Harvard Classics

The Harvard Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, was a fifty-volume anthology of works selected by Charles W. Eliot. It was originally published in 1909. Dr. Eliot, then President of Harvard University, had stated in speeches that the elements of a liberal education could be obtained by spending fifteen minutes a day reading from a collection of books that could fit on a five-foot shelf. (Originally he had said a three-foot shelf). The publisher P. F. Collier and Son saw an opportunity, and challenged him make good on this statement by selecting an appropriate collection of works; the Harvard Classics was the result.

Related Topics:
Charles W. Eliot - 1909

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