaise PascalBlaise PascalBlaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen... - SatyriconSatyriconSatyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...
by PetroniusPetroniusGaius Petronius Arbiter was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian age.-Life:... - The RepublicRepublic (Plato)The Republic is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC concerning the definition of justice and the order and character of the just city-state and the just man...
by PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the... - Twelve Illustrious LivesParallel LivesPlutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, written in the late 1st century...
by PlutarchPlutarchPlutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia... - Tales of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
- Swann's WayIn Search of Lost TimeIn Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its considerable length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." The novel is widely...
by Marcel ProustMarcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu... - Gargantua and PantagruelGargantua and PantagruelThe Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It is the story of two giants, a father and his son and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein...
by François RabelaisFrançois RabelaisFrançois Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs... - Six Tragedies by Jean RacineJean RacineJean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
- Political Writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau
- Eight Comedies by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Six Histories by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Poems of William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Six Tragedies by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Three Plays by Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
- The Tragedies of SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
- The Red and the BlackThe Red and the BlackLe Rouge et le Noir , 1830, by Stendhal, is a historical psychological novel in two volumes, chronicling a provincial young man’s attempts to socially rise beyond his plebeian upbringing with a combination of talent and hard work, deception and hypocrisy — yet who ultimately allows his passions to...
by StendhalStendhalMarie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme... - Tristram Shandy by Laurence SterneLaurence SterneLaurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
- Treasure IslandTreasure IslandTreasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
by Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.... - Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's TravelsTravels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
by Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St... - Vanity Fair by William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
- WaldenWaldenWalden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
by Henry D. Thoreau - The History of the Peloponnesian War by ThucydidesThucydidesThucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
- War and PeaceWar and PeaceWar and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist... - Fathers and SonsFathers and SonsFathers and Sons is an 1862 novel by Ivan Turgenev, his best known work. The title of this work in Russian is Отцы и дети , which literally means "Fathers and Children"; the work is often translated to Fathers and Sons in English for reasons of euphony.- Historical context and notes :The fathers...
by Ivan TurgenevIvan TurgenevIvan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century... - Adventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...
by Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist... - The Aeneid by VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
- CandideCandideCandide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide: or, The Optimist ; and Candide: or, Optimism...
by VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state... - Leaves of GrassLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman . Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death...
by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse... - Lyrical BalladsLyrical BalladsLyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature...
by William WordsworthWilliam WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
and Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor ColeridgeSamuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla... - Selected Poems of William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
- NanaNana (novel)Nana is a novel by the French naturalist author Émile Zola. Completed in 1880, Nana is the ninth installment in the 20-volume Les Rougon-Macquart series, the object of which was to tell "The Natural and Social History of a Family under the Second Empire", the subtitle of the series.-Origins:A year...
by Emile ZolaÉmile ZolaÉmile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature (1976-1984)
The following titles were bound in genuine leather with 22k gold accents:- The Education of Henry AdamsThe Education of Henry AdamsThe Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams , in his later years, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice. In 1907, Adams began privately...
by Henry Adams - Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Henry Adams
- Twenty Years at Hull-House by Jane AddamsJane AddamsJane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
- Little WomenLittle WomenLittle Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
by Louisa May AlcottLouisa May AlcottLouisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868... - Winesburg, OhioWinesburg, Ohio (novel)Winesburg, Ohio is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the time he was a child to his growing independence and ultimate abandonment of Winesburg as a young man...
by Sherwood AndersonSherwood AndersonSherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,... - The Collected Poems of W. H. AudenW. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
- Go Tell It on the MountainGo Tell It on the Mountain (novel)Go Tell It on the Mountain is a 1953 semi-autobiographical novel by James Baldwin. The novel examines the role of the Christian Church in the lives of African-Americans, both as a source of repression and moral hypocrisy and as a source of inspiration and community...
by James BaldwinJames Baldwin (writer)James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,... - Humboldt's GiftHumboldt's GiftHumboldt's Gift is a 1975 novel by Saul Bellow, which won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and contributed to Bellow's winning the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year....
by Saul BellowSaul BellowSaul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts... - John Brown's BodyJohn Brown's Body"John Brown's Body" is an American marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the 19th century...
by Stephen Vincent BenétStephen Vincent BenétStephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body , for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By... - The Devil's DictionaryThe Devil's DictionaryThe Devil's Dictionary is a satirical "reference" book written by Ambrose Bierce. The book offers reinterpretations of terms in the English language, lampooning cant and political doublespeak, as well as other aspects of human foolishness and frailty. It was originally published in 1906 as The...
by Ambrose BierceAmbrose BierceAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist... - Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647Of Plymouth PlantationWritten over a period of years by the leader of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation is the single most complete authority for the story of the Pilgrims and the early years of the Colony they founded...
by William Bradford - The Flowering of New England 1815-1865 by Van Wyck BrooksVan Wyck BrooksVan Wyck Brooks was an American literary critic, biographer, and historian.- Biography :Brooks was educated at Harvard University and graduated in 1908...
