Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, volume 04


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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 fourth volume contains chapters from "Banim" to "Birrell". (Summary by Leni) (21 hr 59 min)

Chapters

The Publican's Dream 41:28 Read by Cynthia Moyer
Selected poems 6:00 Read by ravenotation
Selected works 18:02 Read by Bellona Times
Against Inconsistency in Our Expectations 18:30 Read by CaprishaPage
A Dialogue of the Dead 10:59 Read by Pamela Krantz
Selected poems 3:29 Read by Libby Gohn
The Courtier's Life (Second Eclogue) 27:49 Read by Cynthia Moyer
As I Laye A-Thynkynge 22:45 Read by Patti Cunningham
The Lay of St. Cuthbert 30:40 Read by James E. Carson
A Lay of St. Nicholas 16:24 Read by Phil Chenevert
Selected excerpts 34:38 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Selected excerpts 42:53 Read by James E. Carson
A Feast 20:38 Read by Cynthia Moyer
Selected works 16:33 Read by rookieblue
Selected works 51:08 Read by MaryAnn
The Courtin' of T'nowhead's Bell 38:56 Read by MaryAnn
Selected excerpts 27:08 Read by Bruce Pirie
Essay on Charles Baudelaire 24:57 Read by Bruce Pirie
Selected poems 7:44 Read by CaprishaPage
The Painter of Modern Life 9:38 Read by Leni
Selected excerpts 8:20 Read by CaprishaPage
Essay on Lord Beaconsfield 16:34 Read by Bruce Pirie
A Day at Ems 10:01 Read by Dan Darbandi
Excerpts from The Young Duke 28:33 Read by Patti Cunningham
Lothair in Palestine 14:26 Read by JamesMcAndrew
Selected excerpts 32:55 Read by Alan Weyman
Essay on Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher 20:19 Read by Bruce Pirie
Selected excerpts 52:26 Read by Cynthia Moyer
Selected excerpts 42:28 Read by Alan Weyman
Essay on Henry Ward Beecher 20:48 Read by MaryAnn
Selected excerpts 16:21 Read by MaryAnn
Sermon: Poverty and the Gospel 37:35 Read by MaryAnn
A New England Sunday 29:08 Read by MaryAnn
Letters 33:40 Read by Pamela Krantz
Selected poems 27:53 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Selected excerpts 28:47 Read by Loveday
Selected poems 40:11 Read by Bruce Pirie
Selected excerpts 20:39 Read by Steven Reynolds
Selected excerpts 29:00 Read by Zarlino
Selected excerpts 27:09 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Brief Life Is Here Our Portion 15:24 Read by Cynthia Moyer
The Treatyse of Fyssbynge with an Angle 11:38 Read by Martin Geeson
Old-Time London 23:16 Read by Bellona Times
The Synagogue 20:12 Read by Bellona Times
Bestiaries and Lapidaries 25:02 Read by Cynthia Moyer
Essay on Marie-Henri Beyle (Stendhal) 28:24 Read by Bruce Pirie
Princess Sanseverina's Interview 27:33 Read by Malone
Clélia Aids Fabrice to Escape 19:06 Read by JamesMcAndrew
Selected poems 27:56 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Selected poems 16:40 Read by Cynthia Moyer
Essay on Augustine Birrell 8:14 Read by rookieblue
Selected excerpts, part 1 37:53 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Selected excerpts, part 2 26:36 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Selected excerpts, part 3 23:58 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)