One Hundred World's Best Novels Condensed

David Copperfield to Quo Vadis, Don Quixote to The War of the Worlds — a hundred of the world's great novels, each condensed to a brisk summary with its author's life story, as read in 1919.

Table of Contents

Charles Dickens

CHARLES JOHN HUFFAM DICKENS was born February 7, 1812, at Portsea, England, where his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay office. He died at…

David Copperfield

4 pages

The History of Pendennis

3 pages

Rudyard Kipling

RUDYARD KIPLING was born December 30, 1865, in Bombay, where his father, John Lockwood Kipling, artist and author, was professor in the…

Captains Courageous

4 pages

Quo Vadis

2 pages

H.g. Wells

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS, one of the most discussed living novelists, was born at Bromley, Kent, on September 21, 1866, the son of a famous…

The War of the Worlds

3 pages

The Marble Faun

4 pages

The Pilgrim's Progress

5 pages

The Last Days of Pompeii

2 pages

Conan Doyle

2 pages

Sir Nigel

5 pages

Sir Walter Scott

WALTER SCOTT was born in Edinburgh on August 15, 1771. His father was a lawyer, the first of the Scott line to leave the open country for…

The Heart of Midlothian

3 pages

James Lane Allen

JAMES LANE ALLEN, who lived much in New York City since 1886, had the good fortune to spend his boyhood in a country of surpassing…

By James Lane Allen

2 pages

Les Miserables

3 pages

Robinson Crusoe

4 pages

The Arabian Nights

By THE PRINCESS SHEHERAZADE Condensation by ALFRED S. CLARK SHEHERAZADE was a vizier's daughter and when she besought her father to wed her…

The Story of Aladdin's Lamp

Of Aladdin, son of a poor tailor in China, a prankish scamp. An African magician guided him to a subterranean cave where he found the lamp…

The Story of Sinbad

Of Sinbad the sailor and his marvelous voyages. Wherein it is related that Sinbad landed upon what seemed an island, but which was a great…

The Story of the Forty Thieves

Of Ali Baba and his discovery of the stone that swung wide when a voice cried "Open, Sesame!" In the cave was the booty of forty thieves…

Many Other Fascinating Stories

Of the Magic Horse of ebony and ivory, so fashioned that its rider, by pressing divers buttons, could fly whither he willed. It bore a…

About Harun-Al-Rashid

And of many tales concerning the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid and his going disguised into the lanes and bazaars of Bagdad, where he chanced upon…

Anthony Hope

ANTHONY HOPE, known outside the world of books as Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, was born in London, February 9, 1863, the son of a clergyman…

The Prisoner of Zenda

3 pages

Robert Louis Stevenson

4 pages

James Fenimore Cooper

COOPER was born in New Jersey in 1789, but when only about a year old removed to his father's almost feudal domain at Cooperstown, New…

The Pilot

3 pages

Jack London

JACK LONDON was born, with the love of adventure in his veins, at San Francisco, January 12, 1870. He started his education at the…

The Sea Wolf

3 pages

The Master of Ballantrae

3 pages

By James Fenimore Cooper

3 pages

File No. 113

2 pages

Margaret Deland

MARGARETTA WADE CAMPBELL was born at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, February 23, 1857. When only sixteen she went to New York to study drawing…

The Awakening of Helena Richie

3 pages

Lew Wallace

LEWIS WALLACE, generally known by the shorter name Lew, was born in 1827 at Brookville, Indiana, and perhaps was, quite unconsciously…

Ben-Hur: a Tale of the Christ

3 pages

Henry Esmond

3 pages

The Toilers of the Sea

5 pages

Booth Tarkington

BOOTH TARKINGTON was born at Indianapolis, July 29, 1869. Indiana had not then become so firmly convinced as she is now that the literary…

By Booth Tarkington

6 pages

By Charles Dickens

4 pages

By Helen Hunt Jackson

2 pages

By Sir Walter Scott

3 pages

George Du Maurier

5 pages

Miss Mulock

DINAH MARIA MULOCK was born at Stoke-upon-Trent on April 20, 1826, the daughter of a minister. She died October 12, 1887.

John Halifax, Gentleman

4 pages

Jane Porter

JANE PORTER, British novelist, was born at Durham in 1776. Her life and literary reputation were closely linked with those of her sister…

Thaddeus of Warsaw

4 pages

James M. Barrie

JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE is one of that great army of Scotchmen who take general charge of England. He was born at Kirriemuir, May 9, 1860. He…

The Little Minister

4 pages

Vanity Fair

3 pages

Charlotte Bronte

CHARLOTTE BRONTE, sister of Emily and Anne Bronte, was born April 21, 1816, and died March 31, 1855.

