Robert B. Downs, Molders of the Modern Mind: 111 Books That Shaped Western Civilization [1961]; Famous Books Ancient and Medieval: Outlines of 108 Great Works That Have Shaped Modern Civilization [1964]
227 entries: 203 monographical, 24 otherwise
Unrankedarranged chronologically, except nos. 201-3, from Books That Changed the World [1978], which otherwise consists of entries already found in Molders and Famous
These two books together form a single list that covers all of literary history: the earlier begins chronologically where the later stops. However, these two books overlap with a third, Books That Changed the World (published in two significantly-different editions, 1956 and 1978) in a jumbled way. Simply put, essays from the '56 book appeared in Molders, but the latter overall has a larger number of essays. Meanwhile, Downs wrote Famous Books, since the first edition of Books That Changed the World included only post-medieval works (that is, it could be considered a first version of Molders). So, the '78 second edition of Books adds to the first: several essays from Famous, a few of the essays unique to Molders, and an essay on Rachel Carson originally published in another Downs work, Books That Changed America. In short, Books That Changed the World is almost irrelevant to this project, because nearly all of its selections are also found in Famous and Molders. The Carson essay is not in either of those, and the selections for two authors, Marx and Freud, are different in Books than they are in Molders. These Carson, Marx, and Freud selections not found in Molders are thus included in the final list here.
- The Book of the Dead
The Book of Coming Forth by Day
varying versions; written ca. Sixteenth-First centuries B CEgyptian
- Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi
ca. 1770 B CAkkadian
--
- The Bible
Downs also lists John Wycliffe's 1382 English translation of the Vulgate [see below]Hebrew; Aramaic; Greek
Homer
- Iliad
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
- Odýsseia
The Odyssey
ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B CGreek
- Hesiod
Erga kai Hēmerai
Works and Days
ca. Eighth-Seventh centuries B CGreek
Poems
late Seventh-early Sixth centuries B CGreek
Fables
ca. late Seventh-early Sixth centuries B CGreek
--
ca. Sixth-Fifth centuries B C; Sanskrit translations extantPali
- Confucius (Kǒng Zǐ) (Kǒng Fūzǐ) (K'ung Fu-tzu)
Analects
Lún Yǔ
written and compiled by the author's pupils; ca. Fifth Century B C-Second CenturyChinese
Aeschylus
- Promētheus Desmōtēs
Prometheus Bound
disputed authorship; Fifth Century B CGreek
- Oresteia
The House of Atreus
458 B CGreek
- Pindar
Epinikia
Victory Odes
Fifth Century B CGreek
Sophocles
- Antigone
ca. 441 B CGreek
- Oidipous epi Kolōnō
Oedipus at Colonus
401 B CGreek
- Oidipous Tyrannos
Oedipus Rex; Oedipus the King
ca. 429 B CGreek
- Herodotus
Historiē
History
Fifth Century B CGreek
Euripides
- Mēdeia
Medea
431 B CGreek
- Hippolytos
428 B CGreek
- Trōiades
The Trojan Woman
415 B CGreek
- Bakchai
The Bacchae
405 B CGreek
Aphorisms
part of the Hippocratic Corpus; late Fifth-early Fourth centuries B CGreek
- Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian War
early Fifth Century B CGreek
Aristophanes
- Nephelai
The Clouds
423 B C; revised 417 B C; only revised version remainsGreek
- Ornithes
The Birds
414 B CGreek
- Lysistrate
Lysistrata
411 B CGreek
- Bátrachoi
The Frogs
405 B CGreek
- Xenophon
Anabasis
early Fourth Century B CGreek
Plato
- Symposium
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Apologia Socratis
The Apology
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Crito
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Phaedo
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Politeia
The Republic
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Statesman
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Laws
early Fourth Century B CGreek
- Timaeus
early Fourth Century B CGreek
Demosthenes
- First Philippic
ca. 351-50 B CGreek
- Second Philippic
ca. 344-43 B CGreek
- Third Philippic
341 B CGreek
Aristotle
- Politik
Politics
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Organon
Fourth Century B CGreek
