A Dartmouth Bookshelf

iN DECEMBER 1941 I printed in this column Suggestions For A DartmouthBookshelf which consisted of about one hundred books which I felt would grace any man's library. They were all books to be read, not just books that ought to be read. I have decided, owing to many requests from students and alumni, to rewrite it again, with changes, with the date of publication added, and with a line or two of descriptive material about each book. I hope it will come in handy. The books are not difficult to find in one edition or another.

ADAMS, HENRY, The Education of HenryAdams. Houghton, 1918. This modest account of Adams' life has become a minor American classic.

AIKEN, CONRAD & W. R. BENET, An Anthologyof Famous English and American Poetry. Modern Library Giant, 1945. I include this instead of the standard Oxford Book of English Verse for all who, now' and then, read poetry.

AUDUBON, J. J., The Birds of America. Macmillan, 1937. A great American book on birds containing 500 plates and now available in a one-volume edition.

BARBELLION, W. N. P., The Journal of a Disappointed Man. Chatto, 1919. A minor classic in autobiography which I am sure will interest you.

BELL, GERTRUDE, The Letters of Gertrude Bell. 2 volumes, London, 1927. These letters by one of the most distinguished women oF the twentieth century will surprise you by their beauty and understanding. She founded the modern state of Iraq.

BLUNDEN, EDMUND, Undertones of War. London, 1928. One of the great books of the last war.„

BLUNT, WILFRED SCAWEN, My Diaries, 1888-1914. 2 volumes, London, 1919-1920. One of my favorite books by a famous traveller, poet, and Sussex squire who bred Arabian horses.

BONE, DAVID, Merchantmen-at-Arms. Chatto, 1919. The best book about the merchant ships of the first world war written by a famous captain, brother oF the etcher Muirhead Bone, who illustrates this book.

BORROW, GEORGE, Lavengro (1851) and Romany Rye (1857). The best books in English about English gypsies written by one of England's great eccentrics.

CATHER, WILLA, A Lost Lady. Knopf, 1923. Still my favorite by one of our most distinguished novelists.

CATLIN, GEORGE, North American Indians. 2 vols, circa 1840. One of our genuine American books by the artist-writer who wanted to record how our Indians lived before they were either exterminated or debauched by the chosen race. Best edition available was printed in Edinburgh in 1926 by John Grant.

CERVANTES, Don Quixote. 2 volumes, 1605 and 1615. Should be re-read every couple of years. A magnificent book, wise and humorous.

CHERRY-GARRARD, APSLEY, The Worst Journeyin the World. 1922. This account of Scott's South Pole trip of 1911-1912 is one of the two or three great travel books of the twentieth century.

CHAPELLE, H. 1., The History of AmericanSailing Ships. Norton, 1935. For those who love the old days of sail.

COBBETT, WILLIAM, Rural Rides. 2 volumes, 1830, Everyman. Reveals an interesting personality and gives a penetrating picture of rural England of a century ago.

CONRAD, JOSEPH, Youth (1902), Typhoon (1903), A Mirror of the Sea (1906). All magnificent books which never grow stale.

DIAZ, BERNAL DE CASTILLO, The Conquest ofMexico. Harpers, 1928. An eyewitness account well translated by A. P. Maudslay of Cortez's conquest of Mexico. An adventurous and magnificent story.

DOSTOIEVSKY, FYODOR, The Brothers Karamazov. 1880. I am among those who think this the greatest Russian novel ever written. Get the Constance Garnett translation.

DOUGHTY, C. M., Travels in Arabia Deserta. 1888. Random House, N. Y., has the best edition in print. The "bible" of all Arabian travelers and by far the best book in English on Arabia. Has been called the "greatest prose work of the nineteenth century."

DOUGLAS, HENRY KYD, I Rode with Stonewall. Chapel Hill, 1940. A most interesting book about the Civil War.

DOYLE, A. C., The Complete Sherlock Holmes. 1930. As a member of the 8.5.1., I recommend this to all and sundry. I think the lean Sherlock is my favorite fictional character.

