Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books

Various and Charles William Eliot (1834 - 1926)

Charles W. Eliot, 21st President of Harvard University, edited this volume of prefaces ... authored by a Who's Who of World Literature: Bacon, Calvin, Caxton, Condell, Copernicus, Dryden, Fielding, Goethe, Heminge, Hugo, Johnson, Knox, Newton, Raleigh, Spenser, Taine, Whitman and Wordsworth. Eliot wrote in his preface to these prefaces, "No part of a book is so intimate as the Preface. Here, after the long labor of the work is over, the author descends from his platform, and speaks with his reader as man to man, disclosing his hopes and fears, seeking sympathy for his difficulties, offering defence or defiance, according to his temper, against the criticisms which he anticipates." (Summary by DSayers)

Genre(s): Literary Collections

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 Introductory Notes Martin Geeson
00:07:48
Play 01 Prologues & Epilogues to the History of Troy and other writings by William Caxton, Part 1 Martin Geeson
00:40:22
Play 02 Prologues & Epilogues to the History of Troy and other writings, Part 2 Martin Geeson
00:35:19
Play 03 Dedication of The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin MaryAnn
00:51:42
Play 04 General Syllabus by John Calvin MaryAnn
00:10:20
Play 05 Dedication of The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies by Nicolaus Copernicus Availle
00:15:50
Play 06 Preface to the History of the Reformation in Scotland by John Knox doublemirrors
00:06:04
Play 07 Prefatory Letter to Sir Walter Raleigh on The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser Martin Geeson
00:15:24
Play 08 Preface to The History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh, Part 1 Bob Neufeld
00:42:52
Play 09 Preface to The History of the World, Part 2 Bob Neufeld
00:45:55
Play 10 Preface to The History of the World, Part 3 Bob Neufeld
00:29:23
Play 11 Preface to The History of the World, Part 4 Bob Neufeld
00:24:53
Play 12 Preface and Plan of The Instauratio Magna by Sir Francis Bacon, Part 1 Bob Neufeld
00:36:16
Play 13 Preface and Plan of The Instauratio Magna, Part 2 Bob Neufeld
00:33:28
Play 14 Preface and Plan of The Instauratio Magna, Part 3 Martin Gradwell
00:14:26
Play 15 Preface to the First Folio Edition of Shakespeare's Plays by John Heminge Martin Geeson
00:06:03
Play 16 Preface to The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton Availle
00:08:38
Play 17 Preface to Fables, Ancient and Modern by John Dryden, Part 1 Martin Geeson
00:43:18
Play 18 Preface to Fables, Ancient and Modern, Part 2 Martin Geeson
00:42:16
Play 19 Preface to Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:20:19
Play 20 Preface to the English Dictionary by Samuel Johnson Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:36:10
Play 21 To the Earl of Chesterfield by Samuel Johnson Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:49:52
Play 22 Preface to Shakespeare by Samuel Johnson, Part 1 Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:50:30
Play 23 Preface to Shakespeare, Part 2 Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:51:56
Play 24 Preface to Shakespeare, Part 3 Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:30:58
Play 25 Introduction to The Propylaen by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Ernst Pattynama
00:46:54
Play 26 Prefaces to Poems by William Wordsworth, Part 1 TriciaG
00:38:03
Play 27 Prefaces to Poems, Part 2 TriciaG
00:40:43
Play 28 Prefaces to Poems, Part 3 TriciaG
00:35:04
Play 29 Prefaces to Poems, Part 4 TriciaG
00:35:42
Play 30 Prefaces to Poems, Part 5 TriciaG
00:33:01
Play 31 Preface to Cromwell by Victor Hugo, Part 1 Leni
00:46:57
Play 32 Preface to Cromwell, Part 2 Leni
00:45:20
Play 33 Preface to Cromwell, Part 3 Leni
00:38:00
Play 34 Preface to Cromwell, Part 4 Leni
00:36:55
Play 35 Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Part 1 Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:42:04
Play 36 Preface to Leaves of Grass, Part 2 Denny Sayers (d. 2015)
00:34:53
Play 37 Introduction to The History of English Literature by H. A. Taine, Part 1 Kalynda
00:29:12
Play 38 Introduction to The History of English Literature, Part 2 Kalynda
00:36:00