Elia; and The Last Essays of Elia: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Elia; and The Last Essays of Elia, credited to Charles Lamb, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Elia; and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb. Read in English by volunteer readers. Elia and The Last Essays of Elia are two collections of essays written by Charles Lamb. The essays first began appearing in The London Magazine in 1820 and continued to 1825. They were very popular and were printed in many subsequent editions throughout the nineteenth century. The personal and conversational tone of the essays has charmed many readers. Lamb himself is the Elia of the collection, and his sister Mary is "Cousin Bridget." Lamb took the name of Elia from an old Italian clerk at the South-Sea House in Lamb's time of employment there; that is, in 1791-1792. Many of these essays contain references to Lamb's contemporaries or events of his day, which may not strike as strong a chord in the heart of the contemporary listener. - Summary by TriciaG

Recording facts

• Recording title: Elia; and The Last Essays of Elia
• Author credits: Charles Lamb
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 58
• Listed recording duration: 16:14:16

Catalogue topics

• essays
• articles

Opening tracks: first 24 of 58

1. 01 - The South-Sea House — 22:45
2. 02 - Oxford in the Vacation — 14:11
3. 03 - Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago — 37:44
4. 04 - The Two Races of Men — 15:56
5. 05 - New Year's Eve — 17:40
6. 06 - Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist — 17:24
7. 07 - A Chapter on Ears — 14:35
8. 08 - All Fools' Day — 8:52
9. 09 - A Quaker's Meeting — 13:54
10. 10 - The Old and the New Schoolmaster — 24:55
11. 11 - Valentine's Day — 9:31
12. 12 - Imperfect Sympathies — 21:34
13. 13 - Witches, and other Night-Fears — 18:45
14. 14 - My Relations — 17:48
15. 15 - Mackery End, in Hertfordshire — 12:59
16. 16 - Modern Gallantry — 8:49
17. 17 - The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple — 30:15
18. 18 - Grace Before Meat — 14:39
19. 19 - My First Play — 12:31
20. 20 - Dream-Children; A Reverie — 8:54
21. 21 - Distant Correspondents — 13:01
22. 22 - The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers — 19:13
23. 23 - A Complaint of the Decay of Beggars in the Metropolis — 20:48
24. 24 - A Dissertation upon Roast Pig — 20:48

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.