DREISER, THEODORE, An American Tragedy. 1925. This book has increased in stature ever since it was written and it is one of the best of our twentieth century productions in the field of fiction.

FABRE, JEAN HENRI, Social Life in the InsectWorld. Dodd, 1911. In this really great book you will notice quite a similarity between insects and humans. The praying mantis has nothing on us!

FORSTER, E. M., A Passage to India. 1924. A fine novel which concerns British justice in India, written by England's greatest living writer.

FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN, The Story of a Red Deer. Macmillan, 1897. A little classic about the stags of Exmoor.

Fowler's English Usage. Oxford Press, 1926. Invaluable For writers or for those who wish to speak correct English. Fun to read as well.

FREEMAN, DOUGLAS SOUTHALL, Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command. 3 volumes, 1942, 1943, 1944. One of our great military studies and biographical masterpieces.

FROST, ROBERT, Collected Poems. 1939. If you will but read these poems you will recognize something very close to genius.

GALSWORTHY, JOHN, The Forsyte Saga. 1922. This holds up for me every time I reread it, which is about every three or four years. Of an England that is gone but not forgotten.

GREY OF FALLODON, Fly Fishing. 1899. It was Grey who observed in 1914 that "the lights of Europe were going out one by one." For fishermen and fishers of men.

Hakluyt's Voyages. 10 volumes, Dent-Dutton, 1927. Still the classical account of the early voyages.

HARDY, THOMAS, The Dynasts. Macmillan, 1903, 1906, 1908. Three volumes. A long and magnificent poem concerning the Napoleonic wars; all wars to be exact.

HAYDON, B. R., Autobiography and Memoirsof B. R. Haydon. 1853. A minor English classic by a better writer than he was painter.

HERZEN, ALEXANDER, The Diary of AlexanderHerzen. 6 vols, Knopf, 1924-1928. If you want better to understand Russia read this most fascinating memoir by a Russian exile of the 19th century.

HILLARY, RICHARD, The Last Enemy. Macmillan, 1942. So far the most famous flying book to come out of this war.

HILLS, J. WALLER, A Summer on the Test. London, 1924. A minor classic on fly fishing for trout.

HOMER, The Odyssey. Translated by T. E. Lawrence, Oxford, 1932. This translation brings to life a poem more often spoken of than read. In prose.

HOUSMAN, A. E., Collected Poems. 1939. I include this because I am still fond of Housman, who is all here and excellent, too.

HUDSON, W. H,. Far Away and Long Ago. 1918. A nostalgic autobiography by one of the masters of English prose.

HUNT, GEORGE P., Coral Comes High. 1946. This tells how the Marines fought at Peleliu; it is the way they fought all through the Pacific. 147 pages which will interest all fighting men.

IRELAND, MICHAEL, Return of the Hero. 1923. A neglected tale of ancient Ireland by one whose real name was Darrell Figgis.

KALM, PETER, Peter Kalm's Travels in NorthAmerica. 2 vols, 1937. A Swede's observations of Colonial America. Most amusing and instructive.

KING, CLARENCE, Mountaineering in the SierraNevada. 1871. One of the few classics .in American mountaineering literature.

LAWRENCE, T. E., Seven Pillars of Wisdom. 1935. The greatest book to come out of World War I; deals with the Arab revolt.

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, Life and Writings ofAbraham Lincoln. Edited by Philip Van Doren Stern, 1940. When you get slightly defeatist about America read this book and your spirits will soar.

LOWES, JOHN LIVINGSTONE, The Road to Xanadu. 1927. Probably our most distinguished piece of literary criticism. An analysis of the poetic mind in creating a masterpiece: Coleridge and his Ancient Mariner.

MACHIAVELLI, NICOLO, The Prince. Everyman, circa 1533. This tells of how men really act in political matters and not how they should act. A primer for Hitler, Mussolini, and others.

MADARIAGA, SALVADOR DE, The Genius ofSpain. 1923. An excellent book for an understanding of Spain; in spite of Franco the Spaniards are a great people and Spain can become once again a great country.

MANN, THOMAS, The Magic Mountain. 1924. Still the best novel of Mann, I think, and one you should know. Magnificent.

