A Library of the World's Best Literature - Ancient and Modern - Vol. II (Forty-Five Volumes); Amiel-Auerbach

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 2 include:

. selections from the works of Hans Christian Andersen
. a survey of Anglo-Saxon literature, including Beowulf and The Wanderer
. selections from Gabriele d'Annunzio's The Triumph of Death
. poems by Anacreon (562-477 BC)
. Arabic ballads
. verse by Aristophanes
. poems by Matthew Arnold
. nature writing John James Audubon
. and much, much more.