- My ÁntoniaMy ÁntoniaMy Ántonia |accent]] on the first syllable of "Ántonia"), first published 1918, is considered one of the greatest novels by American writer Willa Cather...
by Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I... - The Complete Poems of Hart CraneHart Crane-Career:Throughout the early 1920s, small but well-respected literary magazines published some of Crane’s lyrics, gaining him, among the avant-garde, a respect that White Buildings , his first volume, ratified and strengthened...
- The Collected Stories of Stephen CraneStephen CraneStephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism...
- The Red Badge of CourageThe Red Badge of CourageThe Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane . Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound—a "red badge of courage"—to...
by Stephen CraneStephen CraneStephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism... - The Last of the MohicansThe Last of the MohicansThe Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
by James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo... - The DeerSlayerLeatherstocking TalesThe Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the main hero Natty Bumppo, known by European settlers as "Leatherstocking," 'The Pathfinder", and "the trapper" and by the Native Americans as "Deerslayer," "La Longue Carabine" and...
by James Fenimore Cooper - The Collected Poems of E. E. CummingsE. E. CummingsEdward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
- Two Years Before the MastTwo Years Before the MastTwo Years Before the Mast is a book by the American author Richard Henry Dana, Jr., published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834. A film adaptation under the same name was released in 1946.- Background :...
by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.Richard Henry Dana, Jr.Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of an eminent colonial family who gained renown as the author of the American classic, the memoir Two Years Before the Mast... - The Journals of Lewis and ClarkLewis and Clark ExpeditionThe Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
edited by Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVotoBernard Augustine DeVoto was an American historian and author who specialized in the history of the American West.- Life and work :He was born in Ogden, Utah... - Final Harvest by Emily DickinsonEmily DickinsonEmily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life...
- 1919U.S.A. trilogyThe U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel ; 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen ; and The Big Money . The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938...
by John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosJohn Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos... - Sister CarrieSister CarrieSister Carrie is a novel by Theodore Dreiser about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream by first becoming a mistress to men that she perceives as superior and later as a famous actress...
by Theodore DreiserTheodore DreiserTheodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of... - An American TragedyAn American Tragedy-Plot summary:The ambitious but immature Clyde Griffiths, raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bellboy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are...
by Theodore DreiserTheodore DreiserTheodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of... - Letters from an American FarmerLetters from an American FarmerLetters From An American Farmer And Sketches Of Eighteenth-Century America was published by Jean de Crèvecœur in 1782 but it was written before the American Revolution. Crèvecœur provided one of the first examples of American literature to Europeans....
by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur - Dusk of Dawn by W. E. B. Du Bois
- Freedom of the Will by Jonathan Edwards
- The Collected Poems (1909–1962) of T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
- Invisible ManInvisible ManInvisible Man is a novel written by Ralph Ellison, and the only one that he published during his lifetime . It won him the National Book Award in 1953...
by Ralph EllisonRalph EllisonRalph Waldo Ellison was an American novelist, literary critic, scholar and writer. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Ellison is best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953... - The Essays of Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
- The Poems of Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
- Absalom, Absalom!Absalom, Absalom!Absalom, Absalom! is a Southern Gothic novel by the American author William Faulkner, first published in 1936. It is a story about three families of the American South, taking place before, during, and after the Civil War, with the focus of the story on the life of Thomas Sutpen.-Plot...
by William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career... - The Sound and the FuryThe Sound and the FuryThe Sound and the Fury is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It employs a number of narrative styles, including the technique known as stream of consciousness, pioneered by 20th century European novelists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Published in 1929, The Sound and...
by William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career... - The Great GatsbyThe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
by F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost... - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
- Poor Richard's Almanack for 1733-1758 by Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
- The Poems of Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
- The FederalistFederalist PapersThe Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
by HamiltonAlexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
and JayJohn JayJohn Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States .... - Uncle RemusUncle RemusUncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
by Joel Chandler HarrisJoel Chandler HarrisJoel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years... - The Selected Tales of Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
- The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
by Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials... - Six Plays by Lillian HellmanLillian HellmanLillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
- The First Forty-Nine StoriesThe Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine StoriesThe Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories is an anthology of writings by Ernest Hemingway published by Scribner's on 14 October 1938....
of Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the... - The Sun Also RisesThe Sun Also RisesThe Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received...
by Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the... - A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway concerning events during the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The book, which was first published in 1929, is a first-person account of American Frederic Henry, serving as a Lieutenant in the ambulance...
by Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the... - The Rise of Silas LaphamThe Rise of Silas LaphamThe Rise of Silas Lapham is a realistic novel written by William Dean Howells in 1885 about the materialistic rise of Silas Lapham from rags to riches, and his ensuing moral susceptibility. Silas earns a fortune in the paint business, but he lacks social standards, which he tries to attain through...
by William Dean Howells - The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving
- The AmbassadorsThe AmbassadorsThe Ambassadors is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review . This dark comedy, one of the masterpieces of James's final period, follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad, his widowed fiancée's supposedly...
by Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.... - The Selected Tales of Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
- Psychology by William JamesWilliam JamesWilliam James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
- Pragmatism by William JamesWilliam JamesWilliam James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
- The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
- The Country of the Pointed Firs and 14 Other StoriesThe Country of the Pointed FirsThe Country of the Pointed Firs is an 1896 short story sequence by Sarah Orne Jewett which is considered by some literary critics to be her finest work...
by Sarah Orne JewettSarah Orne JewettSarah Orne Jewett was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set in or near South Berwick, Maine, on the border of New Hampshire, which in her day was a declining New England seaport.-Biography:Jewett's family had been residents of New England for many... - Round Up, The Stories of Ring LardnerRing LardnerRinggold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
- Main StreetMain StreetMain Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...
by Sinclair LewisSinclair LewisHarry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of... - Speeches and Writings of Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
- The Call of the WildThe Call of the WildThe Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events leads to his serving as a sled dog in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled dogs...
by Jack LondonJack LondonJohn Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone... - The Collected Poems of Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
- Spoon River AnthologySpoon River AnthologySpoon River Anthology , by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of short free-form poems that collectively describe the life of the fictional small town of Spoon River, named after the real Spoon River that ran near Masters' home town. The collection includes two hundred and twelve separate...
by Edgar Lee MastersEdgar Lee MastersEdgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist... - A Mencken Chrestomathy by H. L. MenckenH. L. MenckenHenry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
- Moby-DickMoby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd.... - Billy Budd, Sailor & The Piazza Tales by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
- TypeeTypeeTypee is American writer Herman Melville's first book, a classic in the literature of travel and adventure partly based on his actual experiences as a captive on the island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands, in 1842...
by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd.... - The Plays by Arthur MillerArthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
- The Collected Poems of Marianne MooreMarianne MooreMarianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...
- Admiral of the Ocean Sea, A Life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years...
- Interpretations and Forecasts: 1922-1972 by Lewis MumfordLewis MumfordLewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
- LolitaLolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
by Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist... - McTeagueMcTeagueMcTeague is a novel by Frank Norris, first published in 1899. It tells the story of a couple's courtship and marriage, and their subsequent descent into poverty, violence and finally murder as the result of jealousy and avarice...
by Frank NorrisFrank NorrisBenjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. was an American novelist, during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague , The Octopus: A Story of California , and The Pit .-Life:Frank Norris was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1870... - The Complete Stories of Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O'ConnorMary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
- Four Plays of Eugene O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
- Common SenseCommon senseCommon sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Thus, "common sense" equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have...
, The American CrisisThe American CrisisThe American Crisis was a series of pamphlets published from 1776 to 1783 during the American Revolution by 18th century Enlightenment philosopher and author Thomas Paine. The first volume begins with the famous words "These are the times that try men's souls". There were sixteen pamphlets in total...
and The Age of ReasonThe Age of ReasonThe Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology is a deistic pamphlet, written by eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary Thomas Paine, that criticizes institutionalized religion and challenges the legitimacy of the Bible, the central sacred text of...
by Thomas PaineThomas PaineThomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States... - The Oregon Trail by Francis ParkmanFrancis ParkmanFrancis Parkman was an American historian, best known as author of The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life and his monumental seven-volume France and England in North America. These works are still valued as history and especially as literature, although the biases of his...
- Tales of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
- Collected Poems and Essays on Poetry by Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
- Collected Stories of Katherine Anne PorterKatherine Anne PorterKatherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
- Personae - A Draft of 30 Cantos by Ezra PoundEzra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
- Selected Poems of Edwin Arlington RobinsonEdwin Arlington RobinsonEdwin Arlington Robinson was an American poet who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.- Biography :Robinson was born in Head Tide, Lincoln County, Maine, but his family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 1870...
- Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years by Carl SandburgCarl SandburgCarl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
- The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
by John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men... - The Collected Poems of Wallace StevensWallace StevensWallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
- Uncle Tom's CabinUncle Tom's CabinUncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
by Harriet Beecher StoweHarriet Beecher StoweHarriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom... - WaldenWaldenWalden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
by Henry D. Thoreau - ‘’A Week on the Concord and Merrimak Rivers’’ by Henry D. Thoreau
- The Thurber Carnival by James ThurberJames ThurberJames Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
- The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson TurnerFrederick Jackson TurnerFrederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas are referred to as the Frontier Thesis. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism...
- Adventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...
by Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist... - The Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St...
by Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist... - Life on the MississippiLife on the MississippiLife on the Mississippi is a memoir by Mark Twain, of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi many years after the War....
by Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist... - The Theory of the Leisure ClassThe Theory of the Leisure ClassThe Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions is a book, first published in 1899, by the Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen while he was a professor at the University of Chicago....
by Thorstein VeblenThorstein VeblenThorstein Bunde Veblen, born Torsten Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist, and a leader of the so-called institutional economics movement... - All the King's MenAll the King's MenAll the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
by Robert Penn WarrenRobert Penn WarrenRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935... - Up From SlaveryUp From SlaveryUp from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the...
