Note 278b — VIII. LORD ACTON’S LIST OF THE HUNDRED BEST BOOKS
Reading edition
“What is the best book you have ever read?” Emerson is said to have asked George Eliot when she was about twenty-two years of age and residing, unknown, near Coventry. “Rousseau’s Confessions,” was the reply. “I agree with you,” Emerson answered. But the book should not be read in a translation. The completest translation is one in 2 volumes published by Nicholls. There is a more abridged translation by Gibbons in 4 volumes.