Review of 1000 Beautiful Things by Arthur Mee

Seeking beauty among the endless books at a used book sale, I ran across this treasure.

But since “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” (and in the reading and the mind of the reader), and since this was written in the twentieth century, I was skeptical.

What a thrill to discover that the esteemed Arthur Mee and I completely agree on the definition of beauty!

I love this book, it’s truly one of the best I’ve seen. I can completely lose track of time and place once I pick it up.

Mom’s Favorites

Here are some samples of the contents of this book.

In order to have a starting point in my vast collections of favorites, I am sharing some of my mother’s favorite articles.

Mom guided me throughout my life to gravitate to what was true, elegant and of very high moral quality. I gave her 1000 Beautiful Things, and she listed her top picks in the front of the book.

The Prayer of Young Christopher Wren, a letter of admiration to his father

I find such beauty in the appreciation and respect from a school-aged son toward his father.

Marc Antony and His Friend (Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar, spoken by Marc Antony)

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

I find beauty in the praise Marc Antony gives to Caesar in the midst of accusations; and in the miraculous words of Shakespeare.

The Author

Arthur Mee–born in 1875 in Nottingham, England, and left school at 14 to work for a newspaper–is best known for his extensive Children’s Encyclopedia, and many other educational children’s books.

Hardcover copies of 1000 Beautiful Things are available at eBay, Abe Books, Etsy, and other online book stores.

Although 1000 Beautiful Things is not available for free download, the entire book of over 300 pages is available to read for free online at Internet Archive.

19 Volumes of a series called The World’s Greatest Books , by the talented author, are available for free download on Gutenberg.org here : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/4518