A novelist's hundred best books, chosen “frankly subjective” in 1916 — with an essay on reading that picks a fight with every other such list.

E

2 books in this part of One Hundred Best Books.

Emerson

Routledge's complete works of Emerson, or any other edition containing everything in one volume. The clear, chaste, remote and…

Edgar Lee Masters

Spoon River Anthology, published by Macmillan. After Whitman and Poe, Mr. Masters is by far the most original and interesting of American…

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of One Hundred Best Books (1916) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.