Oxford World’s Classics

Oxford World’s Classics is a long-running series from Oxford University Press that publishes authoritative editions of major works of literature, philosophy, politics and religion from across the world. Designed for general readers as well as students, its volumes pair reliable texts or modern translations with scholarly introductions, explanatory notes, chronologies and bibliographies. The collection ranges from ancient Greek and Roman writing through medieval and early modern works to influential nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, and is continually expanded and revised to reflect current scholarship.

The series contains a substantial body of historically significant writing, including Homeric epic, Greek and Roman drama, medieval narratives, Renaissance literature, Gothic fiction, Victorian novels, political works, memoirs and early modern travel accounts. Authors represented include Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Virgil, Plutarch, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy and many writers translated from European, Asian and Middle Eastern traditions. Although these books are classics rather than modern historical novels, they provide direct access to the literature and ideas of earlier societies and are especially useful for understanding the cultural background of historical periods.