- History of Animals
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Physics
Fourth Century B CGreek
- On the Heavens
written 350 B CGreek
- Meteorology
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Mechanics
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Ethika Nikomacheia
Nicomachean Ethics
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Rhetoric
Fourth Century B CGreek
- Peri Poiêtikês
De Poetica; Poetics
Fourth Century B CGreek
Theophrastus
- Historia Plantarum
Inquiry Into Plants
Fourth-early Third centuries B CGreek
- On the Causes of Plants
Fourth-early Third centuries B CGreek
Menander
- Perikeiromene
ca. 314-13 B CGreek
- Dyskolos
ca. 317-16 B CGreek
- Samia
ca. 315-09 B CGreek
- Epitrepontes
Fourt Century B CGreek
- Euclid
Elements
written ca. 300 B CGreek
- Archimedes
On the Sphere and Cylinder
circa 225 B CGreek
Plays
Third-early Second centuries B CLatin
- Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato)
De Agri Cultura
written ca. 160 B CLatin
- Polybius
Histories
Second Century B CGreek
Marcus Tullius Cicero
First Century B CLatin
First Century B CLatin
First Century B CLatin
- De Re Publica
written 54-51 B CLatin
- De Legibus
First Century B CLatin
- Caius Julius Caesar
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
ca. 40 B CLatin
- Titus Lucretius Carus
De Rerum Natura
On the Nature of Things
First Century B CLatin
Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus)
- The Conspiracy of Cataline
First CenturyLatin
- The Jugurthine War
First CenturyLatin
- Catullus
Poems
First Century B CLatin
- Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)
Aeneid
First Century B CLatin
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
- Satirae
originally published in two volumes, 35 B C and 30 B CLatin
- Carmina
Odes
originally published in four volumes: first-third, 23 B C; fourth, 13 B CLatin
- Epistularum
originally published in two volumes, 20 and 14 B CLatin
- Strabo
Geographica
7 B CGreek
- Livy (Titus Livius)
Ab Urbe Condita Libri
History of Rome
First Century B CLatin
- Aulus Cornelius Celsus
De Medicina
First Century B CLatin
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
First CenturyLatin
First CenturyLatin
- Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
De Architectura
Ten Books on Architecture
written ca. 15 B CLatin
- Pliny the Elder
Naturalis Historia
ca. 77-9Latin
- Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus)
Insitutio Oratoria
ca. 95Latin
- Pedanius Dioscorides
De Materia Medica
First CenturyGreek
- Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis)
Epigrams
86-103Latin
- Plutarch
Bìoi Paràllēloi
Parallel Lives; Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
First CenturyGreek
- Cornelius Tacitus
Annales
written First CenturyLatin
- Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis)
Satires
late First-early Second centuriesLatin
- Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
De Vita Caesarum
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
written 121Latin
- Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus)
Geographike Hyphegesis
Geography
Second CenturyGreek
Lucian
Second CenturyGreek
- Verae Historiae
True History
Second CenturyGreek
- Galen
De Naturalibus Facultatibus
On the Natural Faculties
First CenturyLatin
--
- Talmud
Shas
Aramaic; Hebrew
- Diogenes Laërtius
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Third CenturyGreek
Augustine of Hippo
- Confessionum Libri Tredecim
The Confessions of St. Augustine
written 397-98Latin
- De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos
City of God
426Latin
- Flavius Anicius Justinianus (Justinian I)
Corpus Juris Civilis
529-34Latin
--
- Quran
Koran
Seventh CenturyArabic
- Bede
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
written ca. 731Latin
--
- Kitab alf Laylah Wa-Laylah
The Thousand and One Nights; The Arabian Nights
Ninth-Fifteenth centuriesArabic
- Avicenna
Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb
The Canon of Medicine
1025Arabic
- Geoffrey of Monmouth
Historia Regum Britanniae
written ca. 1136Latin
- John of Salisbury
Policraticus, Sive de Nugis Curialium et de Vestigiis Philosophorum
1159Latin
- Stephen Langton et al.