MANNING, FREDERICK, The Middle Parts ofFortune. 1929. The finest novel to come out of World War I.

MELVILLE, HERMAN, Moby Dick. 1851. MENCKEN, HENRY L„ The American Language. 1919. Get the fourth edition of this distinguished book; also Supplement One. MILL, JOHN STUART, Liberty. 1859. Just about as important as Darwin's great book which appeared the same year.

MONTAGUE, C. E., Disenchantment. 1922. One of the really excellent prose works of our time.

MONTAIGNE, MICHEL DE, Essays. First English translation 1603. Best to buy: Trechmann, 1927. Called by Sainte-Beuve "the wisest Frenchman who ever lived," Montaigne has written essays that are especially rewarding to the more mature minded.

NESBITT, L. M„ Desert and Forest. London, 1934. The best travel book I have read since Cherry-Garrard's book. About the Danakil country of Abyssinia first crossed by Nesbitt in 1928.

NEVINSON, HENRY W., Changes and Chances (1923), More Changes, More Chances (1925), Last Changes, Last Chances (1928). A most interesting autobiography by one of England's greatest journalists.

"PASSOS, JOHN Dos, U. S. A. 1937. An able portrait of this country before World War 11.

Pepy's Diary. Wheatley edition, 3 volumes, Harcourt, 1923.

PHILBY, H. ST. JOHN, The Empty Quarter. '933- Another classic on Arabia written by the greatest living authority on that country.

PIKE, WARBURTON, The Barren Ground ofNorthern Canada. 1892. Hunting the musk-ox by a man who should have a monument raised to him.

PROUST, MARCEL, Remembrance of ThingsPast, s vols., Random House, 1934. Called by some the finest novel of our time. It will take you a year to read it, but you will be richly rewarded.

RAINIER, PETER W., Pipeline to Battle. 1943. One of the best books so far on World War ii, written by a British Engineer who fought in the North African campaign.

RANDOM HOUSE EDITION of The CompleteGreek Drama. 2 vols., 1938.

ROBERTS, MORLEY, The Western Avernus, 1887, Everyman Library. A great book about Western Canada in the early days before the C.P.R. was built.

RUNYON, DAMON, The Best of Runyon. 1938. Harry the Horse is always good for a laugh.

SHACKELTON, SIR ERNEST, South, 1914-1917. Macmillan, 1920. A magnificent story of the polar seas.

SHAKESPEARE, Complete Works. Oxford Shakespeare Head edition, 1934. Bacon may have written Shakespeare but who in hell wrote Bacon?

SMITH, Lor.AN PEARSALL, Trivia. 1921. All of Smith's Trivia may now be secured in one volume (Harcourt). Lapidary,

SMYTHE, F. S., Camp Six. 1937. The most exciting book about Mt. Everest.

SMYTH, HENRY D., Atomic Energy. 1945. The first and perhaps still most important book on Manhattan Project.

STILL, JOHN, The Jungle Tide. 1930. A little classic about Ceylon.

THOREAU, HENRY D., Walden. 1854. Every year many of my students read Walden for the first time and it invariably makes a great impression on them.

TOLSTOY1, LEO, War and Peace. 1869. Buy the Simon and Schuster edition.

TWAIN, MARK, Huckleberry Finn. 1885. Be sure and read this; will make you fifteen again.

WHITMAN, WALT, Leaves of Grass. 1855. I like the Knopf pocket edition, 1945, for conVenience and readability, though there are some inaccuracies in the introduction.

WHYMPER, EDWARD, Scrambles Amongst theAlps. 1873. Probably the greatest mountain book on the Alps.

WODEHOUE, P. G., The Week End Wodehouse. 1940. The author's brush with the authorities during the war has not changed my affection for Bertie Wooster and Jeeves.

WORSLY, FRANK, First Voyage. London, 1938. A modern classic on the sea.

NEW MEMBER OF THE ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT. Prof. George Z. Dimitroff, former head of Harvard's Oak Ridge Observatory and professor at Radcliffe, sights the sun in Shattuck Observatory.