I remember a set of Junior Classics being in our house during the time that I was growing up since, well, forever. With a publication date of 1907, they were already very old when I was growing up. They were already old when my father and mother grew up. I don't know where they came from, but the memory of that set in our house for all of those years is indelible.
The stories in these books are basically abridgments, I think. Don't lightly dismiss these--the President of Harvard and the editor of the Harvard Classics were a part of the project. This is a classic set of (abridged) classic books!
Get the whole set, in 6 PDF downloads, from
Homeschool Freebie of the Day's website (you'll need to scroll down a little way, because there have been other Homeschool Freebies of the Day since this one was posted).
I have just downloaded all of these volumes myself. Why? There are some times when I need to read a classic book. But being a hater of all things fiction, I don't want to have to read the complete book! Just let me read the condensed version, please!