Magna Carta
Magna Carta Libertatum
1215Latin
- Roger Bacon
Opus Majus
1267Latin
- Thomas Aquinas
Summa Theologiae
Summa Theologica
written 1265-74Latin
- Marco Polo and Rustichello da Pisa
Livre des Merveilles du Monde
ca. 1300French
- Dante
La Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21Italian
- Giovanni Boccaccio
Il Decameron, Cognominato Prencipe Galeotto
ca. 1351-53Italian
--
John Wycliffe's 1382 English translation of the Vulgate [see above]Hebrew; Aramaic; Greek
- Geoffrey Chaucer
Canterbury Tales
1478English
- Christopher Columbus
Epistola de Insulis Nuper Repertis
1493Latin
- Desiderius Erasmus
Stultitiae Laus
In Praise of Folly
1511; later revisedLatin
- Thomas More
Libellus Uere Aureus, nec Minus Salutaris Quam Festivus, de Optimo rei Publicae Statu Deque Nova Insula Utopia
Utopia
1516Latin
- Martin Luther
An den Christlichen Adel Deutscher Nation
Address to the Christian Nobility
1520German
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Il Principe
The Prince
1532Italian
- John Calvin
Christianae Religionis Institutio
Institutes of the Christian Religion
1536; French translation, Institution de la Religion Chrestienne, 1541Latin
- Nicolas Copernicus
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
1543Latin
- Andreas Vesalius
De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem
1543Latin
- Jean Bodin
Les Six Livres de la République
1576; revised and expanded Latin translation published 1586French
- Michel de Montaigne
Les Essais
Essays
originally published in three volumes: 1580, 1588, and 1595French
- William Gilbert
De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure
On the Magnet
1600Latin
- William Shakespeare
Hamlet
1602English
- Francis Bacon
Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human
1605English
- Miguel de Cervantes
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha
Don Quixote
originally published in two volumes, 1605 and 1615Spanish
Johannes Kepler
- Astronomia Nova
1609Latin
- Harmonices Mundi
The Harmony of the World
1619Latin
- Hugo Grotius
De Jure Belli ac Pacis
On the Law of War and Peace
1625Latin
- William Harvey
Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus
On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
1628Latin
- Galileo
Dialogo Sopra i due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
1632Italian
- René Descartes
Discours de la Méthode Pour Bien Conduire sa Raison, et Chercher la Vérité dans les Sciences
Discourse on the Method
1637French
- John Milton
Areopagitica; A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parliament of England
1644English
- Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan or, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
1651English
- Robert Boyle
The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts and Paradoxes
1661English
- Robert Hooke
Micrographica: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon
1665English
- John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress From This World to That Which Is to Come
1678English
- Isaac Newton
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
1687; revised 1713 and 1726Latin
- John Locke
Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, the False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government
originally anonymously published 1689English
- Pierre Bayle
Dictionnaire Historique et Critique
1697; expanded 1702French
- Antoine van Leeuwenhoek
Letters to the Royal Society
written 1673-1723; French translations published in part in Philosophical Transactions and Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de ParisDutch
- Daniel Defoe
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner
originally anonymously published 1719English
- Giambattista Vico
Principi di Scienza Nuova d'Intorno Alla Comune Natura Delle Nazioni
The New Science
1725; revised 1730 and 1744Italian
- Jonathan Swift
Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships
Gulliver's Travels
1726; revised 1735English
- Carlos Linneaus
Systema Naturae
1735; revised through twelfth edition, 1766-8Latin
- Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
De l'Esprit des Lois
The Spirit of Laws
originally anonymously published 1748French
Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers
published in 28 volumes, 1751-72French
- Samuel Johnson
A Dictionary of the English Language
1755English
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Du Contrat Social ou Principes du Droit Politique
The Social Contract
1762French
- Voltaire
Dictionnaire Philosophique
1764French
- Cesare Beccaria
Dei Delitti e Delle Pene
On Crimes and Punishments
1764Italian
- William Blackstone
Commentaries on the Laws of England
originally published in four volumes, 1765-69English
- Thomas Jefferson