, an Autobiography by Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915... - Miss LonelyheartsMiss LonelyheartsMiss Lonelyhearts, published in 1933, is Nathanael West's second novel. It is an Expressionist black comedy set in New York City during the Great Depression.-Plot summary:...
and The Day of the LocustThe Day of the LocustThe Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression, its overarching themes deal with the alienation and desperation of a broad group of odd individuals who exist at the fringes of the Hollywood movie industry.In 1998,...
by Nathanael WestNathanael WestNathanael West was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.- Early life :... - The Age of InnocenceThe Age of InnocenceThe Age of Innocence is a novel by Edith Wharton published in 1920, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The story is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. In 1920, The Age of Innocence was serialized in four parts in the Pictorial Review magazine, and later released by D...
by Edith WhartonEdith WhartonEdith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:... - Leaves of GrassLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman . Though the first edition was published in 1855, Whitman spent his entire life writing Leaves of Grass, revising it in several editions until his death...
by Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse... - Plays of Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
- The Selected Plays by Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
- The Selected Poems by William Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
- Look Homeward, AngelLook Homeward, AngelLook Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel, and is considered a highly autobiographical American Bildungsroman. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel covers the span of time...
by Thomas WolfeThomas WolfeThomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
The Collected Stories of the World's Greatest Writers (1977-1985)
The following titles were bound in genuine leather with 22k gold accents:- Notes from Underground, The Gambler, and Poor People by Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
- 28 Stories of F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
- Wessex Tales by Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
- 27 Collected Stories of Katherine Anne PorterKatherine Anne PorterKatherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
- Kiss Me Again, Stranger by Daphne du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
- The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds by H. G. WellsH. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
- Animal Farm and 1984 by George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
- The Cabala, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and The Woman of Andros by Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
- Seven Gothic Tales of Isak Dinesen
- Mr. Moto's Three Aces by John P. MarquandJohn P. MarquandJohn Phillips Marquand was a American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938...
- The Collected Stories of Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
- Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
- The Complete Stories of Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O'ConnorMary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
- Sermons and Soda-Water by John O'HaraJohn O'HaraJohn Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He initially became known for his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue...
- The First Forty-Nine Stories by Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
- Stories From the Decameron by Giovanni BoccaccioGiovanni BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
- Moon Lake and 12 Other Stories by Eudora WeltyEudora WeltyEudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
- Stories of Five Decades by Hermann HesseHermann HesseHermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
- DublinersDublinersDubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century....
by James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century... - One Basket by Edna FerberEdna FerberEdna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
- Tortilla FlatTortilla FlatTortilla Flat is an early John Steinbeck novel set in Monterey, California. The novel was the author's first clear critical and commercial success....
, Of Mice and MenOf Mice and MenOf Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
, Cannery RowCannery RowCannery Row is the waterfront street in the New Monterey section of Monterey, California. It is the site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 1973...
by John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men... - Uncle RemusUncle RemusUncle Remus is a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form in 1881...
by Joel Chandler HarrisJoel Chandler HarrisJoel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years... - The Apple TreeThe Apple TreeThe Apple Tree is a series of three musical playlets with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a book by Bock and Harnick with contributions from Jerome Coopersmith...
and Other Tales by John GalsworthyJohn GalsworthyJohn Galsworthy OM was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter... - 35 Stories by Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
- 38 Stories by SakiSakiHector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy...
H. H. Munro - Nabokov's Dozen by Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
- 13 Stories by Sinclair LewisSinclair LewisHarry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
- Three Exemplary Novels by Miguel de CervantesMiguel de CervantesMiguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
- The Man That Corrupted HadleyburgThe Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" is a piece of short fiction by Mark Twain. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly in December 1899, and was subsequently published by Harper Collins in the collection The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches .-Plot summary:Chapter...
and 18 Other Stories by Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist... - The New Arabian NightsThe New Arabian NightsNew Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1882, is a collection of short stories previously published in magazines between 1877 and 1880...
by Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.... - 21 Collected Short Stories by Aldous HuxleyAldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
- Seven Tales by Henry JamesHenry JamesHenry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
- 17 Stories by Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
- Three Tales by Gustave FlaubertGustave FlaubertGustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,...
