I have sometimes imagined a library, i.e. a collection of the works of true poets, philosophers, naturalists, etc., deposited not in a brick or marble edifice in a crowded and dusty city. . .but rather far away in the depths of a primitive forest. . .which the heroic student could reach only after adventures in the wilderness.

Henry David Thoreau, Journals

 
THE CLASSICK PAGES PROJECT
The Mind of the Past 

An Innermost House Library

The following is an account of the books that occupied the 144 square feet of the original Innermost House over its seven years of existence. The library was reviewed each year or two, when books were removed that had proved unnecessary to the daily conversation the house enclosed. All texts were originally composed by the light of the same domesticated fire that warmed and illuminated the Innermost House, save only those few modern authors that were later added to reflect changing cultural circumstances.

The selection is an entirely personal one developed over decades of married conversation, immersion in nature, and engagement with the world, all as aspects of a lifework of cultural, intellectual, and spiritual renewal. It was developed solely as a resource for private self-culture, independent of any university, cultural organization, or political program. As a body, the books represent a living whole of literate, cosmopolitan civilization. Though individual texts were discussed and gathered into the library one-by-one, together they communicate a meaning irreducible to the sum of their severality.

In the house, the books were arranged in a complex of dimensions as a microcosm of one married, many-sided human mind, accessible by common nature to any individual. Together the books functioned as an interconnected whole, however luminous the separate parts may be. Of necessity, they are presented here as a single-dimensioned enumeration of authors and texts of which that complex oneness was composed. In context, every separate text served as a nerve ending to connect with the intelligence of the whole.

INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

Vedas, scripture (second and first mil. BCE)

Upanishads, scripture (c. 900-500 BCE)

Kanada (Vaisheshika Sutra), philosophy (c. 500-100 BCE)  

Mahabharata, epic (c. 400 BCE and after)

Ramayana of Valmiki, epic (c. 200 BCE) 

Bhagavad Gita, religion/philosophy/scripture (c. 100 BCE-100 CE)

Institutes of Manu, law (c. 200 BCE-200 CE)

Patanjali (Yoga Sutras), philosophy/practice (c. 300)

The Samkhyakarika of Ishvara Krishna, philosophy (c. 350)

Vedanta-sutras, philosophy (c. 780-820)

Theravada Buddhism: 

The Tipitaka, scripture (c. 500 BCE-100 CE)

The Dhammapada, scripture (c. 300 BCE)

The Mahasatipatthana Sutta (Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness), scripture (c. 20 BCE)

The Milindapanha (The Questions of King Milinda), scripture (c. 100)

Mahayana Buddhism:

Lotus Sutra, scripture (c. 50 BCE-150 CE)  

The Prajnaparamita (Heart and Diamond Sutras), scripture (c. 100 BCE-400 CE)

The Srimaladevisimhanada (The Lion's Roar of King Srimala), scripture (c. 200-300)

The Sukhavativyuha Sutras, scripture (c. 100-400)

Nagarjuna (The Philosophy of the Middle Way), philosophy (c.150-250)  

The Lankavatara Sutra, scripture (c. 350-400)

The Bodyicaryavatara of Shantideva (Entering the Path of Enlightenment), scripture (c. 650)

Kalidasa, drama (c. 400)

The Little Clay Cart of Shudraka, romance (c. 400)

Ānandavardhana (Dhvanyāloka, or "A Light on Suggestion"), philosophy (c. 820-890)

The Gitagovinda of Jayadeva, devotional poetry (c. 1100-1200) 

Pancatantra, fables (c. 1200) 

Rabindranath Tagore, poetry and drama (1861-1941)

Mohandas Gandhi (Autobiography), reformer (1869-1948)

[A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, edited by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore, Princeton University Press]

CHINA 

I Ching, divination/philosophy (c. 1000-200 BCE)

Confucius, philosophy (551-479 BCE)

Lao Tzu, philosophy (c. 6th/5th cn. BCE)

Mo-tzu, philosophy (c. 400-300 BCE)

Mencius, philosophy (c. 372-289 BCE)

Chuang Tzu (c. 369-286 BCE)

The Great Learning, philosophy 

The Mean, philosophy (c. 4th cn. BCE)

Hsun Tzu (Xunzi), philosophy (c. 3rd cn. BCE)

Han-fei-tzu, philosophy (c. 280-220 BCE)

Ssu-ma Ch'ien (Records of the Grand Historian), history (c. 145-90 BCE)

Chu Hsi, philosophy (1130-1200) 

Wang Yang-ming, philosophy (1472-1529)  

Note: The Four Books and the Five Classics of Confucianism (c. 6th-4th cn. BCE)

Chinese Buddhism

Lotus Sutra, scripture (trans. c. 286-601)

Vimalakirti Sutra, scripture (trans. c. 5th cn.)

