A Library of the World's Best Literature - Ancient and Modern - Vol.XXXVII (Forty-Five Volumes); Thanet-Vaughan

Book excerpt: Popular American essayist, novelist, and journalist CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER (1829-1900) was renowned for the warmth and intimacy of his writing, which encompassed travelogue, biography and autobiography, fiction, and more, and influenced entire generations of his fellow writers. Here, the prolific writer turned editor for his final grand work, a splendid survey of global literature, classic and modern, and it's not too much to suggest that if his friend and colleague Mark Twain-who stole Warner's quip about how "everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it"-had assembled this set, it would still be hailed today as one of the great achievements of the book world. Highlights from Volume 37 include: . the poetry of Celia Thaxter . the writings of Theocritus . the histories of Augustin Thierry . the verse of James Thomson . the philosophy of Henry D. Thoreau . the work of Alexis de Tocqueville . excerpts from Lyof Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and War and Peace . the fiction of Anthony Trollope . and much, much more.