A Summary View of the Rights of British America
1774English
- Adam Smith
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
1776; revised through third edition, 1784English
- Thomas Paine
Common Sense; Addresed to the Inhabitants of America
1776English
- Edward Gibbon
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
originally published in six volumes: first, 1776; second-third, 1781; fourth-sixth, 1788English
- Alexander Hamilton; John Jay; James Madison
The Federalist Papers
originally published 1787-1788 in the Independent Journal, the New-York Packet, and the Daily AdvertiserEnglish
- James Hutton
Theory of the Earth
edited 1785 lectures; originally entitled Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws Observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land Upon the Globe, published 1788 in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; first book version, entitled Theory of the Earth; With Proofs and Illustrations, published 1795English
- Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
Traité Élémentaire de Chimie, Présenté dans un Ordre Nouveau et d'Après les Découvertes Modernes
1789French
- Jeremy Bentham
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
1789English
- Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France
1790English
- Benjamin Franklin
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
French translation published 1791 as Mémoires de la Vie Privée de Benjamin Franklin; first-third parts of the original English published 1818 as volume one of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin; original English published in its entirety, 1868English
- Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
1792English
- William Godwin
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness
1793English
- Marquis de Condorcet (Nicolas de Condorcet)
Esquisse d'un Tableau Historique des Progrès de l'Esprit Humain qui fut Publié Après Sa Mort
1795French
- Immanuel Kant
Zum Ewigen Frieden. Ein Philosophischer Entwurf
Perpetual Peace
1795; expanded 1796German
- Edward Jenner
An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae
1798English
- Thomas Robert Malthus
An Essay on the Principle of Population
originally anonymously published 1798; revised 1803 and published under the author's nameEnglish
- Pierre-Simon Laplace
Mécanique Céleste
originally published in five volumes, 1799-1825French
- Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Wie Gertrud Ihre Kinder Lehrt
How Gertrude Teaches Her Children
1801German
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Reden an Die Dutsche Nation
1808German
- John Dalton
A New System of Chemical Philosophy
1808English
- Robert Owen
A New View Of Society: Or, Essays on the Formation of Human Character, and the Application of the Principle to Practice
1813; retitled A New View Of Society: Or, Essays on the Formation of Human Character Prepatory to the Development of a Plan for Gradually Ameliorating the Condition of Mankind, 1816English
- George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts
Elements of the Philosophy of Right
1820German
- Noah Webster
An American Dictionary of the English Language
originally entitled A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, published 1806; retitled, revised, and expanded 1828; revised and expanded 1841; later editions considered distinct worksEnglish
- Charles Lyell
Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation
originally published in three volumes: 1830, 1832, and 1833English
- Auguste Comte
Cours de Philosophie Positive
originally published in six volumes, 1832, 1835, 1838-42French
- Carl von Clausewitz
Vom Kriege
On War
1832German
- Alexis de Tocqueville
De la Démocratie en Amérique
Democracy in America
originally published in two volumes, 1835 and 1840French
"Eclectic Readers"
four educational books published 1836-7 providing reading lessons and excerpts of varied literary works for primary-level studentsEnglish
- Michael Faraday
Experimental Researches in Electricity
originally published in two volumes, 1839 and 1844English
- Louis Agassiz
Études sur les Glaciers
1840French
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Qu'est-ce Que la Popriété? Ou Recherche sur le Principe du Droit et du Gouvernment
1840French
- Thomas Carlyle
Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
1842English
Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Essays: First Series
1841English
- Essays: Second Series
1844English
- Alexander von Humboldt
Kosmos. Entwurf Einer Physischen Weltbeschreibung
originally published in five volumes, 1845-62German
- Hermann von Helmholtz
Über die Erhaltung der Kraft
1847German
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei
The Communist Manifesto
