1898 C.K. Shorter List of Best 100 Novels

In 1898, an editor named Clement K. Shorter made a list of the 100 best novels (with a limit of one book per author).
Updated September 19, 2022
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Paper Book
When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister...
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
Paper Book
Introduction by Diane Johnson Commentary by G. K. Chesterton, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Rigby, George Saintsbury, and Anthony Trollope Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS'sThe Great American Read Initially published under...
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Audiobook
Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country," Nathaniel Hawthorne'sThe Scarlet Letterreaches to our nation's historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the terrible impact of...
The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins
Paper Book
Wilkie Collins's classic thriller took the world by storm on its first appearance in 1859, with everything from dances to perfumes to dresses named in honor of the "woman in white."  The novel's continuing fascination stems in part from a distinctive blend of melodrama, comedy, and realism;...
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens
Paper Book
Dickens's tale of David Copperfield follows him from birth through to his successful career as a novelistIn one of his most energetic and enjoyable novels, Dickens tells the life story of David Copperfield, from his birth in Suffolk, through the various struggles of his childhood, to his successful...
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Paper Book
Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the...
Candide
Voltaire
Paper Book
&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RCandide&&L/I&&R, by &&LB&&RVoltaire&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R&&LI&&R...
Les Misérables
Victor Hugo
Paper Book
Les Misérables is a magnificent, sweeping story of revolution, love and the will to survive amidst the poverty-stricken streets of nineteeth-century Paris. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold...
Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray
Paper Book
A panoramic satire of English society during the Napoleonic Wars, Vanity Fair is William Makepeace Thackeray's masterpiece. At its center is one of the most unforgettable characters in nineteenth-century literature: the enthralling Becky Sharp, a charmingly ruthless social climber who is...
Silas Marner
George Eliot
Paper Book
Eliot's penetrating portrayal of a miser who learns to love an orphaned and abandoned child, this novel is a cherished masterwork and a moving story of redemption by the one of the Victorian era's most accomplished novelists.
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas
CD
Alexandre Dumas classic novel of camaraderie which brought us the resounding cry: All for one and one for all The young and headstrong D Artagnan, having proven his bravery by dueling with each, becomes a friend of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, members of the King s Musketeers. At the urging of...
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper
Paper Book
The Scottish Chiefs
Jane Porter
Paper Book
For nearly a century, Scribner has exemplified the very best in publishing by pairing classic texts with the illustrative giants of the time, such as N. C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish. With the same commitment to the high standards established by the series' founders, Atheneum Books for Young Readers...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.