One of the joys of this exercise accrues more to me than to you, dear reader. It offers me the opportunity to step back and look at what I was interested in, discern any patterns therein, and compare see how these may have differed from earlier lists.
In looking at the 2017 list, at least two things remain unchanged from 2016: First, relatively little of what I read dates from later than the 19th century. Second, I have continued to read more fiction that has historically been the case. Conspicuous here is my Jane Austen binge. I would include under “fiction” the plays I read, Jacobean or otherwise (Sophocles, Jonson, Shakespeare, Middleton, Ford, Etherege, Vanbrugh). And of course, there’s the poetry (Lydgate, Carew, Rochester, and plenty of Pope).
In terms of differences from previous years, I suppose there are fewer classical authors, though Homer, Horace, Martial, and Sallust are represented. New to the list are the early travelers’ accounts of America (Chastellux, Hamilton, Trollope). I also read a fair amount of Coleridge’s prose, which is passing strange, since I can’t honestly say I enjoyed much of it.
* * * *
ADAIR, Douglass. Fame and the Founding Fathers. Trevor Colbourn (ed.). New York: W. W. Norton, 1974.
ADAMS, Abigail. Letters. Edith Gelles (ed.). New York: Library of America, 2016.
ADAMS, John Quincy. Diaries (Vol. I: 1779-1821). David Waldstreicher (ed.). New York: Library of America, 2017.
ADAMS, John Quincy. Diaries (Vol. II: 1821-1848). David Waldstreicher (ed.). New York: Library of America, 2017.
AUSTEN, Jane. Emma. London: Folio Society, 1975.
AUSTEN, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. London: Folio Society, 1975.
AUSTEN, Jane. Persuasion. New York: Everyman's Library, 1992.
AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park. New York: Everyman's Library, 1992.
AUSTEN, Jane. Northanger Abbey. New York: Modern Library, 1995.
BACON, Francis. The Essayes or Counsels Civill and Morall. Norwalk, CT: The Heritage Press, 1972.
BEVERLEY, Robert. The History and Present State of Virginia. Susan Scott Parrish (ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
BROWN, Charles Brockden. Edgar Huntly, or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. Norman S. Grabo (ed.). London: Penguin Books, 1988.
BROWN, Charles Brockden. Wieland, or, The Transformation. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997.
BRUNI, Leonardo. History of the Florentine People (Vol. I). James Hankins (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
BRUYÈRE, Jean de La. Characters. Henri Van Laun (trans.). London: Oxford University Press, 1963.
BURKE, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France and Other Writings. New York: Everyman’s Library, 2015.
BURKE, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France (Select Works, Vol. 2). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1999.
BURNEY, Frances. Evelina, or The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World. Edward A. Bloom (ed.). London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
BUTLER, Joseph. Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel and a Dissertation upon the Nature of Virtue. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1953.
CALHOUN, John C. A Disquisition on Government and A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States. Charleston, SC: Walker and James, 1851 (facsimile, New York: Legal Classics Library, 1993).
CAREW, Thomas. The Poems of Thomas Carew. Rhodes Dunlap (ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949.
CHASTELLUX, François-Jean, Marquis de. Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782 (Vol. I). Howard C. Rice, Jr. (Trans.). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1963.
CHASTELLUX, François-Jean, Marquis de. Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782 (Vol. II). Howard C. Rice, Jr. (Trans.). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1963.
CLARKE, John. An Examination of the Notion of Moral Good and Evil. London: A. Bettesworth, 1725.
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. Collected Works, Vol. 2: The Watchman. Lewis Patton (ed.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970.
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. Collected Works, Vol. 4: The Friend. Barbara E. Rooke (ed.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969.
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. Collected Works, Vol. 10: On the Constitution of the Church and State. John Colmer (ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976.
DONNE, John. Donne's Sermons: Selected Passages. Logan Pearsall Smith (ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932.
ETHEREGE, Sir George. The Man of Mode. W. B. Carnochan (ed.). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966.
FERRIER, Susan. Marriage, a Novel. Herbert Foltinek (ed.). London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
FIELD, P. J. C. The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Malory. Woodbridge, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, 1999.
FIELDING, Sarah. The Adventures of David Simple. Malcolm Kelsall (ed.). London: Oxford University Press, 1969.
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Beautiful and Damned. New York: Modern Library, 2002.
FORD, John. ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. Martin Wiggins (ed.). London: Bloomsbury, 2003.
FORDYCE, David. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1754 (facsimile, Bristol: Thoemmes, 1990).
