The Franklin Library’s Great Books of the Western World (GBWW) is identical (or very close) to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s 1952 version of the GBWW. However, it appears the Franklin Library edition has reorganized some of the works, often breaking volumes originally containing multiple works into separate volumes. The Franklin Library’s 96 full leather volumes are the most luxurious but correspondingly expensive set among those listed on ThinkingWest. Because full sets are for sale for several thousands of dollars on eBay and other book-selling sites, the Franklin Library set is geared for serious collectors. Nonetheless, casual bibliophiles may occasionally find affordable copies in used book stores.
Also, many of these works come in other formats from the same Franklin Library. For example, in the full leather edition, Plutarch’s works are divided amongst four volumes, while in a non-leather edition on my personal shelf, it is contained in a single volume. It is not yet clear the relationship of my personal Franklin library book to the Franklin Library GBWW set. Below are several images of a hardcover Plutarch’s Lives from the set, exhibiting gold foiled front/back covers and spine with raised bands on the spine. Prior to the text, full page black and white artwork is displayed, and chapter beginnings are often accompanied by colored chapter headings and artwork. Font size is typical, with approximately 4.5 lines in the diameter of a U.S. penny.
Below is an alphabetical list (by author) of the volumes published in the Franklin Library Great Books of the Western World set.
- Aeschylus – Complete Plays
- Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay – The Federalist
- Aristophanes – Plays Volume 1
- Aristophanes – Plays Volume 2
- Aristotle – Volume 1
- Aristotle – Volume 2
- Aristotle – Volume 3
- Aristotle – Volume 4
- Bacon, Sir Francis – Selected Writings
- Boswell, James – The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 1
- Boswell, James – The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 2
- Boswell, James – The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 3
- Cervantes – Don Quixote de la Mancha, Volume 1
- Cervantes – Don Quixote de la Mancha, Volume 2
- Chaucer, Geoffrey – The Canterbury Tales, Volume 1
- Chaucer, Geoffrey – The Canterbury Tales Volume 2
- Chaucer, Geoffrey – Troilus and Cressida
- Dante – The Divine Comedy
- Darwin, Charles – The Descent of Man
- Darwin, Charles – The Origin of Species
- Descartes and Spinoza
- Dostoevsky, Fyodor – The Brothers Karamazov
- Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius and Nicomachus
- Euripides – Plays Volume 1
- Euripides – Plays Volume 2
- Fielding, Henry – Tom Jones Volume 1
- Fielding, Henry – Tom Jones Volume 2
- Freud, Sigmund – The Major Works Volume 1
- Freud, Sigmund – The Major Works Volume 2
- Freud, Sigmund – The Major Works Volume 3
- Gibbon, Edward – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1
- Gibbon, Edward – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2
- Gibbon, Edward – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 3
- Gibbon, Edward – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 4
- Gibbon, Edward – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5
- Gibbon, Edward – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 6
- Gilbert, Galileo and Harvey
- Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von – Faust
- Herodotus – The History of Herodotus
- Hippocrates and Galen
- Homer – The Iliad
- Homer – The Odyssey
- James, William – The Principles of Psychology
- Kant and Hegel
- Lavoisier, Fourier and Faraday
- Locke, Berkeley and Hume
- Lucretius, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius
- Machiavelli and Hobbes – Political Writings
- Marx and Engels – Capital and The Manifesto of the Communist Party
- Melville, Herman – Moby-Dick Volume 1
- Melville, Herman – Moby-Dick Volume 2
- Mill, John Stuart – Political Writings
- Milton, John – Poetry and Prose
- Montaigne – Essays Volume 1
- Montaigne – Essays Volume 2
- Montaigne – Essays Volume 3
- Montesquieu, Charles de – The Spirit of Laws
- Newton and Huygens
- Pascal – Provincial Letters, Pensees and Scientific Treatises
- Plato – The Works of Plato Volume 1
- Plato – The Works of Plato Volume 2
- Plato – The Works of Plato Volume 3
- Plotinus – The Enneads
- Plutarch – The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Volume 1
- Plutarch – The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Volume 2
- Plutarch – The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Volume 3
- Plutarch – The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Volume 4
- Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler
- Rabelais, Francois – Gargantua and Pantagruel Volume 1
- Rabelais, Francois – Gargantua and Pantagruel Volume 2
- Rousseau, Jean Jacques – Selected Writings
- Saint Augustine – The City of God and On Christian Doctrine
- Saint Augustine – The Confessions of Saint Augustine
- Saint Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica Volume 1
- Saint Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica Volume 2
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 1
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 2
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 3
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 4
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 5
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 6
- Shakespeare, William – Volume 7
- Smith, Adam – The Wealth of Nations
- Sophocles – Plays
- Sterne, Laurence – Tristram Shandy
- Swift, Jonathan – Gulliver’s Travels
- Syntopicon – The Great Ideas (Guide to The Great Books) Volume 1
- Syntopicon – The Great Ideas (Guide to The Great Books) Volume 2
- Syntopicon – The Great Ideas (Guide to The Great Books) Volume 3
- Tacitus – The Annals and The Histories
- Thucydides – The History of the Peloponnesian War
- Tolstoy, Leo – War and Peace Volume 1
- Tolstoy, Leo – War and Peace Volume 2
- Tolstoy, Leo – War and Peace Volume 3
- Virgil – The Aeneid
- Virgil – The Eclogues and The Georgics
For more on the Franklin Library sets (there are more than the GBWW), visit the Easton/Franklin site here.