The Five-Foot Shelf Hunt

The Quest

In 1909, Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard, claimed a liberal education could be had by reading fifteen minutes a day from a shelf of books five feet long. To this end, he published that exact shelf: the 51-volume Harvard Classics. Collier reprinted them for decades in several bindings. I am collecting the full set in any printing or binding, plus its (maybe?) rarer 20-volume companion, the Shelf of Fiction.

Rules of the hunt:

Physical stores only. No online orders, ever.
No special orders or holds — the book must be on the shelf when I walk in.
No volume over $15. (Subject to future inflation adjustment.)
No gifts — but pointing out a location that has them is fair game.
Any printing, any binding counts.
No time limit.

The hunt began in June 2026.

Progress

Harvard Classics:

Shelf of Fiction:

The Shelf

Shelf of Fiction

Blue spines are found; gold-outlined spines are found and read. Click a spine for details.

Harvard Classics — Volumes 1–51

Vol	Contents	Found	Read

Note: numbering of the last two volumes (Reader’s Guide, Lectures) varies between Collier printings; I’ll reconcile against my own set as it materializes.

Shelf of Fiction — Volumes 1–20

Vol	Contents	Found	Read

The Five-Foot Shelf of Books Hunt