Volume 34 of The Harvard Classics, Published by P.F. Collier & Son

Circa 1910-1930/New York, USA

The Harvard Classics, initially known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf of Books, is a 51-volume anthology of classic works from world literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot and published by P.F. Collier & Son in 1909. Eliot had famously stated that a dedicated person could get a comprehensive liberal arts education by reading from a shelf of books just five feet long. P.F. Collier & Son aggressively marketed the set to middle-class American households seeking self-improvement and cultural literacy during the early 20th century.

Volume 34 specifically gathers foundational texts of modern philosophy and political thought from continental Europe and Britain. This edition features enduring intellectual milestones translated into English, offering readers accessible access to seminal thinkers like Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Hobbes. Millions of copies of these sturdy bindings were printed across various editions throughout the decades, cementing their place as a ubiquitous fixture in American home libraries.