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The Ex-Classics Web Site Book of the Month -- January 2025 The Courtier's Library, by John Donne Donne wrote this little squib in Latin between 1603 and 1611. It starts with an introduction explaining how a courtier may pass as learned and cultured without going to the bother of acquiring any learning or culture. The secret, he says, is to have read books no-one else has; he then gives a list of imaginary books whose titles, authors and subjects are a satirical comment on various people and schools of thought then fashionable. It circulated in handwritten copies and gave great entertainment to his friends and acquaintances, but was not printed until 1650, twenty years after his death. Like Rabelais’s (ca. 1494–1553) list of the books belonging to the Library of St. Victor in the seventh chapter of Pantagruel, The Courtier’s Library uses the form of the library catalogue to make a series of jokes a the expense of learned culture.2 However, where Rabelais satirizes the scholastic learning associated with monasteries, Donne takes aim at the humanist methods adapted by secretaries to produce knowledge for courtly display. Our edition is a translation by E.M. Simpson with detailed notes explaining the jokes and references. Previous BOMs AboutUs The Ex-Classics project was founded in 2000 to fill an unmet need.  When reading the blurb etc. to a book by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte, say, we would often come across sentences like "Favourite reading included . . ."  If  it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us. So off we go to the library or bookshop, to be met first with blank stares and then with the information that the book has been out of print for decades. Our first two books were Gil Blas and Hudibras, which are prime examples of this. This web site is dedicated to rescuing these works from obscurity and making them available online, both for reading directly, and for downloading. What do you think? Any comments about this site or its contents? E-mail us (Click here) We have an occasional newsletter - please say if you want to be added to the mailing list. We never give out your details to spammers, or anyone else, for that matter. No-Copyright notice This site and its contents are public domain and free to the world. Anything in it may be copied and distributed free of charge or obligation. [There are one or two exceptions to this,which are clearly marked where they occur.] We expect this policy to be passed on - anyone who copies our texts or web pages and tries to claim copyright for themselves is stealing - not from us, but from you, and from everyone. An example of what we mean.

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