What are the qualities that give some books a passionate new readership with every new generation, even centuries after their authors' lifetime? Classics journeys into our reading past to rediscover the great masterpieces that move and inspire us, and to learn why they still resonate with us today. It also identifies some to the great books of the present times and why are they called 'modern classics'.

These books are invaluable for their insights into the human heart and soul; for their wisdom and humour; for their worth as records of social, political and economic life in other times and places; and for their extraordinary mastery of language — so extraordinary, that each book serves as a storehouse of literary quality, of style, rhythm, vocabulary, and ingenuity of expression.

This masterly selection of books, Classics, is an inspiring feast of all-time great books of the world — books that are read, loved, treasured, and re-read.

It is your invitation to those great works you always wanted to read to understand human culture and explore some of the most enduring writings of the world. It represents a small cosmos of 2,500 years of our literary heritage.

These are some of the best loved books, books which have endured and will continue to live on.

Jane Gleeson-White has worked as a bookseller, writer, book editor and reviewer in Sydney and London since completing her degrees in English and Australian literature, and economics, at the University of Sydney in 1987. She also worked as a student at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, where she studied Byzantine, early Renaissance and modern art. She currently lives in Sydney.