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Virgil’s epic poem, The Aeneid, has been of continuing importance to Western literature. Although it was commissioned by the emperor Augustus, the poem is more than early imperial propaganda. It proclaims the divine mission of Aeneas… more

A 1,000 page book which includes the original Chinese text, a translation, and commentaries.

This book attempts to reconstruct two ancient Sumerian stories from photographs of the stone tablets on which they were originally written: one story concerns an ancient account of a deluge (or flood) which destroyed much of… more

The first of 3 plays Beaumarchais wrote about a master-servant relationship, Count Almaviva and Figaro, during the social upheavals on the eve of the French revolution.

An edition of the tale in the original Old English with an extensive glossary. Beowulf is one of the first literary masterpieces of the English language, written in Old English in the eleventh century. The story itself is thought to… more

Voltaire’s “philosophic tale” is a clever satire of France in the mid-18th century. He makes fun of religious intolerance, the destructiveness of war, and the foibles of mankind. He concludes with a plea that we should all “cultivate… more

The first printed edition of Addison’s play which also contains 4 short pamphlets on Cato the historical figure and analyses of Addison’s play by anonymous authors.

First produced in 1713, Cato, A Tragedy inspired generations toward a pursuit of liberty. Liberty Fund’s new edition of Cato: A Tragedy, and Selected Essays brings together Addison’s dramatic masterpiece along with a selection of his… more

Legge provides lengthy introductions to leading Chinese philosophical works and is own translations.

In the guise of a school textbook on sound Latin prose Erasmus is able to mix sound language teaching, homilies on Christian ethics, and social criticism of some of the injustices and follies of his day.

A two volume collection of the Comedies of Aristophanes. Vol. 1 contains The Archanians, Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Peace, and Birds. Vol. 2 contains Lysistrata, The Thesmophoriazusae, Frogs, Ecclesiazusae, and Plutus.

This collection includes Pope’s poems, translations of Ovid and Homer, An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Man, and his Moral Essays.

The 1916 Oxford University Press edition of all of Shakespeare’s plays and poems.

A monumental scholarly work by the leading Chaucer scholar of the late 19th century. Filled with copious notes.

A 4 volume collection of the Works of Montesquieu.

Collected in these three volumes are essays and book reviews Macaulay wrote between 1825 and 1841 for the Edinburgh Review.

The great Italian poet turns his hand to political thought and defends the reign of a single monarch ruling over a universal empire. He believed that peace was only achievable when a single monarch replaced divisive and squabbling… more

Dante’s masterwork is a 3 volume work written in Italian rather than Latin. Vol. 1 (Inferno (Hell) describes what happens to the souls of the wicked who are condemned to suffer the torments of Hell. Vol. 2 Purgatorio (Purgatory)… more

A two volume work on the “science of criticism” by one of the leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. Kames argues that criticism of art and literature is a rational science as well as a matter of taste. In volume 1 he… more

This is a 10 volume collection of Montaigne’s famous essays in the 17th century English translation by Charles Cotton.

A collection of Petrarch’s sonnets translated by Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

A bi-lingual edition with facing Latin and English pages.

A five volume collection of Goethe’s works. This edition is sumptuously illustrated. and includes a life of Goethe in vol. 1.

Thinking she was close to death Martineau wrote her autobiography in 1855 but lived for another 20 years. She recounts her activities in various mid-19th century reform movements, her struggle to become a professional writer, and her… more

The Heimskringla presents the German mythical god, Odin, as an actual historical figure and the first Norse king. Sturluson traced the history of sixteen famous Nordic kings from this ancient figure through Halvdan the Black (ca.… more

Martineau writes short “tales” to show ordinary readers how the free market operates.

Martineau continues her popularization of economic ideas which began with the Illustrations of Political Economy in this series of “Tales” addressed to the working class.

The personification of Folly comes to earth to expose the follies, foibles, and failings of humans. Illustrated with 77 woodcuts by Hans Holbein.

A collection of letters by Cicero along with his work on Old Age and On Friendship as well as some letters by Pliny.

One of the earliest Indian plays written in Sanskrit. It is a comedy set in a royal court in which love and mistaken identity play a part.

A collection of the major plays of the great Athenian playwright Aeschylus.