The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana, scripture (c. 499-569)

Surangama Sutra, Zen (Ch'an) scripture (c. 8th cn.)

Platform Sutra, Zen (Ch'an) scripture (c. 8th-13th cn.)

The Record of Lin-chi, Zen (Ch'an) sayings/scripture (d. 866)

Song of the South, poetry collection (2nd cn.)

T'ang Poetry, poetry (618-705)

Book of Songs, poetry collection (6th c.)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, novel (c. 1280-1400)

Water Margin, novel (c. 1280-1400)

Journey to the West of Wu Ch'eng-en, novel (c. 1506-1581)

Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in (Dream of the Red Chamber), novel (d. 1763)

JAPAN

Man'yo-shu, poetry anthology (compiled 770)

Kokinshu, poetry anthology, (compiled 905)

Sei Shonagon (Pillow Book), reflections and anecdotes (c. 966-1025) 

Kagerō Nikki, ("The Gossamer Years"), memoir (c. 974) 

Lady Murasaki (Tale of Genji), the world's first novel (c. 978-1016) 

Lady Sarashina (Sarashina Diary, or "As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams"), memoir (b. 1008)

Japanese Buddhism

Kukai, philosophy (774-835)

Dogen, Zen philosophy (1200-1253)

Hakuin, Zen philosophy (1686-1769)

Kamo no Chomei (Ten Foot Square Hut) the original, classic tiny house tale (1153-1236)

Tale of the Heiki, Samurai war tales, (compiled before 1330)

Kenko (Essays in Idleness), reflections (1283-1350)  

Noh Plays and Critical Writings, Zeami Motokiyo and others, drama (1336-1573 and after)

Saikaku, poetic fiction and creator of the "floating world" (1642-1693)

Basho, poetry and essays, (1644-1694)

Chikamatsu, Kabuki plays (1653-1725)

Miyamoto Musashi (Book of Five Rings), strategy (1584-1645)

Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Hagakure, "The Way of the Samurai"), strategy and reflection (1716)

Treasury of Loyal Retainers, Samurai play (c. 1748)

Natsume Soseki (Kokoro), novel (1867-1914)

Kakuzo Okakura (The Book of Tea), classic essay on tea ceremony (1906) 

MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, AND ISLAM

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 1700 BCE)

The Seven Odes, poetry collection (c. 6th and 7th cn.)

Qur’an, scripture (c. 609-632)

Ibn Ishaq (Biography of Muhammad), biography (d. 761-767)

Al-Farabi, philosophy (c.872-951)

The Maqumat of al-Hamadhani, satire (968-1008)

Ibn Hazm (The Ring and the Dove), meditation on love (994-1064)

The Maqumat of al-Hamadhani, satire (968-1008)

Avicenna, philosophy (980-1087)  

The Assemblies of al-Hariri, stories (1054-1122)

The Thousand and One Nights, tales (c. 14th cn.)

Al-Ghazali (Deliverance from Error), spiritual autobiography (1058-1111)

Averroes (The Harmony of Religion and Philosophy), philosophy (1126-1198)

‘Attar (The Conference of the Birds), philosophical fable (c. 114-1220)

Rumi, poetry (1207-1273) 

Ibn Khaldun (The Prolegomena), philosophy of history (1332-1406)

Ferdowsi (Shahnameh), epic (c. 977-1010)

Nizami, narrative poetry (1141-1209) 

Ibn Tufayl, philosophical novel (c. 1105-1185)

Ibn al-‘Arabi, philosophy (1165-1240)

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, poetry (c. 11th cn.)