1848German
'Civil Disobedience'
originally published 1849 in Aesthetic PapersEnglish
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1852English
- Charles Dickens
Hard Times - For These Times
originally published serially Apr.-Aug. 1854 in Household WordsEnglish
'Mémoire sur la Fermentation Appelée Lactique'
'Treatise on the Fermentation Known as Lactic'
published in part 1857 in Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences; in its entirety, 1858, in Annales de Chimie et de PhysiqueFrench
- Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
1859English
- Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A Douglas
Political Debates Between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas in the Celebrated Campaign of 1858, in Illinois
1860; edited Aug.-Oct. 1858 debatesEnglish
- John Stuart Mill
On Liberty
1859English
- Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
1862French
'Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden'
'Experiments on Plant Hybrids'
originally published 1866 in Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereins Brünn; edited 1865 lectureGerman
- Jules Verne
De la Terre à la Lune
From the Earth to the Moon
1865French
- Joseph Lister (Lord Lister)
'On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery'
edited lecture, 9 Aug. 1867; published Sep. 1867 in LancetEnglish
- Horatio Alger
Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York With the Boot Blacks
1867English
- Walt Whitman
Democratic Vistas
1871English
- Josiah Willard Gibbs
On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances
originally published serially 1875-8 in Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and SciencesEnglish
- Henry George
Progress and Property: An Inquiry Into the Cause of Industrial Depressions, and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth; the Remedy
1879English
- Henrik Ibsen
Et Dukkehjem
A Doll's House
1879Norwegian
'Die Aetiologie der Tuberculose'
'The Etiology of Tuberculosis'
originally published Apr. 1882 in Berliner Klinischen Wochenschrift; edited Mar. 1882 lectureGerman
- Herbert Spencer
The Man Versus the State
1884English
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel Einer Philosophie der Zukunft
Beyond Good and Evil
1886German
- Edward Bellamy
Looking Backward, 2000-1887
1888English
- Sidney Webb; William Clarke; Sydney Olivier; George Bernard Shaw; Graham Wallas; Annie Besant; Hubert Bland
Fabian Essays in Socialism
1889English
- Alfred Thayer Mahan
The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783
1890English
- James George Frazer
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion
originally entitled The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion, published in two volumes, 1890; expanded and retitled 1900, in three volumes; expanded 1906-15, in 12 volumes; supplemental volume added for 1937 edition; distinct abridged versions, 1922, 1959, and 1994English
'The Significance of the Frontier in American History'
originally published 1893 in the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the Annual Report of the American Historical Association; edited lectureEnglish
- Havelock Ellis
Studies in the Psychology of Sex
originally published in seven volumes, 1897-1928English
- Thorstein Veblen
The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions
1899English
- John Dewey
School and Society: Being Three Lectures by John Dewey, Supplemented by a Statement of the University Elementary School
1899English
'The Geographical Pivot of History'
originally published Apr. 1904 in the Geographical SocietyEnglish
- Frederick Winslow Taylor
The Principles of Scientific Management
1911English
- Woodrow Wilson
The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People
1913; 1912 speeches edited by William Bayard HaleEnglish
- Albert Einstein
Über die Spezielle und die Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie, Gemeinverständlich
Relativity, the Special and the General Theory: A Popular Exposition
1917; revised through fourteenth edition, 1922German
- Vladimir Lenin
Gosudarstvo i Revolûciâ
The State and Revolution
1917Russian
- John Maynard Keynes
The Economic Consequences of the Peace
1919English
- Adolf Hitler
Mein Kampf
originally published in two volumes, 1925 and 1926German
- Ivan Pavlov
Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex
1927Russian
- Sigmund Freud
Das Unbehagen in der Kultur
Civilization and Its Discontents
1930German
- Karl Marx
Das Kapital, Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie
originally published in three volumes: 1867, 1885, and 1894German
- Sigmund Freud
Die Traumdeutung
The Interpretation of Dreams
1899German
- Rachel Carson
Silent Spring
originally published Jun. 1962 in the New YorkerEnglish