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The Penguin Classics Book

Henry Eliot (Editor)

4.50 · Rating details · 107 ratings · 18 reviews

The Penguin Classics Book is a reader's companion to the largest library of classic literature in the world.

Spanning 4,000 years from the legends of Ancient Mesopotamia to the poetry of the First World War, with Greek tragedies, Icelandic sagas, Japanese epics and much more in between, it encompasses 500 authors and 1,200 books, bringing these to life with lively descripti ...more

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Hardcover, 480 pages

Published November 1st 2018 by Particular Books

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The Penguin Classics Book by Henry Eliot

Guide to Modern World Literature by Martin Seymour-Smith

Guides to Literature

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Jan 30, 2019 Andrew rated it it was amazing

This is an impressive book for several reasons. The book is huge at nearly 460 pages of high quality heavy paper the binding is a cloth bound hard cover with sumptuously illustrated pages of classic Penguin books.

The book itself has a wealth of information in it - from the history of Penguin publishing to lesser know facts such as the explaining of the ISBN number system and how it breaks down in to individual packets of information about the book to the explanation of the original book cover c ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Eleanor rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hygge-tomes

I bought this for myself as a celebratory present after the US midterm elections, which doesn't make a lot of sense because it's not like I was singlehandedly responsible for the midterm results, but there you go. It's a handsome, heavy, clothbound compendium of (and companion to) the Penguin Classics imprint, beautifully illustrated with colour photographs throughout and including little essays and text boxes about the imprint's early days. E.V. Rieu (whose translation of The Odyssey was the fi ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 Sophie Crane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-libraries

For those who grew up with the distinctive colour-coded covers and elegant roundels of E. V. Rieu’s early Penguin Classics, Henry Eliot’s celebration of flightless bibliomania will evoke Proustian memories. Caesar's “The Conquest of Gaul “(L22, 1951, decked in imperial purple) will always be for me the crib smuggled into “Bolshie” Brown’s grim Latin lessons in Kirkcaldy High School; and the two volumes of “The Brothers Karamazov”* (L78/9, 1958), are impregnated with the whiff of Tilley lamp oil For those who grew up with the distinctive colour-coded covers and elegant roundels of E. V. Rieu’s early Penguin Classics, Henry Eliot’s celebration of flightless bibliomania will evoke Proustian memories. Caesar's “The Conquest of Gaul “(L22, 1951, decked in imperial purple) will always be for me the crib smuggled into “Bolshie” Brown’s grim Latin lessons in Kirkcaldy High School; and the two volumes of “The Brothers Karamazov”* (L78/9, 1958), are impregnated with the whiff of Tilley lamp oil spilled onto them during a family holiday in the Orkneys, camping out in the empty Longhope manse on Hoy.
* No, illiterate Spellchecker, I did not mean “Kalamazoo”.

Penguin Classics have undergone faster evolutionary changes than have the birds. The first volume, Rieu’s prose translation of Homer’s “Odyssey”, provided for those with no Greek an entry to “the classics” - highlights of Greek or Roman literature. Their scope quickly extended to all European languages, including the controversial Nevill Coghill translation of bawdy Chaucerian Middle English into 20th century Queen’s English. Before the roundels and colour coding were abandoned, the scope had already widened to include a few non-European classics (translated from Arabic, Sanskrit and Chinese).

Transformative change started in 1963 with Germano Facetti’s introduction of uniform black spines and photographed artworks on the covers. Then the category “classics” was reinterpreted to cover key works of the natural and social sciences as well as literature; and in all languages, not just translations. In principle, this made the series global, though the inclusion of English-language classics gave the series a numerical bias towards Anglo-Saxon attitudes. However, Eliot's arrangement of his guide to the entire series into chapters that group together works from specific historical periods and/or different geographical/cultural areas has the huge advantage of revealing the gaps which remain to be filled. The series now aspires to being a global library, with this book as its richly illustrated catalogue. By the time Penguin Books celebrate their centenary in 2035 we will be able to judge definitively whether this flightless bird has become our way to travel to all Earth's written cultures, turning the Tower of Babel into a 21st century wonder, the Library of Alexandria reborn.

The 2035 edition of this treasure-trove will be an even fatter Penguin, especially if it were also to cover those titles – not included here - which already enjoy the status of Penguin Modern Classics or Puffin Classics. ...more

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Jan 22, 2019 Robert rated it really liked it

Shelves: criticism, non-fiction

I first engaged with the Penguin Classics imprint in the second half of my teens when I started reading Thomas Hardy, as a result of an English lesson that used a passage from The Woodlanders, describing fallen leaves - thanks, Mr. Bray! (He was one of those teachers who was better the more enthusiasm or talent you displayed - no good for the recalcitrant or below average.) Anyway, I was delighted one day when I saw a flimsy paperback that turned out to be a catalogue for the series, including t I first engaged with the Penguin Classics imprint in the second half of my teens when I started reading Thomas Hardy, as a result of an English lesson that used a passage from The Woodlanders, describing fallen leaves - thanks, Mr. Bray! (He was one of those teachers who was better the more enthusiasm or talent you displayed - no good for the recalcitrant or below average.) Anyway, I was delighted one day when I saw a flimsy paperback that turned out to be a catalogue for the series, including the Modern Classics, too - being handed out for free! Of course I took one and used it for reading inspiration. I still have it, decades later!

