The Defintive Library

THE DEFINITIVE LIBRARY
Bauman Rare Books founder David Bauman offers this list of his 10 must-reads.

Winston Churchill, The Second World War, 1948-54
Who could be better qualified to write a history of World War II than the prime minister who led Britain through those years of "blood, toil, tears and sweat"? Churchill chronicles the war's major events with style and scope evoking the greatest Greek historians.

Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 1859
What Darwin observed in the South American tropics revolutionized not only his view of nature but also the world’s. Published to immediate excitement and controversy—the first edition of only 1250 copies is said to have sold out in one day—Darwin’s book broke uncharted ground by suggesting that species adapted over time to prevail in a struggle for survival. From cutting-edge biological research to courtroom conflicts over education, the continuing influence of Darwin’s theory is inescapable.

Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1885
One of America’s greatest novels invites us to join runaway Huck and escaped slave Jim on a journey down the mighty Mississippi, and into the nation’s soul. Twain’s compellingly plotted, undeniably funny masterpiece is as much a meditation on freedom as anything penned by the Founding Fathers. No wonder Hemingway deemed it “the best book we’ve had.”

Shakespeare, The First Folio, 1623
All the world’s a stage—but were it not for the First Folio, that stage might lack many incomparable characters. The Folio was the first serious effort to establish authoritative texts of the Bard’s plays; in fact, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and The Tempest are among 18 works owing their survival to its pages. One of the few books without which English literature as we know it simply would not exist—with the First Folio, the play truly is the thing.

J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, 1951
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is that Salinger’s explosive bestseller forever changed the voice of young people in American fiction. Despite repeated challenges to its legitimacy, The Catcher in the Rye survives, a masterful statement of the struggle to connect with our fellow human beings.

James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922
Joyce’s tour de force of symbolism, stylistic diversity and stream of consciousness transformed modern literature virtually overnight. First published in an edition of only 1000 copies and initially banned in Britain and America, Ulysses now enjoys near-universal recognition as a landmark work of genius.

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, 1755
He put the words right into your mouth. Others had compiled English dictionaries, but Johnson crafted his, pairing crisp (and often cunning) definitions of some 42,000 words with illustrative selections from the best English authors. Johnson’s Dictionary is an unparalleled monument to the glories of the English language and the literature it has birthed.

The King James Bible, 1611
Arguably no version of Scripture has shaped piety, literature, aesthetics, even politics more than the King James. It continues to win praise for its stylistic eloquence and elevated tone, and to shape the minds and hearts of those who believe its message.

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, 1478
Chaucer’s colorful characters—the noble Knight, the greedy Pardoner, the bawdy Wife of Bath—represent a remarkably wide swath of humanity. The reverent and raucous, the loving and lustful, the wise and whimsical: all contribute to this high mark of English literature by the first great English poet.

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
The American colonies’ War for Independence wasn’t the only revolution sparked in 1776. That same year, Scottish philosopher Adam Smith changed how the world thought about money, the market, and the “invisible hand” guiding it all. Smith’s descriptions of divided labor and the benefits of capitalism provided conceptual framework for free market economies everywhere.

Courtesy of VegasMagazine.com