- 22 Stories by Edith WhartonEdith WhartonEdith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
- The Country of the Pointed FirsThe Country of the Pointed FirsThe Country of the Pointed Firs is an 1896 short story sequence by Sarah Orne Jewett which is considered by some literary critics to be her finest work...
and 4 Stories by Sarah Orne JewettSarah Orne JewettSarah Orne Jewett was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set in or near South Berwick, Maine, on the border of New Hampshire, which in her day was a declining New England seaport.-Biography:Jewett's family had been residents of New England for many... - Tales of the South PacificTales of the South PacificTales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which is a collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947...
by James A. MichenerJames A. MichenerJames Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories... - 14 Selected Stories by W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset MaughamWilliam Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
- The Ranger and 3 Other Stories by Zane GreyZane GreyZane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
- Breakfast at Tiffany'sBreakfast at Tiffany's (novella)Breakfast at Tiffany's is a novella by Truman Capote published in 1958. The main character, Holly Golightly, is one of Capote's best-known creations and an American cultural icon.-Plot:...
and Three Stories by Truman CapoteTruman CapoteTruman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At... - 74 Fairy Tales by Hans Christian AndersenHans Christian AndersenHans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
- 30 Stories by Guy de MaupassantGuy de MaupassantHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
- The Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer SonataThe Kreutzer Sonata is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1889 and promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage...
and 10 Other Stories by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist... - The Troll GardenThe Troll GardenA collection of short stories by Willa Cather, published in 1905.-Contents:This collection contains the following stories: * "On the Divide"* "Eric Hermannson's Soul"* "The Enchanted Bluff"* "The Bohemian Girl"* "Flavia and Her Artists"...
& Obscure DestiniesObscure DestiniesA collection of short stories by Willa Cather, published in 1932.- Contents :This collection contains the following stories:* "Neighbour Rosicky"* "Old Mrs. Harris"* "Two Friends"...
by Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I... - Thirteen O'Clock - Stories of Several Worlds by Stephen Vincent BenétStephen Vincent BenétStephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body , for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By...
- 73 Short Stories by Katherine MansfieldKatherine MansfieldKathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and...
- The Best of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Queen of SpadesThe Queen of Spades (story)"The Queen of Spades" is a short story by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. Pushkin wrote the story in autumn 1833 in Boldino and it was first published in the literary magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya in March 1834...
and 3+ Other Tales by Alexander Pushkin - 7 Stories by Booth TarkingtonBooth TarkingtonBooth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
- Peasants and 8 Other Stories Anton ChekhovAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
- Heart of DarknessHeart of DarknessHeart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1903 publication, it appeared as a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the "100 best novels" and part of the Western canon.The story centres on Charles...
and 10 Other Tales by Joseph ConradJoseph ConradJoseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties... - The Continental OpThe Continental OpThe Continental Op is a fictional character created by Dashiell Hammett. A private investigator employed as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency's San Francisco office, he never gives his name and so is known only by his job description....
by Dashiell HammettDashiell HammettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on... - 222 Fables, Fully Indexed by AesopAesopAesop was a Greek writer credited with a number of popular fables. Older spellings of his name have included Esop and Isope. Although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a...
- Round UpRound Up----"Round Up" is a song by American rapper Lady May, featuring American R&B singer Blu Cantrell. Released as a single in June 2002, the song was supposed to be the lead single from May's debut album, May Day, but the album has never been released. The single performed moderately in the U.S...
by Ring LardnerRing LardnerRinggold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:... - Tales of All Countries and 8 Other Stories by Anthony TrollopeAnthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
- 16 California Stories by Bret HarteBret HarteFrancis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
- 25 Collected Stories by Dylan ThomasDylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
- The Magic Barrel and Idiots First by Bernard MalamudBernard MalamudBernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
- From Death to Morning by Thomas WolfeThomas WolfeThomas Clayton Wolfe was a major American novelist of the early 20th century.Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing...
- 45 Selected Stories by O. HenryO. HenryO. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
- Taras Bulba and 8 Other Tales by Nikolai GogolNikolai GogolNikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
- These Thirteen by William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
- 5 Stories by Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
- Here Lies. 24 Collected Stories by Dorothy ParkerDorothy ParkerDorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
- Four Short Novels by D. H. LawrenceD. H. LawrenceDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
- Three Christmas Books by Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
- The Thurber Carnival by James ThurberJames ThurberJames Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
- Guys and Dolls by Damon RunyonDamon RunyonAlfred Damon Runyon was an American newspaperman and writer.He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the...
- Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
- Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood AndersonSherwood AndersonSherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
- 4 Tales by E. T. A. Hoffmann
- The Wall and 5 Other Stories by Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
- Exile and the Kingdom by Albert CamusAlbert CamusAlbert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
- First Love and 7 Other Tales by Ivan TurgenevIvan TurgenevIvan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
- 100 Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm
- Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
- This Gun for Hire, The Confidential Agent, The Ministry of Fear by Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
- A Descent into the Maelstrom and 23 Other Tales by Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
- Gimpel the Fool and 10 Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
- 32 Droll Stories by Honoré de BalzacHonoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and 22 Selected Stories by Stephen CraneStephen CraneStephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism...
- Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
- 18 Stories by Heinrich BöllHeinrich BöllHeinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...
- 27 Stories by Erskine CaldwellErskine CaldwellErskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South like the novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was...