Now, the imprint has a new print catalogue - a large format hardback of over 400p, with the Modern Classics to get their own separate volume - costing £30. The lsit has expanded an enormous amount since the '80s! Is it worth it? After all, a constantly updated listing is available online for free.

Well, for me the answer is a resounding, yes! This isn't simply a list of books in print. As well as short descriptions of each book, there are micro-biographies of the authors and sidebars about the history of Penguin Classics and biographies and anecdotes about editors and translators who have worked on the series. There's even a page explaining ISBNs and their origins. Did you know that the first three digits of a bar code are a geographical origin code? Since books are fundamentally international, they have their own code, known as "bookland" - which is why ISBN13s all start "978" or "979." I love that books have their own country!

The Penguin Classics remit is gigantic; the classics of world literature up to and including WWI - thousands of years. The book therefore stands as a guide to the world of books that are still considered important/great/interesting/entertaining after at least 100 years. It shows up some of the impacts of world history just by charting how much (or little) material came from where and when. The list has not been sniffy about genre, at least as far back as the '80s, by the way. It has changed constantly (not just growing) - books have gone out of print, been replaced with new translations, expanded, split up into multiple volumes, conflated into fewer volumes, so I expect this volume was out of date by the time it went on sale, but that in no way detracts from its value to me as a ready reference and source of inspiration. ...more

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Jul 11, 2019 Emma rated it it was amazing

Absolutely loved this one. I highly recommend it to classic book lovers.

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Jan 07, 2019 Louise Bentley rated it it was amazing

Like a massive catalogue of amazing 📚

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Dec 24, 2020 Neil rated it really liked it

As a book lover and a collection development librarian, I found it fun and useful to browse through this and make notes about classics that might have fallen out of my library's collection. While there could be a lot more depth (and more information about some of the best titles), this is a real testament to the breadth of work covered by Penguin Classics over the years. Fans of cover art will also find this intriguing. ...more

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Apr 05, 2019 John Isles rated it it was amazing

I grew up with Penguin Classics, especially the Greek and Latin ones, but the series and its offshoots has grown to include all the world's great literature. Here we have a complete listing of every one of the volumes, with a description of each and a reproduction of at least one version of its cover, accompanied by frequent amusing anecdotes, and attractively hardbound. Well done! ...more

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Dec 28, 2018 Graham Smith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, notes-commentaries, 2019

So far I've only had chance to read a few pages of this amazing book. I've flipped through a few pages detailing my favourite books and authors, but wow already a 5*+ book in my eyes. Love it! ...more

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Feb 17, 2020 John rated it it was amazing

Books about books is one of my favorite genres. And this is a master class. The quote on the book says it all.

“There are a good many books, are there not, my boy?” said Mr. Brownlow, observing the curiosity with which Oliver surveyed the shelves that reached from the floor to the ceiling.

“A great number, sir,” replied Oliver; “I never saw so many.”

“You shall read them if you behave well,” said the old gentleman kindly; “and you will like that, better than looking at the outsides, - that is, in s ...more

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Dec 27, 2019 William rated it really liked it

Penguin classics represent the flower of British studies. This book catalogues the immense treasury of titles in the series. A must for book lovers.

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Apr 15, 2019 Shallowreader VaVeros rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-art, bookaholic, cover-art, non-fiction, objects, publishers, writers, authors

Great read. Interesting that Australasia merits only one page despite the considerable influence of Richard Lane.

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Apr 19, 2020 Laila Bvlgari rated it really liked it

The Penguin Classics is the best book for those who are new into learning English and looking for easy uncomplicated English Reading Challenge .

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Aug 29, 2020 L A rated it it was amazing

It's a book about books and it is AMAZING ...more

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Apr 19, 2020 Laila Bvlgari rated it really liked it

The Penguin Classics is the best book for those who are new into learning English and looking for easy uncomplicated English Reading Challenge .

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Jan 13, 2020 Antara rated it it was amazing

I am a most ardent lover of classics ;)
And so, this book was like opening a treasure chest and picking gems from all corners of the globe - I will be revisiting this miscellany often.

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Apr 20, 2019 Fkupfer Kupfer rated it it was amazing

Simply wonderful.

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Aug 04, 2020 Amanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, books-about-books, adult, classics

"This book is intended as a reader’s companion to the best books ever written. It is a book of suggestions and recommendations, drawing connections across the history of world literature, which will hopefully reacquaint you with old friends, introduce you to new titles, and suggest ways to map your future reading. It is also a celebration of an abiding series of books, which began more than seventy years ago and has grown incrementally and idiosyncratically ever since."

This book is pretty amazin ...more

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