About the library
Classic Books Library publishes new translations of the great books that belong to all of humanity — the works that have shaped how people think about justice, freedom, the good life and what it means to be human.
For most readers in the world, these books are hard to reach. Many have never been translated into their language; where translations exist, they are often a century old, incomplete, or sold only as costly printed editions. We are building one library where every reader can find the complete classics in their own language, in translations that are faithful and readable today.
How we translate
Every work is translated directly from its original language, from recognised critical editions of the text. Each translation follows a fixed glossary, so that key concepts are rendered consistently throughout a work and across an author's writings, and every text is checked against the original passage by passage before publication. Readers can report any passage that seems unclear, and our translations are revised continuously.
Source editions
- Plato, Apology of Socrates — Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet, vol. I, Oxford, 1900
- Plato, Crito — Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet, vol. I, Oxford, 1900
- Plato, Phaedo — Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet, vol. I, Oxford, 1900
- Plato, Symposium — Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet, vol. II, Oxford, 1901
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations — M. Antoninus Imperator ad se ipsum, ed. J. H. Leopold, Oxford, 1908
- Epictetus, The Handbook — Epicteti Dissertationes ab Arriano digestae, ed. Heinrich Schenkl, Leipzig: Teubner, 1916
- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince — Il Principe, Italia, 1814
- René Descartes, Discourse on Method — Œuvres de Descartes, ed. Charles Adam & Paul Tannery, vol. VI, Paris, 1902
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract — Du contract social, Amsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey, 1762
- Immanuel Kant, What Is Enlightenment? — Berlinische Monatsschrift, vol. 4, December 1784, pp. 481–494
- Laozi, Tao Te Ching — Laozi Daodejing, Wang Bi recension
- Confucius, The Analects — Lunyu, received text
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War — Sunzi bingfa, received text
Public domain
All original works in the library are in the public domain. The translations, introductions and notes are the original work of Classic Books Library.