- 22 Stories by Luigi PirandelloLuigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
- Laughing to Keep from Crying and 25 Jesse Semple Stories by Langston HughesLangston HughesJames Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
- The Best (14) Short Stories by Theodore DreiserTheodore DreiserTheodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
- In the Midst of Life - Tales of Soldiers and Civilians by Ambrose Bierce
- Stories by Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
- 16 Tales of the Northland by Jack LondonJack LondonJohn Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
- Stories & Fairy Tales by Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
- Candide and Zadig by François Marie Arouet Voltaire
- Billy Budd, Sailor and The (6) Piazza Tales by Herman MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
- Scenes of Clerical Life by George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
- 36 Stories by Alexandre Dumas
- The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gent. by Washington IrvingWashington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
- 8 Collected Short Stories by Carson McCullersCarson McCullersCarson McCullers was an American writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and two plays, as well as essays and some poetry. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the South...
- Ficciones by Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
- Around the World in Eighty Days & From the Earth to the Moon by Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
60 Signed Limited Editions (1977-1982)
- The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss
- Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
- The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
- The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir
- Gimpel, The Fool and Other Stories by Isaac Beshevis Singer
- God’s Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell
- Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
- The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton
- A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton
- The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever
- Deliverance by James Dickey
- A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion
- The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy
- Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
- A God Against the Gods by Allen Drury
- Justine by Lawrence Durrell
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Young Lonigan by James T. Farrell
- The Collector by John Fowles
- The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
- Mary Queen Of Scotts by Antonia Fraser
- The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
- The Last Angry Man by Gerald Green
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Good As Gold by Joseph Heller
- A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
- The Wall by John Hersey
- Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
- Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash
- The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
- Collected Plays of Arthur Miller
- Birds of America by Mary McCarthy
- The Group by Mary McCarthy
- Them by Joyce Carol Oates
- Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Patton
- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
- Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
- Five Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
- A Thousand Days by Arthur M. Schlesinger
- The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
- The Affair by C.P. Snow
- The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
- The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
- Lust for Life by Irving Stone
- The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
- Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron
- Rabbit Redux by John Updike
- Rabbit, Run by John Updike
- Exodus by Leon Uris
- Burr by Gore Vidal
- Julian by Gore Vidal
- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
- Selected Poems (1923–1975) of Robert Penn Warren
- The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
- The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West
- In Search of History by Theodore H. White
- Selected Plays of Tennessee Williams
- The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
- Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk
Pulitzer Prize Classics (1975-1982)
This was an 84-volume collection of Pulitzer Prize winning novels, from the 1917 prize inception through 1982. Beginning in 1975, the following titles were bound in genuine leather with 22k gold accents:- 1918 His Family by Ernest Poole
- 1919 The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
- 1919 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkingon
- 1921 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- 1922 Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
- 1923 One of Ours by Willa Cather
- 1924 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson
- 1925 So Big by Edna Ferber
- 1926 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
- 1927 Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield
- 1928 The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
- 1928 Plays by Eugene O'Neil
- 1929 John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet
- 1929 Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
- 1930 Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge
- 1931 Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
- 1931 Collected Poems by Robert Frost
- 1932 The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
- 1933 The Store by T.S. Stribling
- 1934 Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
- 1935 Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson
- 1936 Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis
- 1937 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- 1937 The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865 by Van Wyck Brooks
- 1938 The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand
- 1939 The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- 1939 Benjamin Franklin by Carl Van Doren
- 1940 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- 1941/1939/1936 Three Plays by Robert E. Sherwood
- 1942 In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
- 1943/1938 Our Town / The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
- 1943 Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair
- 1943 Admiral of the Ocean Sea by Samuel E. Morison
- 1943 Paul Revere by Esther Forbes
- 1944 Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
- 1945 A Bell For Adano by John Hersey
- 1946 The Age of Jackson by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
- 1947 All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
- 1948 Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener
- 1948 Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto
- 1949 Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
- 1950 The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
- 1951 The Town by Conrad Richter
- 1951 Complete Poems by Carl Sandburg
- 1952 The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
- 1952 Collected Poems by Marianne Moore
- 1953 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- 1954 A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton
- 1954 The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles A. Lindbergh
- 1955 A Fable by William Faulkner
- 1955/1948 Plays by Tennessee Williams
- 1956 Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
- 1957 Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
- 1957 Russia Leaves the War by George F. Kennan
- 1958 A Death in the Family by James Agee
- 1959 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
- 1960 Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
- 1961 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 1962 The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
- 1962 The Making of the President: 1960 by Theodore H. White
- 1963 The Reivers by William Faulkner
- 1963 The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
- 1965 The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
- 1966 Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter
- 1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
- 1967 Plays by Arthur Miller
- 1967 Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain by Justin Kaplan
- 1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
- 1969 House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
- 1969 So Human an Animal by René Jules Dubos
- 1970 Collected Stories by Jean Stafford
- 1972 Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
- 1972 Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash
- 1973 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
- 1973 Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Francis Fitzgerald
- 1974 Americans and the Democratic Experience by Daniel Boorstin
- 1975 The Killer Angels by Michael Sharra
- 1976 Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
