Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, volume 01


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.7 stars; 9 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 first volume contains chapters from "Abelard" to "Amiel". (Summary by Leni) (21 hr 34 min)

Chapters

Preface 11:06 Read by Julie VW
Essay on Abelard 46:40 Read by Martin Geeson
Selected works 23:58 Read by Martin Geeson
Selections from The King of the Mountains 17:25 Read by Mario Pineda
Selections from The Man with the Broken Ear 16:54 Read by Mario Pineda
Essay on Accadian-Babylonian and Assyrian Literature 31:33 Read by Alan Winterrowd
Excerpts of Accadian-Babylonian and Assyrian Literature 29:45 Read by Lucy Perry
Excerpts of Accadian-Babylonian and Assyrian Literature 18:42 Read by Lucy Perry
Letters to her Husband 29:10 Read by Joyce Martin
Letters to her Sister 20:19 Read by Joyce Martin
Letters to her Sister and Niece 22:10 Read by Joyce Martin
Selections from The History of the United States 21:28 Read by Joshua Paul Johnson
Selections from The History of the United States 25:16 Read by Joshua Paul Johnson
Selected works 21:07 Read by Joshua Paul Johnson
Selected works 30:09 Read by David Leeson
Selected poems 6:44 Read by Kalynda
Essay on Joseph Addison 36:09 Read by ravenotation
Selected works 37:52 Read by ravenotation
Selections from "Varia Historia" 14:20 Read by Kalynda
Selections from "Oration against Ctesiphon" 20:40 Read by Martin Geeson
Essay on Aeschylus 32:26 Read by Linda Dodge
Selected scenes 15:33 Read by Arielle Lipshaw
Selected fables 25:24 Read by Patti Cunningham
Selected works 41:13 Read by Jc Guan
Selected epigram 5:10 Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater
Selected works 30:30 Read by Joyce Martin
Selection from Crichton 42:44 Read by Joyce Martin
Selected poems 27:03 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Selected works 16:17 Read by Margaret Espaillat
Selected poems 10:43 Read by Bellona Times
Selected poems 6:44 Read by Linda Dodge
Selected epistles 14:09 Read by Elishebaisis
Selected poem 4:55 Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater
Selected works 28:37 Read by Kalynda
Selected works 20:36 Read by Michael Wolf
Selections from A Study of Death 25:47 Read by Joyce Martin
Selected poems 27:58 Read by Kalynda
Miss Mehetabel's Son 44:51 Read by Patti Cunningham
Selected poems 15:02 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Selected essay 56:17 Read by Jc Guan
Selections from Agamemnon 26:23 Read by Kalynda
Selected works 18:58 Read by Leni
Selected works 24:43 Read by Michael Wolf
Selected works 33:06 Read by Linda Dodge
Selection from Summer in Arcady 25:28 Read by Kamna
Selection from Flute and Violin 22:18 Read by Michael Reuss
Selected poems 21:58 Read by Ken Sterry
Selected works 22:08 Read by Bill Cissna
Selected works 16:48 Read by Kalynda
Selections from "Constantinople" and "Spain" 19:06 Read by Mario Pineda
Selections from "Holland and Its People" 41:01 Read by Michael Wolf
Extracts from Personal Journal 49:00 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)

Reviews


(4 stars)

I liked the variety of texts and most readers were really good. Thank you for your time and effort!