Jane Eyre

3 pages

The Last of the Barons

3 pages

Oliver Goldsmith

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, English poet, playwright, novelist, and man of letters, was born in 1728. There has been some question as to the place of…

The Vicar of Wakefield

5 pages

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

4 pages

Dean Swift

THE great Dean of St. Patrick's who ranks among the mighty satirists of all ages and all lands, was born in Hoey's Court, Dublin, November…

Gulliver's Travels

4 pages

The Newcomes

3 pages

Jules Verne

JULES VERNE was born at Nantes, February 8, 1828. Though he had gone to Paris to study for the bar, he followed in the footsteps of the…

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

2 pages

Louisa M. Alcott

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT was born in 1832 and died in 1888. She was the daughter of A. Bronson Alcott, the "Sage of Concord." Her early…

Little Women

3 pages

Winston Churchill

2 pages

Richard Carvel

3 pages

The White Company

4 pages

A Tale of Two Cities

3 pages

Charles Kingsley

9 pages

George Sand

LUCILE-AURORE DUPIN, as she was born in Berry in 1804, was the great-great-granddaughter of the famous Marshal Saxe. She had in her veins…

Consuelo, the Gypsy Singer

3 pages

R. D. Blackmore

RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE was born at Longworth, Berkshire, England, June 7, 1825. He was educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton, and at…

Lorna Doone

4 pages

Little Dorrit

3 pages

George Eliot

5 pages

Adam Bede

2 pages

Thomas Hardy

THOMAS HARDY, probably the most searching and profound novelist of our time, was born June 2, 1840, in Dorsetshire, England. He died on…

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

2 pages

Cerv Antes

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, dramatist and novelist, was born in 1547, the son of a Spanish druggist and surgeon. He died in Madrid in…

Don Quixote

2 pages

Mrs. Henry Wood

ELLEN PRICE was born at Worcester, England, January 17, 1814, the daughter of a glove manufacturer. In 1836 she married Henry Wood, head of…

East Lynne

3 pages

The Count of Monte Cristo

2 pages

Paul and Virginia

2 pages

Thomas Hughes

THOMAS HUGHES was born October 20, 1822, at Uffington, Berks. He died on March 22, 1896. In 1834 his father sent Tom to Rugby to be under…

Tom Brown's School Days

5 pages

Dombey and Son

4 pages

Washington Irving

WASHINGTON IRVING was born in New York in 1783 and died at his home "Sunnyside" on the Hudson in 1859. Intended for the law, in which he…

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

4 pages

The Last of the Mohicans

4 pages

W. Clark Russell

3 pages

Sir Gilbert Parker

GILBERT PARKER, British novelist, was born at Camden East, Addington, Ontario, on the 23d of November, 1862. He was educated at Ottawa and…

The Right of Way

7 pages

Far from the Madding Crowd

3 pages

Wilkie Collins

2 pages

The Woman in White

3 pages

Hall Caine

THOMAS HENRY HALL CAINE, since 1918 Sir Hall, of Manx descent, was born at Runcorn, May 14, 1853.

The Deemster

6 pages

Oliver Twist

4 pages

Le Sage

ALAIN RENE LE SAGE, author of one of the world's most remarkable books, was born on December 13, 1668, in a small town of western France…

Gil Blas

3 pages

Charles Reade

CHARLES READE, English dramatist and novelist, was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire, on June 8, 1814.

By Charles Reade

5 pages

The Virginians

6 pages

Harriet Beecher Stowe

HARRIET BEECHER was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1811. She died at Hartford, Conn, on July 1, 1896. She came of a family which…

Uncle Tom's Cabin

4 pages

The Scarlet Letter

5 pages

Lewis Carroll

LEWIS CARROLL (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was born in the village of Darebury, Cheshire, England, January 27, 1832. He was a mathematician…

Alice in Wonderland

3 pages

Eugene Sue

EUGENE SUE was born at Paris, January 20, 1804. His father was a distinguished surgeon in Napoleon's army, and he himself served in a like…

The Mysteries of Paris

3 pages

Sir Walter Besant

SIR WALTER BESANT, novelist and biographer, lover of London and of the poor folk who lived in the slums of the British metropolis, was born…

All Sorts and Conditions of Men

4 pages

Anna Karenina

4 pages

Vivian Grey

3 pages

Abbe Constantin

3 pages

Frances Hodgson Burnett

THIS very large number of novels credited to the name of Mrs. Burnett includes important studies of life in both countries she has known…

The Shuttle

3 pages

Homer's Iliad

3 pages

Homer's Odyssey

2 pages

Virgil's Aeneid

2 pages

Captain Marryat

3 pages

The Old Curiosity Shop

4 pages

The Deerslayer

4 pages

On the Heights

4 pages

The Three Musketeers

5 pages

Twenty Years After

4 pages

The Moonstone

2 pages

Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman

MRS. MARY ELEANOR WILKINS-FREEMAN is a direct descendant of the Puritans. In her was born an understanding of old New England, its quaint…

Jerome: a Poor Man

5 pages

John Lamson

P.S.--I meant Jerome's twenty-five thousand to be used as he used it.--J.L. DICKENS DICKENS did not live to be an old man, as "old age" is…

Died June the Ninth 1870

Near him lies David Garrick; and facing the grave on its left and right are the monuments of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Dryden.

Bleak House

5 pages

The House of the Seven Gables

2 pages

Mark Twain

"I AM sorry to know you are smoking so much, Mr. Clemens," remarked a lady in Mark Twain's early days. "This is the second time within the…

Pudd'nhead Wilson

3 pages

Treasure Island

3 pages

The Crisis

3 pages

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