Historical Fiction Neilson, William Allan (editor): Shelf of Fiction Vol 1-2 Ver 2. 27 Dec 2013

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When Charles W. Eliot completed the Harvard Classics it was mentioned that he had slighted the Novel as medium for the books in the 5 foot shelf. He acknowledge this and set about to rectify the omission with 20 volumes of Classic Novels called the Harvard Classics shelf of fiction. While Doctor Eliot picked the 20 volumes an associate William Allan Neilson actually assembled the content, wrote the commentary, and obtained the critical reviews. The Shelf of Fiction volumes were published in 1917.

The first story in the 20 volume set was "The History of Tom Jones, a foundling" by Henry Fielding. It was originally published in England in 1749 and represents the first of the modern genre of novels. The story is a long one which covers the first two volumes along with a few introductory notes about Novels and the purpose of the Shelf of Fiction. Here is an introduction from Wikipedia:

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. The novel is both a Bildungsroman and Picaresque novel. First published on 28 February 1749, Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel, and is the earliest novel mentioned by Somerset Maugham in his 1948 book "Great Novelists and Their Novels" among the ten best novels of the world. [2] Totaling 346,747 words, it is divided into 18 smaller books, each preceded by a discursive chapter, often on topics totally unrelated to the book itself.

There is a wiki page in our wiki on this subject. https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Shelf_of_Fiction

I have decided to collect the two volumes into a single eBook so that it can be read as a full story. The break between the volumes is indicated in the TOC. Let me know if there are any errors but be aware that this is British 18th century spelling throughout except that the introductions are early 20th century American. Enjoy.

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Version 2 changes the indent for poetry and lists to display better on smaller screens and landscape two column views.