James Baldwin, The Book Lover: A Guide to the Best Reading [1910]
134 entries: 98 monographical, 36 otherwise
Unranked—arranged alphabetically by author
James Baldwin's The Book Lover was published in fifteen editions, 1884-1910. The list presented here is derived from two chapters of that book, 'Books of Power' and 'On the Choice of Books'. The list found in the latter chapter is short and mostly overlaps with that of the former. The latter adds the Blackmoore and Irving entries (which have been interfiled with the rest, conforming to Baldwin's arrangment of the works alphabetically by author) and specifies Paradise Lost for Milton, Heroes for Carlyle, and Oration on the Crown for Demosthenes; thus, those works' separate entries. Baldwin defines Books of Power as such: "the works which embody the best thoughts of the noblest thinkers of all countries and ages," adding, "in them we perceive the crystallization of human wisdom as it has been made manifest through the grandest intellects of all nations; by the reading of them our minds are lifted into closer companionship with the invisible, the sublime, the everlasting. Such books are for the building up of a lofty character, for the turning of the soul inward upon itself and the fitting of it for greater, stronger, worthier achievements."
The following chapters of The Book Lover contain longer lists of books: 'Books Relating to Ancient History', 'Books Relating to Modern History', 'Geography and Travels', 'Philosophy and Religion', 'Political Economy and the Science of Government', and 'On the Practical Study of English Literature'. Also, in his chapter on the John Lubbock list and the responses it engendered, Baldwin provides a list of one-hundred "works suitable for a young person's library" and another hundred on "nature and nature study." These are excluded on the same grounds as Hutchinson's The World's Best Books and English and Pope's What to Read (both noted at the Excluded Lists page): they are more like directories suggesting books on certain subjects for the reader to choose from, instead of a lists of books of general literary value or historical significance (see the Guidelines for more information on the criteria used to select the lists collected at Greater Books). The Book Lover is similar to The List of Books [1981] in that both provide subject-specific lists in addition to a general list (again, in Baldwin's case, two general lists).
- Joseph Addison et al.
The Spectator
periodical originally published 1711-2, 1714; Baldwin only names Addison—English
- Aeschylus
Plays
Fifth Century B C—Greek
- Aesop
Fables
ca. late Seventh-early Sixth centuries B C—Greek
--
- Kitab alf Laylah Wa-Laylah
The Thousand and One Nights; The Arabian Nights
Ninth-Fifteenth centuries—Arabic
*Lubock*
- Ludovico Ariosto
Orlando Furioso
published in part, 1516; revised 1521; published in its entirety, 1532—Italian
Plays
late Fifth Century B C—Greek
Selected works
Fourth Century B C—Greek
- Francis Bacon
Essays: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed
1597; expanded 1612; expanded and retitled Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, 1625—English
--
- The Bible
—Hebrew; Aramaic; Greek
- R D Blackmoore
Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor
originally anonymously published 1869—English
- James Boswell
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
1791—English
- Thomas Browne
Religio Medici
1643—English
- John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress From This World to That Which Is to Come
1678—English
"Orations and political essays"
late Eighteenth Century—English
Poems
late Eighteenth Century—English
- Robert Burton
The Anatomy of Melancholy
1621; revised through fifth edition—English
Thomas Carlyle
Nineteenth Century—English
- Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
1842—English
- Miguel de Cervantes
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha
Don Quixote
originally published in two volumes, 1605 and 1615—Spanish
Geoffrey Chaucer
late Fourteenth Century—English
- Canterbury Tales
1478—English
Marcus Tullius Cicero
First Century B C—Latin
- De Officiis
written 44 B C—Latin
- Cato Major de Senectute
written 44 B C—Latin
- Laelius de Amicitia
written 44 B C—Latin
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- 'The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'
part of Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems, 1798; revised for inclusion in Sibylline Leaves, 1817—English
part of Christabel; Kubla Khan, a Vision in a Dream; The Pains of Sleep, 1816—English
originally entitled 'Effusion XVII', published Nov. 1794 in the Cambridge Intelligencer; included in Poems on Various Subjects, 1796; retitled 'Genevieve' for inclusion in Poems, 1803—English
- Dante
La Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21—Italian
- Daniel Defoe
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner
originally anonymously published 1719—English
Demosthenes
Fourth Century B C—English
- On the Crown
330 B C—Greek
Charles Dickens
Nineteenth Century—English
- The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)
originally published serially May 1849-Nov. 1850—English
- Dealings With the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation
originally published serially Oct. 1846-Apr. 1848—English
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
originally published serially Mar. 1838-Sep. 1839 under the pseudonym, Boz—English
- The Old Curiosity Shop
originally published serially Apr. 1840-Nov. 1841 in Master Humphrey's Clock under the pseudonym, Boz—English
- A Tale of Two Cities
originally published serially Apr.-Nov. 1859 in All the Year Round—English
- The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (The Pickwick Papers)
originally published serially Apr. 1836-Nov. 1837 under the pseudonym, Boz—English
Poems
Seventeenth Century—English
George Eliot
Nineteenth Century—English
- Adam Bede
1859—English
- The Mill on the Floss
1860—English
- Romola
originally published serially Jul. 1862-Aug. 1863 in Cornhill Magazine—English
- Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872—English
- Daniel Deronda
1876—English
Essays
Nineteenth Century—English
- Epictetus
Diatribai
Discourses
compiled by Arrian; Second Century—Greek
Plays
late Fifth Century B C—Greek
- Henry Fielding
