/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20915044]

Were penguin classics ever good?

[Anonymous No.20915300]

Breaks my art they took over Random house

[Anonymous No.20915303]

>>20915044
Yes

[Anonymous No.20915315]

>>20915044
Yes. And something about that black cover is iconic.

[Anonymous No.20915316]

>>20915044
yes

[Anonymous No.20916273]

>>20915044
some are, most aren't.

[Anonymous No.20916285]

I only buy for English literature that I want to read but meh about it (esp. stuff I pick up in second hand/thrift). Anything translated or something I actually care about I go elsewhere.

[Anonymous No.20916293]

>>20915044
They're solid quality for cheap, glued paperbacks. Easy to handle and relatively durable. They wouldn't be my first choice for books you care about passing down to your kids or someone else, but they're good for what you can get at that price.
Except for my copy of Paradise Lost that has an awkward spine crease. I don't remember if I did that or someone else did, but it irks me either way.

[Anonymous No.20916335]

>>20915044
Yeah, they were great.

[Anonymous No.20916371]

>>20916335
You can give them shit if you like, but we'd be nowhere without them.

[Anonymous No.20916616]

>>20915044
>nothing aligns
I hate them.

[Anonymous No.20916647]

>>20915044
They translate things for cheap and that's why they are good

[Anonymous No.20916813]

>>20915044
Yes, but only before they CHANGED THE FUCKING COVER TO SHIT

[Anonymous No.20917210]

>>20916293
It still chaps me that my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo disintegrated before I even finished it.

[Anonymous No.20917387]

>Capital Volume 1
>Capital Volume II
>Capital: Volume III
KEEP IT CONSISTENT YOU MOTHERFUCKERS

[Anonymous No.20917401]

>>20915044
They're middle of the road, not academic editions but higher than budget publishers like Dover or Wordsworth. The quality of editing and translating (if applicable) is extremely variable because it's such a broad series. Look up the editor and date of publication, those are a much better indicator of what you'll get than the publishing house.

[Anonymous No.20917431]

>>20917401
Yeah it really varies. I have no issue buying them if it's a good edition of a book. The covers are hit and miss too

[Anonymous No.20918358]

Penguin has the best covers.

[Anonymous No.20918445]

>>20915044
Was*

The state of this fucking board.

[Anonymous No.20918464]

>>20918358
pure aesthetic kino

[Anonymous No.20919152]

If the writing is good then a publisher can't fuck up much. They've done some questionable translations though.

[Anonymous No.20919909]

>>20915044
Medium quality, but they have a huge range of classics. I have hundreds of them, and keep two box sets of thin novellas/excerpts (Little Black Classics and Modern Classics) near my bed for great before-bed reading variety.

[Anonymous No.20919924]

>>20919909
Here they both are.

[Anonymous No.20920397]

>>20919924
My inner Asspie is triggered by the cover logo not lining up.

[Anonymous No.20920436]

>>20915044
I do like those particular Penguins and they often have some neat covers. I have very few of them but I really like the old Jane Eyre one with Charlotte Bronte on the cover. Those basic paperbacks with a bit of class in simplicity are cool. Now they have the "Penguin English Library" series and those are quite tragic. Even the Vintage red back ones are barely agreeable.

[Anonymous No.20920654]

>>20917387
lol i'd also triggered by that

[Anonymous No.20920811]

>>20915044
Yes they are pretty good quality imo

[Anonymous No.20921836]

>>20919924
What is that called? I would love to get a collection like that.

[Anonymous No.20921923]

>>20915044
the actual body of text is very good. well researched and comprehensive introductions and notes, usually good translations, and when they do anthologies they usually have some of the better selections. usually fairly tasteful choice of cover art although i dont always like the newer ones for some reason. The physical printing quality is horrible though, the paperbacks are cheaply made and crease and break horribly after just one read, especially compared to something like Oxford publishing. with thicker volumes that have seen some wear and tear sometimes even pages can start detaching (ive had this happen to my volume of Ovid i read over the summer) Their fancier clothbound volumes look garish and the patterns wear off very quickly.

[Anonymous No.20922052]

>spoilers in the introduction
>spoilers in the second introduction
>spoilers in the note on the text
>spoilers in the endnotes
Hate these guys . I bought a Wordsworth Classics of Middlemarchs and it was just the book, plus a couple of endnotes for unfamiliar terms

[Anonymous No.20922060]

>>20921923
>the paperbacks are cheaply made and crease and break horribly after just one read,
My theory is they’re made to do this so they look well-thumbed on a bookshelf

[Anonymous No.20922118]

>>20915044
>introduction
>second introduction
>foreword
>second foreword
>biographical note
>third foreword
>glossary
>table of contents
>preface
>second preface

[Anonymous No.20922177]

>>20921836
The big set is Little Back Classics, and it's actually an absurdly low price on amazon right now:
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Black-Classics-Box-Penguin/dp/0141398876
The smaller box are the Modern Classics:
https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Modern-Box-Set-HB/dp/0241421349

[Anonymous No.20922228]

>>20922052
you read introductions? i don't.

[Anonymous No.20922339]

>>20922177
Thank you

[Anonymous No.20922506]

>>20922052
Forgot to mention the fucking blurb. Have to deliberately avoid this mf, and the quote at the top. I nearly accidentally look at it every time I pick the thing up

[Anonymous No.20922517]

>>20916293
>pasing down to your kids
>your kids
Anon, where do you think you are?

[Anonymous No.20922559]

>>20916335


If only editors and professors were still picking literature like this

[Anonymous No.20922618]

>>20922559
It'd be quite boring if they were (editors particularly). I'm certain these are all still in print from a number of different publishers. Although this obviously brings up the bind that "classics" publishers are in. Do they: (1) stop publishing books after printing the established classics; (2) start mining non-Western canons for their established classics; (3) start mining the Western canon for minor and unknown books; (4) make tentative steps into establishing new classics?

Penguin seem to be doing all four with their Classics list. Doing any one of them is guaranteed to piss off somebody.

[Anonymous No.20922910]

>>20922052
>Wordsworth Classics
I have Mayor of Casterbridge and The Professor (Charlotte Bronte) from Wordsworth.
Mayor of Casterbridge has a two page long introduction, an "extract of the author's preface" and a map. The cover is quite beautiful in my opinion.
The Professor has a two page introduction and a mediocre cover that doesn't really fit the actual narrative of the book.

I did notice more mistakes in the actual text than in most other editions though I'm not entirely sure whether or not they just leave original scripture mistakes unchanged.

[https://boards.4channel.org/o/ No.20923143]

>>20916371
looks comfy

[Anonymous No.20923308]

>>20915044
No.
I asked them myself and they said no.