Thoughts Letters & Minor Works: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics Vol. XLVIII (in 51 Volumes)

Translator names not noted above: Mary L. Booth and Orlando W. Wight. Originally published between 1909 and 1917 under the name Harvard Classics this stupendous 51-volume set-a collection of the greatest writings from literature philosophy history and mythology-was assembled by American academic CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT (1834-1926) Harvard Universitys longest-serving president. Also known as Dr. Eliots Five Foot Shelf it represented Eliots belief that a basic liberal education could be gleaned by reading from an anthology of works that could fit on five feet of bookshelf. Volume XLVIII features three collections of the writings of French polymath BLAISE PASCAL (1623-1662): Thoughts considered a great classic of religious writings in which the former child prodigy mounts a sophisticated defense of his Catholic faith; Letters to his friends and family as well as to the Swedish queen Christina; and Minor Works including Prayer to Ask of God the Proper Use of Sickness Discourses on the Condition of the Great The Art of Persuasion and more.