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
1749—English
- Jean Froissart
Chroniques
written 1369-1400—French
- Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
originally published in six volumes: first, 1776; second-third, 1781; fourth-sixth, 1788—English
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Faust
originally published in two volumes: first, Faust. Der Tragödie Erster Teil, published in part, 1790; in its entirey, 1808; revised 1829; second, Faust. Der Tragödie Zweiter Teil, 1832—German
- Oliver Goldsmith
The Vicar of Wakefield
1766—English
Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Scarlet Letter
1850—English
- The House of Seven Gables
1851—English
- The Blithedale Romance
1852—English
- The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni
1860—English
- Herodotus
Historiē
History
Fifth Century B C—Greek
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
originally published serially 1857-8 in the Atlantic Monthly—English
Homer
- Iliad
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B C—Greek
- Odýsseia
The Odyssey
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B C—Greek
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
- Satirae
originally published in two volumes, 35 B C and 30 B C—Latin
- Carmina
Odes
originally published in four volumes: first-third, 23 B C; fourth, 13 B C—Latin
- Epodon
Epodes
30 B C—Latin
- Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
1862—French
- Washington Irving
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
originally published serially Jun. 1819-Jul. 1820; expanded 1848—English
--
- Kalevala
compiled by Elias Lönnrot; 1835; revised 1849—Finnish
Poems
early Nineteenth Century—English
Charles Lamb
- Essays of Elia
1823; originally published serially 1820-5 in the London Magazine—English
- Last Essays of Elia
1833; originally published serially 1820-5 in the London Magazine—English
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poems
Nineteenth Century—English
Poems
Nineteenth Century—English
- Thomas Macaulay (Lord Macaulay)
Essays
Nineteenth Century—English
- Vyasa
Mahabharata
includes Bhagavad Gita; ca. Ninth Century B C-Fourth Century—Sanskrit
- Thomas Malory
Le Morte d'Arthur
1485; revised through sixth edition, 1634—English
- Marcus Aurelius
Ta Eis Heauton
Meditations
written 161-80—Greek
Christopher Marlowe
- Tamburlaine the Great
1590—English
- The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus
1592—English
- The Jew of Malta
1592—English
John Milton
Seventeenth Century—English
- Paradise Lost
1667; revised 1674—English
Plays
Seventeenth Century—French
- Michel de Montaigne
Les Essais
Essays
originally published in three volumes: 1580, 1588, and 1595—French
--
- Nibelungenlied
ca. Twelfth-Thirteenth centuries—German
- Omar Khayyam
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
ca. Eleventh-Twelfth centuries; compiled by Edward FitzGerald in five editions, 1859, 1868, 1872, 1879, and 1889—Persian
Dialogues
early Fourth Century B C—Greek
- Plutarch
Bìoi Paràllēloi
Parallel Lives; Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
First Century—Greek
Poems
Nineteenth Century—English
Poems
Nineteenth Century—English
- Valmiki
Ramayana
ca. Fifth-Second centuries B C—Sanskrit
- Saadi Shirazi
Gullistan
written 1258—Persian
Walter Scott
- Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since
originally anonymously published 1814—English
- Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer
originally anonymously published 1815—English
- The Antiquary
originally anonymously published 1816—English
- The Black Dwarf
originally anonymously published 1816—English
- The Tale of Old Mortality
originally anonymously published 1816—English
- Rob Roy
originally anonymously published 1817—English
- The Heart of Midlothian
originally anonymously published 1818—English
- The Bride of Lamermoor
originally anonymously published 1819—English
- A Legend of Montrose
originally anonymously published 1819—English
- Ivanhoe
originally anonymously published 1819—English
- The Monastery
originally anonymously published 1820—English
- The Abbot
originally anonymously published 1820—English
- Kenilworth
originally anonymously published 1821—English
- The Pirate
originally anonymously published 1822—English
- The Fortunes of Nigel
originally anonymously published 1822—English
- Peveril of the Peak
originally anonymously published 1822—English
- Quentin Durward
originally anonymously published 1823—English
- St. Ronan's Well
originally anonymously published 1823—English
- Redgauntlet
originally anonymously published 1824—English
- The Betrothed
originally anonymously published 1825—English
- The Talisman
originally anonymously published 1825—English
- Woodstock; or, The Cavalier
originally anonymously published 1826—English
- St. Valentine's Day; or, The Fair Maid of Perth
doriginally anonymously published 1828—English
- Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist
originally anonymously published 1829—English
- Count Robert of Paris
originally anonymously published 1831—English
- Castle Dangerous
originally anonymously published 1831—English
Selected works
late Sixteenth-early Seventeenth centuries—English
Poems
early Nineteenth Century—English
Plays
Fifth Century B C—Greek
The Faerie Queene [excerpted]
unspecified selections; complete work originally published in two volumes, 1590 and 1596—English
- Torquato Tasso
La Gerusalemme Liberata
1581—Italian
Poems
Nineteenth Century—English
William Makepeace Thackeray
Nineteenth Century—English
- Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero
originally published serially Jan. 1847-Jul. 1848—English
- The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Q. Anne. Written by Himself
1852—English
- The Newcomes. Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family. Edited by Arthur Pendennis, Esq.
originally published serially 1853-5—English
- The History of Pendennis: His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and Greatest Enemy
originally published serially, 1848-50—English
- Theocritus
Idylls
Third Century B C—Greek
- Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)
Aeneid
First Century B C—Latin
- Izaak Walton
The Compleat Angler
1653; revised through sixth edition, 1676—English
Speeches
Nineteenth Century—English
Poems
late Eighteenth-early Nineteenth centuries—English