https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

Shit, forgot to include it in my OP

You'll always be a pleb to somebody. The goal is to be a pleb to as few people as possible.

You might be more well read but they won't look as good on a shelf as the individual books.

Wow, that collection looks great. Although you can skip Volume 11, 12 and 28 entirely. If you don't have a interest in Theology, 17 to 20 are skippables too.

I used to have it. It was designed to be a part of the liberal education of the common middle class man in the fifties, problem is, there are no actual introductions to the texts themselves besides brief biographical summaries of the authors, explanatory notes are rare, there's not really much of a reason to have included most of the scientific treatises, and some of the translations are outdated. Overall it seems kind of pointless to have it as an educational system when there's not much there to guide you through it. You're probably better off just getting separate editions of those works that will give you a greater context of their place in history and meaning.

>>8073495
cool find. do you have any pictures of it?
anyways, you basically bought the entire western canon for $100. i'd be willing to pay $250

Would love this

Great buy nonetheless. All in collection are guaranteed to retain the value.

>>8073538
That's because you're supposed to be a man and discuss them with other people to feel out the ideas. The emphasis is on the works themselves.

The scientific treatises are history of math and science, which is a facet of real liberal arts educations.