Chrestomathy

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 23, 2012

chrestomathy \kres-TOM-uh-thee\, noun:

A collection of selected literary passages.

I had learned to read Sanscrit and to translate easy passages in the chrestomathy, and devoted myself with special zeal to the study of the Latin grammar and prosody.
-- Georg Ebers, The Story of My Life from Childhood to Manhood

This little chrestomathy preserves almost the only words of Atticus to have survived from antiquity.
-- Peter White, Cicero in Letters

Chrestomathy literally means "useful to learn" in Greek, from the roots chres- meaning "to use" and math- meaning "to learn." 

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com