The Classics Club - Looking for list of titles
Some years ago, I subscribed to an "on approval" book club called The Classics Club, originally published by Walter J. Black in the 1940s.
I've got over thirty of the titles, and have found a number of others, but have never been able to locate a complete list of titles for this series.
I AM SEEKING THIS INFORMATION AND WOULD LIKE TO COMPLETE THIS COLLECTION AS LONG AS THE NUMBER OF VOLUMES IS REASONABLY FINITE.
Alas, Walter J. Black went out of business in the 1980s.
Here is the list of titles and authors that I either have or have confirmed are in the series:
I've got over thirty of the titles, and have found a number of others, but have never been able to locate a complete list of titles for this series.
I AM SEEKING THIS INFORMATION AND WOULD LIKE TO COMPLETE THIS COLLECTION AS LONG AS THE NUMBER OF VOLUMES IS REASONABLY FINITE.
Alas, Walter J. Black went out of business in the 1980s.
Here is the list of titles and authors that I either have or have confirmed are in the series:
| Own? | Title | Author |
| true | A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens |
| false | Autobiography | Benjamin Franklin |
| true | Discourses | Epictetus |
| true | Essays and New Atlantis | Francis Bacon |
| true | Essays, Poems, Addresses | Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| true | Fathers and Sons | Turgenev |
| true | Five Great Dialogues | Plato |
| true | Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan Swift |
| true | Henry Esmond | Thackeray |
| false | Lives of the Saints | |
| true | Meditations | Marcus Aurelius |
| true | Old Goriot | Balzac |
| true | On Man In The Universe | Aristotle |
| true | On Politics And Education | John Locke |
| true | On The Nature Of Things | Lucretius |
| true | Paradise Lost and Other Poems | John Milton |
| false | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen |
| false | Progress and Poverty | Henry George |
| false | Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe |
| true | Selected Essays | Montaigne |
| true | Selected Lives And Essays | Plutarch |
| false | Selected Plays | Henrik Ibsen |
| true | Selected Poems | Horace |
| true | Selected Poems | Walt Whitman |
| true | Selected Poems | Robert Browning |
| false | Selected Stories | Anton Chekov [ADDED] |
| false | Selected Tales and Poems | Edgar Allan Poe |
| true | Selected Works | Cicero |
| true | Thaïs/Sylvestre Bonnard | Anatole France |
| true | The Beginnings of Modern Science | Boynton |
| false | The Canterbury Tales | Geoffrey Chaucer |
| true | The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Vol. I, Comedies | William Shakespeare |
| true | The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Vol. II, Histories | William Shakespeare |
| true | The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Vol. III, Tragedies | William Shakespeare |
| false | The Golden Treasury | Palgrave |
| true | The History of Plymouth | William Bradford |
| true | The Iliad | Homer |
| true | The Law of War and Peace | Hugo Grotius |
| true | The Odyssey | Homer |
| true | The Praise of Folly | Erasmus |
| false | The Rubiyat | Omar Khayyam |
| true | The Way of All Flesh | Samuel Butler |
| true | Two Years Before The Mast | Richard Henry Dana |
| true | Utopia | Sir Thomas More |
| true | Walden | Henry David Thoreau |
posted by Yanni Znaio at
1/26/2009 01:05:00 AM
8 Comments:
I have 36. By my count I'm missing 12 on your list, bringing the total to 48. I have Dickens christmas carol, not on your list.
My list shows 49 volumes, and I've found a 1950's advertisement for six Charles Dickens volumes which adds 4 more to the list because A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities are repeated.
I know this is an old post but it's been great as I set out to fill in my collection. Do you do you have the missing Dickens titles? I know the set includes A Christmas Carol and Tale of Two Cities.
There is also a fourth Shakespeare book titled "Complete Works". I assume it has much of the same content as volumes 1-3 but in the spirit of collecting a full set, it becomes a must have. I also have "Selected Stories and Poems by Bret Harte", which is not on the original list. And does anyone have the author for Lives of the Saints?
Happy book hunting!
Not sure how old the comments are but regarding the bottom question by Unknown: "And does anyone have the author for Lives of the Saints?" If you're Catholic, it's Father Alban Butler. There is an old Polish Version by a Polish Jesuit but I'm pretty sure that the common "Lives of the Saints" is by Fr. Butler.
I have 47 books now and missing at least 3. I don't have the Canterbury Tales, Lives of Saints or Crime and Punishment. I have seen photos of the last two so I know they exist. I also only have 2 Dickens books, from the previous comment there may be 2 more.
this auction lists 39 books and has a picture of them
https://www.rug-auction.com/auction-lot/classics-collection-club-by-walter-j.-black-39_20E4483A6D
I just started looking for a set for myself because I remember my mother had the set at one time, but she gave it away or sold it in a garage sale not thinking that I might want it.
I believe I had found one at a thrift store, but I can't remember which one right now. Like you, I have no idea how many volumes it consists of. You would think Wikipedia would have a complete list, and many of the sellers online want an arm and a leg for what they are tryign to pawn off on us.
Eventually, I also want to find a leather bound set of Tolstoy's novels and other writings as well as some other authors that may not be in the Classics Club collection.
One of my goals is to have my own personal library of the classics in hardbacks, that I can eventually pass on.
- Harold Dean Sink
Tulsa, OK
1-20-2024
Happy to see others appreciating this collection. Here is my list: What am I missing?
1 A Tale of Two Cities: Charles Dickens
2 Autobiography: Benjamin Franklin
3 Discourses: Epictetus
4 Essays and New Atlantis: Francis Bacon
5 Essays, Poems, Addresses: Ralph Waldo Emerson
6 Fathers and Sons: Turgenev
7 Five Great Dialogues: Plato
8 Gulliver's Travels: Jonathan Swift
9 Henry Esmond: Thackeray
10 Lives of the Saints
11 Meditations: Marcus Aurelius
12 Old Goriot: Balzac
13 On Man In The Universe: Aristotle
14 On Politics And Education: John Locke
15 On The Nature Of Things: Lucretius
16 Paradise Lost and Other Poems: John Milton
17 Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen
18 Progress and Poverty: Henry George
19 Robinson Crusoe: Daniel Defoe
20 Selected Essays: Montaigne
21 Selected Lives And Essays: Plutarch
22 Selected Plays: Henrik Ibsen
23 Selected Poems: Horace
24 Selected Poems: Walt Whitman
25 Selected Poems: Robert Browning
26 Selected Stories: Anton Chekov
27 Selected Tales and Poems: Edgar Allan Poe
28 Selected Works: Cicero
29 Thaïs/Sylvestre Bonnard: Anatole France
30 The Beginnings of Modern Science: Boynton
31 The Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer
32 The Complete Works of Shakespeare: William Shakespeare
33 The Golden Treasury: Palgrave
34 The History of Plymouth: William Bradford
35 The Iliad: Homer
36 The Law of War and Peace: Hugo Grotius
37 The Odyssey: Homer
38 The Praise of Folly: Erasmus
39 The Rubiyat: Omar Khayyam
40 The Way of All Flesh: Samuel Butler
41 Two Years Before The Mast: Richard Henry Dana
42 Utopia: Sir Thomas More
43 Walden: Henry David Thoreau
44 A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens
45 Select Stories and Poems: Bret Harte
46 Crime and Punishment: Fyodor Dostoevsky
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