Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, volume 06


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(2.8 stars; 3 reviews)

The Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, is a work of enormous proportions. Setting out with the simple goal of offering "American households a mass of good reading", the editors drew from literature of all times and all kinds what they considered the best pieces of human writing, and compiled an ambitious collection of 45 volumes (with a 46th being an index-guide). Besides the selection and translation of a huge number of poems, letters, short stories and sections of books, the collection offers, before each chapter, a short essay about the author or subject in question. In many cases, chapters contemplate not one author, but certain groups of works, organized by nationality, subject or period; there is, thus, a chapter on Accadian-Babylonian literature, one on the Holy Grail, and one on Chansons, for example.

The result is a collection that holds the interest, for the variety of subjects and forms, but also as a means of first contact with such famous and important authors that many people have heard of, but never read, such as Abelard, Dante or Lord Byron. According to the editor Charles Dudley Warner, this collection "is not a library of reference only, but a library to be read."

This sixth volume contains chapters from "Brantôme" to "Bulwer-Lytton". - Summary by Leni (19 hr 18 min)

Chapters

Selected excerpts 31:43 Read by Jothi Tharavant
A Home-Coming 17:53 Read by MaryAnn
Selected excerpts from "The Home" 18:34 Read by MaryAnn
Selected poems 10:21 Read by DomBombadil
Selected excerpts 14:48 Read by DomBombadil
Selected excerpts of speeches 33:36 Read by Carol
Selected excerpts from "The Privations" 39:07 Read by Tony Addison
On People Fond of Good Living 18:38 Read by Tony Addison
Biographical note on Charlotte Bronté and her sisters 24:27 Read by Bruce Pirie
Jane Eyre's Wedding Day, from Jane Eyre 24:51 Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020)
Madame Beck, from Villette 14:26 Read by Gemma L Myers
A Yorkshire Landscape, from Shirley 4:58 Read by Gemma L Myers
The End of Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights 27:00 Read by Marina Tsung
Selected excerpts 27:17 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Wieland's Statement 33:17 Read by Matt Braymiller
Marjorie Fleming, from Spare Hours 9:28 Read by MaryAnn
Marjorie Fleming, from Spare Hours 35:20 Read by MaryAnn
The Death of Thackeray, from Spare Hours 8:25 Read by Gemma L Myers
Selected excerpts 43:33 Read by DJRickyV
Sir Thomas Browne 32:17 Read by Barbara Baker
Selected excerpts from the "Religio Medici" 48:13 Read by Barbara Baker
Selected excerpts from "Christian Morals" and "Hydriotaphia" 32:58 Read by Barbara Baker
Selected excerpts from "A Fragment on Mummies", "A Letter to a Friend" and "Pse… 21:02 Read by Barbara Baker
Selected poems 19:18 Read by MaryAnn
Selected poems 9:46 Read by MaryAnn
Selected poems, part 1 37:12 Read by Michele Fry
Selected poems, part 2 39:38 Read by Michele Fry
Biographical note on Robert Browning 25:38 Read by Bruce Pirie
Andrea del Sarto, called The Faultless Painter 17:10 Read by Bruce Pirie
Selected poems, part 1 26:37 Read by Bruce Pirie
Selected poems, part 2 23:16 Read by Bruce Pirie
Saint-Simonism, from The Convert 28:31 Read by Craig Campbell
Selected excerpts 32:22 Read by Tony Addison
Selected works 23:24 Read by Sonia
Biographical note on William Cullen Bryant 13:08 Read by Chris Pyle
Selected poems 25:12 Read by Chris Pyle
The Position of Women in the United States, from The American Commonwealth 32:30 Read by Carol
"The Ascent of Ararat" and "The Work of the Roman Empire" 29:00 Read by DJRickyV
Selected excerpts from "Curiosities of Natural History" 33:37 Read by Availle
Moral Versus Intellectual Principles in Human Progress, from The History of Civ… 31:42 Read by Michele Fry
The Mythical Origin of History, from The History of Civilization in England 14:54 Read by Michele Fry
Selected excerpts from the "Natural History" 22:25 Read by Bruce Pirie
Biographical note on Edward Bulwer-Lytton 22:35 Read by Bruce Pirie
The Amphitheatre, from The Last Days of Pompeii, part 1 34:46 Read by Mike Pelton
The Amphitheatre, from The Last Days of Pompeii, part 2 19:11 Read by Mike Pelton
Kenelm and Lily, from Kenelm Chillingly 24:02 Read by Jothi Tharavant