HAMILTON, Alexander, John JAY, and James MADISON. The Federalist (The Gideon Edition). George W. Carey and James McClellan (eds.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
HAMILTON, Thomas. Men and Manners in America (Vol. I). Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1833.
HAMILTON, Thomas. Men and Manners in America (Vol. II). Philadelphia: Carey, Lea and Blanchard, 1833.
HOMER. Odyssey (Books 13-24). A. T. Murray (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
HORACE. A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace (Vol. I). Philip Francis (trans.). London: W. Strahan et al., 1778.
HOUELLEBECQ, Michel. The Elementary Particles. Frank Wynne (trans.). New York: Vintage Books, 2000.
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works of Samuel Johnson (Vol. II). London: F. C. and J. Rivington et al., 1823.
JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works of Samuel Johnson (Vol. III). London: F. C. and J. Rivington et al., 1823.
JONSON, Ben. Volpone. Alvin B. Kernan (ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1962.
KAMES, Henry Home, Lord. Elements of Criticism (Vol. II). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005.
LOVECRAFT, H. P. Tales. Peter Straub (ed.). New York: Library of New York, 2005.
LUTTRELL, Narcissus. A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714 (Vol. I). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1857.
LYDGATE, John. Poems. John Norton-Smith (ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966.
MACKENZIE, Henry. The Man of Feeling. Brian Vickers (ed.). London: Oxford University Press, 1967.
MALTHUS, Thomas Robert. An Essay on the Principle of Population (Vol. I). London: J. Johnson, 1806 (facsimile, Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1996).
MALTHUS, Thomas Robert. An Essay on the Principle of Population (Vol. II). London: J. Johnson, 1806 (facsimile, Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1996).
MARTIAL. Epigrams (Vol. II). D. R. Shackleton Bailey (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
MIDDLETON, Thomas. Selected Plays of Thomas Middleton. David L. Frost (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
MONTESQUIEU. Charles de Secondat, Baron de. The Spirit of Laws (Vol. I). Thomas Nugent (trans.). Dublin: G. and A. Ewing, 1751.
MONTESQUIEU. Charles de Secondat, Baron de. The Spirit of Laws (Vol. II). Thomas Nugent (trans.). Dublin: G. and A. Ewing, 1751.
NORTON, Andrews. A Review of “Men and Manners in America”, Reprinted from the North American Review. London: John Miller, 1834.
OSTADE, Ingrid Tieken-Boon van. The Two Versions of Malory’s “Morte Darthur”: Multiple Negation and the Editing of the Text. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1995.
PALEY, William. The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (Vol. I). London: J. Faulder et al., 1814.
PALEY, William. The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (Vol. II). London: J. Faulder et al., 1814.
POPE, Alexander. The Dunciad (Twickenham Edition, Vol. V). James Sutherland (ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963.
POPE, Alexander (trans.). The Iliad of Homer. Steven Shankman (ed.). London: Penguin, 1996.
POPE, Stephanie et al. Cambridge Latin Course, Unit 1 (4th edition). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
ROBERT III, Henry M. et al. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief (2nd edition). Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2011.
ROBERTSON, William. The History of America (Vol. I). London: Cadell and Davies, 1808.
ROCHESTER, John Wilmot, Earl of. The Poems of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Keith Walker (ed.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984.
RORABAUGH, W. J. The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
SALLUST. The War with Catiline, The War with Jugurtha, Orations ad Letters. J. C. Rolfe (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. I). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. II). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. III). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
SHAKESPEARE, William. King Lear. Kenneth Muir (ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959.
SHIELDS, Jon A. and Joshua M. DUNN Sr. Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
SIDNEY, Sir Philip. Prose Works (Vol. III). Albert Feullerat (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963.
SMITH, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie (eds.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982.
SOPHOCLES. Ajax, Electra, Œdipus Tyrannus. Hugh Lloyd-Jones (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
SPINGARN, J. E. (ed.). Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century (Vol. III: 1685-1700). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968.
TROLLOPE, Frances. Domestic Manners of the Americans. London: Folio Society, 1974.
VANBRUGH, Sir John. The Relapse. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986.
VINOGRADOFF, Paul. Roman Law in Mediæval Europe. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1909.
WIDDOWSON, Frances and Albert HOWARD. Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception Behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008.
WINDHAM, William. Speeches in Parliament, of the Right Honourable William Windham (Vol. I). London: Longman, Hurst, et al., 1812.
WINDHAM, William. Speeches in Parliament, of the Right Honourable William Windham (Vol. II). London: Longman, Hurst, et al., 1812.
WINDHAM, William. Speeches in Parliament, of the Right Honourable William Windham (Vol. III). London: Longman, Hurst, et al., 1812.