Editing Harvard Classics (section)

== Dr. Eliot's Five-Foot Shelf of Books ==
The idea of the Harvard Classics was presented in speeches by then [[President of Harvard University|President]] Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University.<ref name="Eliot1910a"/>  Several years prior to 1909, Eliot gave a speech in which he remarked that a three-foot shelf would be sufficient to hold enough books to give a liberal education to anyone who would read them with devotion. He was inundated with requests for the list of those book titles that would fill the three-foot shelf. After many attempts to support his initial claim, he decided that the shelf would need to be lengthened to five feet - but a definitive list of works was not declared. A well-known publisher, [[Peter Fenelon Collier]] and his son, [[Robert J. Collier]], saw a financial opportunity and asked that Eliot make good on his statement by selecting 50 volumes (400 to 500 pages each). Collier representatives proposed the name for the series as either "The Harvard Library" or "The Harvard Classics" pending approval by Harvard University. The proposal, presented to the President and Fellows of Harvard College, was unanimously approved as a useful undertaking from an educational point of view.<ref name="Eliot1910a"/>

In February 1909 with his approaching retirement as President of Harvard University, Eliot accepted the proposal of P.F. Collier & Son.<ref name="Eliot1910b"/>  The agreement allowed Eliot to engage an assistant. He chose [[William Allan Neilson|William A. Neilson]], Professor of English at Harvard University. The [[Bible translations into English|English Bible]] was excluded because Eliot and Neilson felt that almost every household would already possess at least one copy. The contributions of living authors (other than scientific contributions) were excluded because Eliot and Neilson considered the "verdict of the educated world" was not yet final. Works of modern fiction were felt to be readily accessible and thus excluded. [[English literature|English]] and [[American literature]] as well as documents related to American social and political ideas were more likely to be selected because the Harvard Classics were intended primarily for American readers.

Eliot retired as President of Harvard University in May 1909 and devoted much of the next year to organizing the 50 volumes and selecting the list of included works. The first half of the included works was provided to P.F. Collier & Son in 1909. However, Eliot and Neilson did not make the remaining selections, write the introductions for each selection, or finish the general index until 1910. Consequently, P.F. Collier & Son printed volumes 1 to 25 in 1909 and volumes 26 to 50 in 1910.<ref name="New York Supreme Court"/>  An advertisement for The Harvard Classics appeared in ''Collier's'' on April 30, 1909, stating the "Complete Official Contents Now Ready."<ref name="HCad30apr1910">{{cite magazine | last = Collier  | first = Robert J. | date = 30 April 1910 | title = Dr. Eliot's Five-Foot Shelf of Books (advertisement) | magazine = Collier's |url = https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015020915693  | publisher = P.F. Collier & Son | page = 4 | location = Springfield, Ohio | hdl = 2027/mdp.39015020915693 | access-date = 2 January 2021 }}</ref>  With the help of more than 50 Harvard professors and instructors and the general library of Harvard University and its department libraries, Eliot and Neilson believed that the title "The Harvard Classics" was well deserved.<ref name="Eliot1910a"/>