The Book of Dede Korkut, tales (c. 16th cn,)

Saadi, poetry (c. 1210-1292)    

Hafez, poetry (1315-1390)

The Thousand and One Nights, traditional folk tales

Yunus Emre, poetry (d. c. 1320)

Fuzuli (Leyla and Mejnun), love story (1495-1556)

JUDEA, GREECE, AND ROME

The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)

The Bible

Homer (c. 8th cn. BCE)

Aeschylus (c. 525-455 BCE)

Sophocles (c. 496-406 BCE)

Euripides (c. 484-406 BCE)

Herodotus (484-420 BCE)

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

Plato (c. 428-348 BCE)

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Euclid (325-265 BCE)

Cicero (106 BCE-43)

Lucretius (c. 99-55 BCE)

Virgil (70-21 BCE)

Seneca (c. 4 BCE-65)

Plutarch (c. 50-125)

Tacitus (56-120)

Epictetus (c. 50-135)

Ptolemy (c. 100-c. 170)

Marcus Aurelius (121-180)

Plotinus (204-270)

St. Augustine (354-430)

[Note: the Loeb Classical Library and other collections}

WESTERN EUROPE

Boethius (c. 480–524)

St. Benedict (480-550)

Maimonides (1138-1204)

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340s-1400)

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

René Descartes (1596-1650)

John Milton (1608-1674)

Moliere (1622-1673)

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

John Locke (1632-1704)

Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

Montesquieu (1689-1755)

David Hume (1711-1776)

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Nikolai Lobachevsky (1792-1856)

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

James Frazer (1854-1941)

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936)

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955)

AMERICA

Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Nations (c. 1450)

American State Papers (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Jay, etc.)

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America, 1805-1859)

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)

Frederick Douglass (c. 1815-1895)

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

John Muir (1838-1914)

William James (1842-1910)

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) (1815-1935)

Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa) (1863-1950)

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)

Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

United States Supreme Court Decisions

[Note: the Library of America and other collections]

MODERN NOVELISTS AND PLAYWRIGHTS 

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

Jane Austen (1775–1817)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)

Charles Dickens (1812–1870)

Herman Melville (1819–1891)

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855)

Emily Bronte (1818–1848)

George Elliot (1819–1880)

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881)

Leo Tolstoy 1828–1910)

Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)

Mark Twain (1835–1910)

Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

Willa Cather (1873–1947)

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

James Joyce (1882–1941)

Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953)

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

William Faulkner (1897–1962)

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)

Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)

MODERN POETS

John Donne 

William Blake

William Wordsworth

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Emily Dickinson

Walt Whitman 

Gerard Manley Hopkins  

William Butler Yeats

Rainer Maria Rilke

Robert Frost

Wallace Stevens

Robinson Jeffers

T.S. Eliot   

Langston Hughes

Ansel Adams (photographs)

Mary Oliver

[note: the New Oxford Book of English Verse, Stevenson's Home Book of Verse, and other collections]

MODERN HISTORICAL SCHOLARSHIP

Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860)

Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (1911)

Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy (1917)

Oswald Spengler, Decline of the West (1923)

Werner Jaeger, Paideia (1939)

Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (1945)

Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (1934-1961)

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane (1959)

Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China (1954-1995)

Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of LIfe (1981)

MODERN REFERENCE: The Final Leaves of a Gathering

Oxford English Dictionary, First Edition (1888-1933)

Merriam Webster New International Dictionary, Second Edition (1934)  

English Etymology (Skeat, Oxford, 1910) 

Oxford Latin Dictionary (1879)

Greek-English Lexicon (Liddell & Scott, 1843)

Hebrew and English Lexicon (Brown Driver Briggs, 1906)

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition with Supplements (1910-1926)

Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Hastings, 1908-1927)

Dictionary of the Bible (Hastings, 1898-1904)

The Interlinear Hebrew-Aramaic Old Testament (Green, 1997)

The Interlinear KJV: Parallel New Testament in Greek and English (Berry, 1897)

Bible Commentary (Jamieson Fausset Brown, 1871)

Strong's Concordance of the Bible (1890)

The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament (Wigram, 1843)

The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament (Wigram, 1839, 1903)

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Thayer, 1896)

A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, (Monier Monier-Williams, 1899)

The King’s English (H. W. Fowler, Second Edition, 1908)

The Times Survey Atlas of the World (1920, 1967)

Mathews' Chinese–English Dictionary (J. H. Matthews 1931)

Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare (Marvin Spevack, 1974)