• Title: The Delight of Great Books
• Author: John Erskine
• Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
• Estimated year of printing: 1928

Notes:

John Erskine (1879 – 1951) was an American educator and author, pianist and composer. He was an English professor at Amherst College from 1903 to 1909, followed by Columbia University from 1909 to 1937.  He was also a distinguished concert pianist, and was the first president of the Juilliard School of Music. 

During his tenure at Columbia University he formulated the General Honors Course, a 2-year long seminar which became part of Columbia’s core curriculum and still exists today, now called “Literature Humanities.”  This seminar was responsible for inspiring the influential Great Books movement.  This book fits into this movement, focusing on encouraging readers to not be afraid to read great books, and providing context, thoughts, and analysis of many great works of literature, including Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, and Romeo and Juliet.

The publisher, Bobbs-Merrill, existed from 1850 through 1985 in Indianapolis.  They are best known as having been involved in the historic Supreme Court case Bobbs-Merrill v. Straus in 1908, which established first-sale doctrine as part of copyright law.  Bobbs-Merrill tried to use copyright law to control what price a bookseller sell a book at.  The Supreme Court disagreed, and decided that in the absence of any other contract, once a bookseller is in possession of a book, they are free to sell it at any price they wish.  Notably, the “Straus” in this case was Isidor and Nathan Straus, who founded Macy’s department store.  Isidor would die, along with his wife, in the 1912 sinking of the Titanic.

Historical context:

The book is focused on great literature of the past, but the 1920s ended up being an important decade for literature as well.  F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby in 1925, and Ernest Hemingway published his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, in 1926.  However, this would also be a decade that would see key developments in other forms of entertainment around the home as well.  The first radio broadcasts occurred in 1920. The Jazz Singer, the first motion picture with sound, was released in 1927.  Disney’s Steamboat Willy was released in 1928.