- 1976 Edith Wharton: A Biography by R.W.B. Lewis
- 1978 Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
- 1979 Stories by John Cheever
- 1980 The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
- 1982 Rabbit is Rich by John Udike
- 1982 The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
Franklin Mystery Masterpieces (1987-1990)
This series was offered mainly in leatherette, with a few titles issued in full leather. Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap and Other Plays" was issued in both velvet and leather covers.- Great American Mysteries (a collection of stories by different different Anerican authors)
- Great British Mysteries (a collection of stories by different British authors)
- The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
- A coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
- Trent's Last case by E. C. Bently
- The House without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers
- The Beast must die by Nicolas Blake
- The 39 Steps by John Buchan
- Postman always rings twice by James M. Cain
- Laura by Vera Caspary
- Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
- The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
- Mousetrap and other plays by Agatha Christie
- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
- The Long Divorce by Edmund Crispin
- The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
- The Great cases of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
- Payment Deferred by C. S. Forrester
- The day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
- Blood Sport by Dick Francis
- Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser
- D.A. calls it Murder by Erle Stanley Gardner
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- Raffles by E. W. Hornung
- The Man from the Sea by Michael Innes
- Ghostly Tales by Henry James
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre
- A Kiss before Dying by Ira Levin
- Compulsion by Meyer Levin
- The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes
- Ashenden (or British agent) by W. S. Maugham
- Thank you Mr. Moto and Mr. Moto is so sorry by John P. Marquand
- Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh
- The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
- The Man in the corner by Baroness Orczy
- Tales of mystery and imagination by Edgar Allan Poe
- The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen
- The Door by Mary Rinehart
- The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer
- Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers
- The Patience of Maigret by George Simenon
- Strange case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Fer-De-Lance by Rex Stout
- The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
- Anatomy of Murder by Robert Traver
- The Benson Murder case by S. S. Van Dine
- The Crimson Circle by Edgar Wallace
- Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Bride wore Black by Cornell Woolrich
World's Best Loved Books (1977-1986)
The books in this series were of genuine leather with 22k gold accents and gilded page-ends. This series consists of a large number of more popular titles, including classics that many readers expect to see but which were absent from the 100 Greatest Books of All Time series.- Fairy Tales – Hans Christian Andersen
- The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck
- Peasants and other Stories – Anton Chekhov
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
- For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
- Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
- The History of Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
- Snow White and other Tales – The Brothers Grimm
- From Here To Eternity – James Jones
- Captains Courageous – Rudyard Kipling
- Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
- Mutiny on the Bounty – Nordhoff & Hall
- Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea – Jules Verne
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- The Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum
- Plays – Anton Chekhov
- A Light in August – William Faulkner
- Giant – Edna Ferber
- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – Edward Fitzgerald
- Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
- Stories of Three Continents – Ernest Hemingway
- Tales From The East and The West – W. Somerset Maugham
- Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
- Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
- Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
- Tales from the Arabian Nights – Sir Richard Burton
- Three Christmas Stories – Charles Dickens
- Père Goriot – Honore De Balzac
- The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
- The Sea-Wolf – Jack London
- Plays – Eugene O’Neill
- Poems – William Shakespeare
- The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
- Lust For Life – Irving Stone
- The Thurber Carnival – James Thurber
- The Caine Mutiny – Herman Wouk
- Candide – Voltaire
- The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
- Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
- Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
- The Last of The Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
- Stories – Guy De Maupassant
- Lost Horizon – James Hilton
- Four Plays – Henrik Ibsen
- Poems – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- The Oregon Trail – Francis Parkman
- The Masque of the Red Death & Other Tales – Edgar Allan Poe
- The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
- Aesop’s Fables – Aesop
- Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
- Silas Marner – George Eliot
- Uncle Remus – Joel Chandler Harris
- The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Six Tragedies – William Shakespeare
- Life on the Mississippi – Mark Twain
- Nana – Emile Zola
- The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane
- Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
- The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James
- Collected Poems – Edgar Allan Poe
- Seven Comedies – William Shakespeare
- The Tale of Genji: The Uji Chapter – Murasaki Shikibu
- Walden, or Life in The Woods – Henry David Thoreau
- Barchester Towers – Anthony Trollope
- Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
- Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
- Selected Poems – Walt Whitman
- The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
- Two Years Before The Mast – Richard Henry Dana
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
- Tales – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Prisoner of Zenda – Anthony Hope
- Selected Tales – Henry James
- Poems – John Keats
- Moby-Dick, or The Whale – Herman Melville
- Paradise Lost – John Milton
- The Red and the Black – Stendhal
- In Memoriam and Other Poems – Alfred Lord Tennyson
- Lorna Doone – Richard D. Blackmore
- Eight Tales – Joseph Conrad
- The Deerslayer – James Fenimore Cooper
- Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
- A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
- Essays: First and Second – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- The Man of Property – John Galsworthy
- Sixteen Stories – Bret Harte
- The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. – Washington Irving
- The Best of Saki – H. H. Munro
- The Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss
The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books (1981-1985)
A very impressive Franklin Mint venture in which both full- and quarter-bound leather titles were stunningly reproduced in collaboration with Oxford University Press. Each genuine-leather Franklin/Oxford edition represents the very finest in bookbinding craftsmanship, with most of the full-leather titles (listed below) brandishing a gorgeous inner-board gilt 'ticking' that elegantly borders the end-sheets. Several titles (e.g., Don Quixote, Moby-Dick, The Aeneid, Romantic Poets) boast embossed leather cover-art or (e.g., Confessions, Gargantua, Shakespeare, Dickens, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones) decorative hand-tooled multi-color or elegant dual-tone leather.- Don Quixote de La Mancha (1981)
- Voltaire – Candide (1981)
- Moby-Dick (1981)
- Edgar Allan Poe – Tales (1981)
- Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Clarke illustrated 1981)
- Great Greek Tragedies (1982)
- The Aeneid – Virgil (1982)
- The Confessions of St. Augustine (1982)
- Gargantua and Pantagruel (1982)
- Montaigne – Essays (1982)
- The Oxford Library of Charles Dickens (1982-85), including A Tale of Two Cities, American Notes & Pictures from Italy, Barnaby Rudge, Bleak House, Christmas Books, Christmas Stories, David Copperfield, Dombey and Son, Great Expectations, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, Martin Chuzzlewit, Master Humphrey's Clock & A Child's History of England, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, Oliver Twist, Our Mutual Friend, The Pickwick Papers, Sketches By Boz, and The Uncommercial Traveller & Reprinted Pieces.
