Five by Five

The Harvard Classics, the most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume '5-foot shelf of books' and the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century. The Five-Foot Shelf, with its introductions, notes, guides to reading, and exhaustive indexes, may claim to constitute a reading course unparalleled in comprehensiveness and authority.