ASHC2000 · A separate shelf
The Classics
Every other shelf in this library holds books made under this roof. This one is different, and it is kept apart on purpose: here live the classics — books the whole world owns now, because their copyright has run its course, in the translations named on their pages.
The rule of this shelf is simple, and it does not bend: a classic never mixes with the house’s own books, and every title states its provenance — the author, the translator, and the year of the translation — on its own page, where any reader can check it. Nothing here is sold; like everything in this library, it will be free to read.
On this shelf
The shelf is being built, and it is empty for the moment — its page tells you so instead of pretending. Its first titles are in preparation, held to the same law as the rest of the house: a story enters this library only bound, re-read, and finished.
- The Art of War — Sun Tzu, in Lionel Giles’s translation (1910). In preparation.
- Tao Te Ching — Laozi, in James Legge’s translation (1891). In preparation.
When they are ready, they will stand here — and the house annals will say so.
Until then, the house’s own shelves are full: start with ROOTBOUND or The Apothecary of Konoha.