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented (1982)
- Le Père Goriot (1982)
- Robinson Crusoe (1982)
- The Scarlet Letter (1982)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1982)
- The Magic Mountain (1982)
- Wuthering Heights (1983)
- Madame Bovary (1983)
- Anna Karenina (1983)
- Swann's Way (1983)
- Ulysses (1983)
- The Trial (1983)
- Romantic Poets: William Blake to Edgar Allan Poe (1983)
- Ibsen – Plays (1983)
- Yeats – Poems (1983)
- The Iliad – Homer (1984)
- The Odyssey – Homer (1984)
- Faust (1984)
- Milton – Paradise Lost (Doré illustrated 1984)
- The Oxford Library of Shakespeare (1984), an elegant three-volume collection of the complete works of William Shakespeare, including the Histories, Tragedies, Comedies, and Poems.
- Gulliver's Travels (1984)
- Tom Jones (1984)
- Vanity Fair (1984)
- The Portrait of A Lady (1984)
- The Red and the Black (1984)
- Lord Jim (1984)
- The Great Gatsby (1984)
- Donne – Poems (1985)
- Chekhov – Greatest Plays (1986)
The (Signed) First Edition Society (1976-2000)
The Franklin Library published limited first editions of a large number of books. They were distributed to the members of its First Edition Society. Initially the books were unsigned (or given facsimile signatures only) and not numbered (from 1976 to 1982), including such titles as Drury's A God Against the Gods; Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century; Michener's The Covenant and Tales of the South Pacific; the Catton brothers' The Bold and Magnificent Dream: America's Founding Years, 1492-1815; Auchincloss's The Winthrop Covenant; Stone's The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin; Uris's Trinity; Salisbury's Black Night, White Snow: Russia's Revolutions, 1905 to 1917; Faulkner's Letters and Uncollected Stories; Lash's Roosevelt and Churchill, 1939-1941: The Partnership That Saved The West; Wouk's War and Remembrance; Jones's Whistle; Stegner's Recapitulation and The Spectator Bird; and both Auden's and Warren's Poems.Later the series name was changed to The Signed First Edition Society, and the books issued to members were authentically flat-signed by the authors, and in some cases were also numbered as to the limitation (from 1983 to 2000). The celebrated titles of this 'later' series include, among many others, Updike's The Witches of Eastwick, Roger's Version, Rabbit at Rest, and In the Beauty of the Lilies; Roth's American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, The Counterlife, Operation Shylock, The Anatomy Lesson, and The Human Stain; Uris's The Haj, Redemption, and A God In Ruins; Vidal's Lincoln, Empire, and The Smithsonian Institution; Bradbury's Death Is A Lonely Business and Quicker Than the Eye; Toland's The Gods of War; Vonnegut's Galapagos, Bluebeard, and Hocus Pocus; Angelou's All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes; Turow's The Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty, The Laws of Our Fathers, and Personal Injuries; Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy; Schlesinger's The Cycles of American History; Miller's Timebends; Wolfe's The Bonfire of The Vanities; Stegner's Crossing to Safety; Tyler's Breathing Lessons; Huffington's Picasso; Keillor's We Are Still Married; Spock's Spock On Spock; Irving's The Cider House Rules; Doctorow's Billy Bathgate, The Waterworks, and City of God; Crichton's Jurassic Park, Lost World, and Rising Sun; Potok's The Gift of Asher Lev; Sontag's The Volcano Lover and In America; Morrison's Jazz; Ackroyd's English Music; Fisher's Delusions of Grandma; Michener's Recessional; Puzo's The Last Don; Heller's Closing Time; Groom's Gump & Co; and Rice's Merrick and Vittorio, The Vampire.