The second of 3 plays Beaumarchais wrote about a master-servant relationship, Count Almaviva and Figaro, during the social upheavals on the eve of the French revolution. In this play they become rivals for the affections of Suzanne.

This collections contains his philosophical writings on Locke, natural law, Thomas More, and Machiavelli; his historical writings on the Glorious Revolution, his defence of the French Revolution Vindiciae Gallicae; and several of his… more

A two volume collection of Macaulay’s essays. The first volume contains his essays from Knight’s Quarterly Magazine written during the mid-1820s. The second volume contains essays published in the Edinburgh Review in the 1830s and… more

A massive 5 volume work in which Plutarch muses on all manner of topics ranging from virtue and vice, friendship, flattery, the nature of love, stoic philosophy, fate, to the nature of government.

My Thoughts provides a unique window into the mind of the author of The Spirit of the Laws. From the publication of his first masterpiece, Persian Letters, in 1721, until his death in 1755, Montesquieu maintained notebooks in which… more

A late 19th century colletcion of Boetie’s Works with a long introductory essay. It contains Boétie’s best known work, the “Discourse of Voluntary Servitude” where he explores why the majority too often willingly capitulates to the… more

Lucretius expounds the Epicurian view that the world can be explained by the operation of material forces and natural laws and thus one should not fear the gods or death. He had a considerable influence on writers such as Montaigne.

The poet Shelley also wrote non-fiction like this essay on the need for political reform in 1820. It remained unpublished until it was rediscovered in the late 19th century. It is a tour de force of analysis of the powerful interests… more

A collection of Hesiod’s poems and fragments, including Theogony which are stories of the gods, and the Works and Days which deals with peasant life.

A modern edition of the major poems of Milton. It contains the shorter poems, Paradise Lost and Regained, and Samson Agonistes.

Vol. 1 contains The Treatise on the Commonwealth and vol. 2 contains The Treatise on the Laws.

A volume of poems published after Shelley’s death in 1822 with a preface by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

A 2 volume collection of prose writings. Vol. 1 includes 2 youthful prose romances, the Refutation of Deism, his Declaration of Rights, an essay on electoral reform, and other short pieces. Vol. 2 includes A Defence of Poetry, On a… more

A mid-19th century 2 volume collection of Milton’s most significant prose works.

A defence of the Republic written on the eve of the restoration of the monarchy. Milton persisted in opposing rule by one man in favor of rule by those to whom power had been delegated by the people.

In The Representation of Business in English Literature, five scholars of different periods of English literature produce original essays on how business and businesspeople have been portrayed by novelists, starting in the eighteenth… more

A lavishly illustrated English edition of Schiller’s poems and plays.

A facsimile edition of the complete plays of Shakespeare, taken from the First Folio edition of 1623 and with a modern introduction by the Shakespeare Scholar Sidney Lee.

A facsimile of the original 1609 edition of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint accompanied by a lengthy scholarly introduction.

A 2 volume selection of the works of Plutarch which Shakespeare used in the writing of Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.

A good modern edition of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint accompanied by a scholarly introduction and notes on the poems.

The Shih Ching (The book of poetry) predates Confucius by some three centuries, although he is often credited with arranging it into its current form sometime around 520 B.C. This work is a compilation of some three hundred verses of… more

A collection of 49 poems, mostly love poems to his friend Laura.

A translation of the Icelandic saga, the main character of which is Burnt Njal, which was first written down in the 13th century.

An English translation of the tale. Beowulf is one of the first literary masterpieces of the English language, written in Old English in the eleventh century. The story itself is thought to have been originally composed sometime… more

A collection of Sophocles’ 7 surviving plays including Oedipus Rex and Antigone.

A selection of 25 of Shakespeare’s Sonnets in a bibliophile edition of 1922 from Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford.

To see the original Sanskrit version of the hymns please see the facsimile PDF version of the text.

The 12 volume Fireside edition of the works of Emerson.

A three volume collection of of Marlowe’s plays and poetry.

The historical works of Tacitus are a history of the period from A.D. 14 to 96 in thirty volumes. Although many of the works were lost (only books 1-5 of the Histories and 1-6 and 11-16 of the Annals survive), enough remains to… more

A 21 volume collected works of the writings of Voltaire with a biographical volume by the English Liberal MP John Morley and notes by the 18th century Scottish novelist Tobias Smollett.