British Literature
Over 720 Books on One CD
Compiled by Richard Seltzer Seedy Press, (Nov. 30, 2001)
B & R Samizdat Express
P. O. Box 161
West Roxbury, MA, 02132
ISBN: 015232979
Genre: British Literature
Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness - February 11, 2002
I happen to like reading Victorian Literature, the problem is, most of these books are printed in such a tiny font that they are impossible for even Superman to read, let alone for anyone with a visual impairment - even when using magnification devices! It was with great pleasure, therefore, that I discovered that Seedy Press' British Literature CD contained a cornucopia of Victorian Literature - all in plain text. Being in plain text, I have the option of enlarging the text to a comfortable size, or to read the text using a screen reading program.
While this CD contains a wealth of Victorian Literature, this is only one part of its vast collection. This CD contains over 720 books, and most of the authors in this collection died before 1931, although some lived longer. The authors resided throughout the British Empire, including Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Australia, and England.
A sampling of the authors featured in this collection include:
William Makepiece Thackeray (20 Books)
Anthony Trollope (10 Books)
Oscar Wilde (18 Books)
Andrew Barton `Banjo' Paterson (4 Books)
Bram Stoker (5 Books)
Andrew Lang (24 books)
Sir Walter Scott (11 books)
Jane Austen (8 books)
Charles Dickens (42 books)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (20 books)
H. Rider Haggard (29 books)
William Shakespeare (48 books)
And, Saki (H.H. Munro), Milton, The Bronte Sisters, Daniel Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Wilkie Collins, Charles Kingsley , D. H. Lawrence, and many, many more....
Both fiction and nonfiction books are included in this collection, and the titles range from Beowulf and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to Benjamin Disraeli's Sybil and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Some of the nonfiction works in this collection are:
Lord Macaulay's five-volume masterpiece, The History of England from the Accession of James II
Queen Elizabeth I's Last Speech to Parliament
Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell
In addition to novels and historical works, also includes biographical and literary criticism on many of the authors and title included on this CD. This collection also includes poems, verses, short stories, and articles, such as Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" in which he advocated that the children of the poor. If you've never read this discourse, be sure to read it - I guarantee that you'll never forget it! It also includes a number of plays, including the full text of all the plays by William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
This collections a must for anyone who enjoys reading British Literature, as well as for those that 'must' read it, such as college students. This CD sells for the modest cost of 29 dollars. If you're in college and your taking, or planning on taking, a course in British Literature, this CD could save you a fortune in books! Just glance through the CD's table of contents, and see how many books are included on this disk, that are required reading for your course. The table of contents can be found, online at: http://www.samizdat.com/britlitcd.html
To access this CD, you need be using a Windows PC, and
a web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape) and/or a Windows based word-processing program such as Microsoft Word, or Corel's Word Perfect. The text on this CD is provided in a plain text format, which makes this CD fully accessible with most computer screen reading and magnification programs.
Children's Books, Compiled by Richard Seltzer.
Over 200 Children's classics on one CD, ranging from Aesop's Fables to The Wizard of Oz.
American Literature, Compiled by Richard Seltzer.
This collection represents a cross-section of the best of American Literature and contains over 380 books on one CD.
World Literature, Compiled by Richard Seltzer.
This collection contains over 470 books, from around the world, on one CD.
