John Lubbock, The Choice of Books (1896)

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The Choice of Books (Book), 147 Books

The List that started it all. This is one of the very first "Greatest Books of All Time" lists and caused quite a stir back in it's day. Here's a good article about it: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/sir-john-lubbock-the-book-list-literature-reading-godfather-mustread-listicle-a8320811.html

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, PC, DL, FRS, FRAI (30 April 1834 – 28 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was an English banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. Lubbock worked in his family company as a banker but made significant contributions in archaeology, ethnography, and several branches of biology. He coined the terms "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic" to denote the Old and New Stone Ages, respectively. He helped establish archaeology as a scientific discipline, and was influential in debates concerning evolutionary theory.

This list was originally published in 1896 and was added to this site about 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
19 The Bible Unknown -1400 Jewish Hebrew, aramaic, greek
313 Meditations Marcus Aurelius 161 Roman Greek
2922 Discourses Of Epictetus Epictetus -108 Greek Greek
11519 Enchiridion Of Epictetus Epictetus 135 Greek Greek
621 Analects Confucius -479 Chinese Classical chinese
13924 The Buddha And His Religion J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire 1860 French French
14698 The Apostolic Fathers William Wake, Edward Burton 1888 British English
11566 The Imitation Of Christ Thomas à Kempis 1418 German Latin
133 Confessions Augustine 397 Roman Latin
505 The Quran Unknown 610 Arabic Arabic
2148 Tractatus Theologico Politicus Baruch de Spinoza 1670 Dutch Latin
11546 The Course in Positive Philosophy Auguste Comte 1830 French French
316 Pensées Blaise Pascal 1670 French French
13362 The Analogy Of Religion Joseph Butler 1736 British English
5392 Holy Dying Jeremy Taylor 1651 British English
551 Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan 1678 British English
13362 The Christian Year John Keble 1827 British English
1156 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
7021 Crito Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
220 The Republic Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
11525 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
1192 The Politics Aristotle -350 Greek Ancient greek
11526 On The Crown Demosthenes -330 Greek Ancient greek
8648 Treatises On Friendship And Old Age Marcus Tullius Cicero -44 Latin Latin
2474 On Obligations Marcus Tullius Cicero -44 Roman Latin
334 Parallel Lives Plutarch 100 Greek Greek
10631 A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge George Berkeley 1710 Irish English
543 Discourse on Method Rene Descartes 1637 French French
1327 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding John Locke 1689 British English
37 The Iliad Homer -750 Greek Ancient greek
24 The Odyssey Homer -740 Greek Ancient greek
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
3256 The Theogony Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
70 The Aeneid Virgil -19 Roman Latin
1543 Eclogues Virgil -37 Latin Latin
2263 Georgics Virgil 29 Latin Latin
14335 India Under British Rule From The Foundation Of The East India Company James Talboys Wheeler 1874 British English
422 Ramayana Valmiki -200 Indian Sanskrit
323 Mahabharata Vyasa -400 Indian Sanskrit
1091 Shahnameh Ferdowsi 1010 Iranian Persian
699 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
548 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
2148 The Book of Songs China -600 Chinese Classical chinese
1869 The Recognition of Sakuntala Kālidāsa -400 Indian Sanskrit
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
285 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
125 Antigone Sophocles -441 Greek Ancient greek
106 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
383 Oedipus at Colonus Sophocles -401 Greek Ancient greek
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
3608 The Knights Aristophanes -424 Greek Ancient greek
932 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
3635 Odes John Keats 1820 British English
110 The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer 1400 British Middle english
129 First Folio William Shakespeare 1623 British English
343 The Sonnets William Shakespeare 1609 British English
127 Paradise Lost John Milton 1667 British English
5392 Lycidas, Comus, And The Minor Poems John Milton 1637 British English
30 The Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
1284 The Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser 1590 British English
3637 The Works Of John Dryden John Dryden 1808 British English
13362 The Poetical Works Of Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott 1830 Scottish English
2161 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
13362 An Essay On Criticism Alexander Pope 1711 British English
9857 An Essay on Man Alexander Pope 1734 British English
8669 The Rape of the Lock Alexander Pope 1712 British English
2173 Poems Of Robert Burns Robert Burns 1786 Scottish Scots
1273 Selected Poems of Lord Byron Lord Byron 1800 British English
13753 The Poetical Works Of Johnson, Parnell, Gray And Smollett George Gilfillan 1855 Scottish English
624 The Histories of Herodotus Herodotus -450 Greek Ancient greek
783 Anabasis Xenophon -390 Greek Ancient greek
596 The History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides -410 Greek Ancient greek
1590 Germania Cornelius Tacitus 98 Roman Latin
6099 The History of Rome Livy -27 Roman Latin
830 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776 British English
10630 History Of England David Hume 1754 British English
13362 History Of Greece George Grote 1846 British English
11571 The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 1837 British English
14335 A Short History Of The English People John Richard Green 1874 British English
13362 A Biographical History Of Philosophy George Henry Lewes 1845 American English
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
65 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 British English
69 Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 1719 British English
352 The Vicar of Wakefield Oliver Goldsmith 1766 British English
8 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes 1605 Spanish Spanish
300 The Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell 1791 British English
1296 The Works of Moliere Molière 1666 French French
1353 William Tell Friedrich Schiller 1804 German German
13362 Critic Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1779 British English
4091 The School For Scandal Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1777 British English
3637 The Rivals Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1775 Irish English
13362 Past And Present Thomas Carlyle 1843 British English
8519 Novum Organum Francis Bacon 1620 British Latin
531 The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith 1776 Scottish English
11638 Principles Of Political Economy John Stuart Mill 1848 British English
11530 Journals (Cook) James Cook 1768 British English
13362 The Travels And Researches Of Alexander Von Humboldt William MacGillivray 1832 German English
1982 The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne Gilbert White 1789 British English
180 On the Origin of Species Charles Darwin 1859 British English
1728 The Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin 1839 British English
13362 A System Of Logic John Stuart Mill 1843 American English
1162 Essays Francis Bacon 1597 British English
75 Essays Michel de Montaigne 1580 French French
13362 Essays, Moral, Political, And Literary David Hume 1741 Scottish English
9857 Critical And Historical Essays Thomas Babington Macaulay 1843 British English
13362 Essays And Tales Joseph Addison 1711 British English
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
13219 Selections From The Speeches And Writings Of Edmund Burke Edmund Burke 1892 British English
13879 Self Help Samuel Smiles 1859 British English
3379 Zadig Voltaire 1747 French French
13362 Micromégas Voltaire 1752 French French
96 Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 German German
5595 Poetry And Truth From My Own Life Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 2004 German English
105 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 1847 British English
7986 The History Of Pendennis William Makepeace Thackeray 1849 British English
277 The Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens 1836 British English
47 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1849 British English
2137 The Last Days Of Pompeii Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1834 British English
485 Adam Bede George Eliot 1859 British English