Most Beautiful Classic Books of 2025 – A Holiday Gift Guide
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I’ve been doing “Most Beautiful Books of the Year” annual holiday gift guides for eight years now, and until now they’ve always been one giant, sprawling monster of a post. Which is fun, but… can be a lot. So for this ninth annual edition, I’m changing things up and sharing my favourites in separate genre round-ups instead. I hope this makes things more manageable for both of us (feedback always welcomed)!
My picks for the nicest classics editions of 2025 are listed below – most of these are from series that put out new titles each year, and it’s always nice to keep an eye on what’s out there. And any book with a star (★) next to it is also visually reviewed in the video.
Bookshop links are included below if you are interested in buying any of the books for yourself. Some of the links are affiliate links (and thank you if you use them!) but please do support your local bookstore as a priority if you can. If you're new here, and you'd like more regular recommendations, you might also like to check out my regularly updated lists of special editions, pre-order offers, and/or subscribe to my very occasional newsletter.
Let's look at some classics!
Video Overview
Classics
Standalones
The Great Gatsby: Cook the Book - F. Scott Fitzgerald & James LW West
A mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby tries to rekindle a past romance with the married Daisy Buchanan, but his pursuit of the American Dream ends in betrayal, disillusionment, and tragedy.
Fascinating annotations are presented in the margins of the text of this 100th anniversary edition, exploring narrative themes, inspiration from Fitzgerald's own life, and richly illustrated with crisp photographs and period images.
➤ Buy from Amazon | B&N | Waterstones
The Annotated Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald & James LW West
A mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby tries to rekindle a past romance with the married Daisy Buchanan, but his pursuit of the American Dream ends in betrayal, disillusionment, and tragedy.
Fascinating annotations are presented in the margins of the text of this 100th anniversary edition, exploring narrative themes, inspiration from Fitzgerald's own life, and richly illustrated with crisp photographs and period images.
➤ Buy from Amazon | B&N | Waterstones
The Divine Comedy – Dante, illustrated by Roberto Abbiati, translated by Charles S Singleton
Dante journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, guided first by Virgil and then Beatrice, to confront sin, seek purification, and behold the divine.
This edition includes an introduction by Simone Marchesi, a glossary, and stunning illustrations by acclaimed artist Roberto Abbiati.
➤ Buy from Amazon | B&N | Waterstones
Series Titles
★ Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics
Barnes & Noble are renowned for their long-running leatherbound collectible classics series. This year's most popular titles included Stranger Things, Eragon, The Song of Achilles, and Children of Blood and Bone.
☞ See the Barnes & Noble Collectible Classics page for a complete list of their titles over the years, including 2025.
★ Chiltern Classics - Various Authors
Chiltern Classics are based on the style of beautiful vintage classic novels, and are small format volumes with heavyweight paper and gorgeous tactile cover designs (that photos never do justice). My favourite designs from this year include Heidi, The Odyssey and Rumi's Selected Poems.
☞See the Chiltern Classics page for a complete list of titles, including 2025.
★ Vintage Collector's Classics - Various Authors
“Deluxe gift editions of beloved novels.”
Collector's Classics. UK hardbacks, with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon.
☞ Read more about this series here
➤ See the Vintage Collector's Classics page for a complete list of titles, including 2025.
Penguin Clothbound
Penguin (2025)
All the books in the series have distinctive covers featuring a repeating pattern made from a motif from the story stamped in foil onto a linen-like cloth cover.
This year's titles include My Brilliant Career – Miles Franklin; The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux; Four Tragedies – William Shakespeare; Dubliners – James Joyce; The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe; My Family and Other Animals – Gerald Durrell; The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoyevsky; The Spy Who Came Out from the Cold – John le Carré; Sanshiro – Natsume Sōseki; and a Waterstones exclusive edition of The Complete Jane Austen.
☞ See the Penguin Clothbound Classics page for a complete list of their titles over the years, including 2025.
★ Puffin Clothbound
Penguin (2025)
Puffin Clothbound Classics series. UK clothbound hardbacks with gilt covers.
☞ Read more about the Puffin Clothbound Classics series
➤ Buy Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy Kiki's Delivery Service – Eiko Kadono from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy The Call of the Wild -Jack London from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
➤ Buy The Tale of the Nutcracker – Alexandre Dumas from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells
★ Puffin Clothbound - 85th Anniversary
To celebrate Puffin's 85th anniversary, they released a special selection of modern children's classics this year. Each title is bound in a vibrant yellow cloth with foiled accents and sprayed page edges, and have a newly commissioned foreword as well.
☞ Read more about the Puffin Clothbound Classics series
➤ Buy Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks – Katie Kirby from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy Matilda – Roald Dahl from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy Pig-Heart Boy – Malorie Blackman from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy The Story of Tracy Beaker – Jacqueline Wilson from Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Buy Wonder – R.J. Palacio from Amazon | Waterstones
Penguin Vitae Series - Various Authors
Penguin Vitae Series. UK hardbacks with foil stamped covers, illustrated endpapers, and distinctive sideways typographic cover designs.
☞ Read more about titles in the Penguin Vitae series
➤ Buy Whale Rider – Witi Ihimaera from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
➤ Buy A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
➤ Buy The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
➤ Buy A Room of One's Own – Viriginia Woolf from Amazon | B&N | Blackwells
Modern Cranford Classics
Timeless Classics/Modern Cranford Collection. Glued hardbacks with pretty textured paper covers based on golden age classic designs.
☞ Read more about titles in the Modern Cranford series.
Popular new titles this year include:
➤ Find The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald at at Abes | eBay
➤ Find 1984 – George Orwell at at Abes | eBay
➤ Find Frankenstein – Mary Shelley at at BAM | Abes | eBay
➤ Find Dracula – Bram Stoker at at BAM | Abes | eBay
➤ Find The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux at at BAM | Abes | eBay
★ Arcturus Epic Classics
A series of gift quality hardback editions of classic stories that feauture strikingly designed sprayed page edges, gilded cover designs, decorative endpapers, and artwork by acclaimed golden age illustrators.
☞ Read more about titles in the Epic Classics series.
Popular new titles this year include:
➤ Find Grimm's Fairy Tales at Amazon | Barnes & Noble || UK: Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Find The Canterbury Tales at at Amazon | Barnes & Noble || UK: Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Find Audubon's Birds of America at at Amazon | Barnes & Noble || UK: Amazon | Waterstones
➤ Find Charles Dickens' Christmas Stories at at Amazon | Barnes & Noble || UK: Amazon | Waterstones
Austen Anniversary
I have a much longer special collector's guide for Pride and Prejudice editions that I recommend you read if you love Jane Austen, but I've highlighted a few titles here as well.
★ Pride and Prejudice - British Library Deluxe
British Library (2025) 9780712355735 (UK); Rizzoli Electa (2025). 9780847875917 (US). 3 volumes.
A facsimile of the 3-volume first edition from 1813, published in association with the British Library to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.
The books have marbled endpapers, deckled paged edges, and are contained in a clamshell case along with reproductions of handwritten letters, documents, and other ephemera from Austen’s archive and personal effects, as well as a booklet containing an expert introduction by the collection’s head curator.
➤ Find UK edition at Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
➤ Find US edition at Amazon | B&N | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
★ Pride and Prejudice - Barbara Heller Collector's Edition
Andrews McMeel (2025). 9781797232294. 2 volumes.
Includes removable replicas of 19 of the characters' letters from the book, plus additional mementos includings the Darcys' marriage certificate and an invitation to the ball at Netherfield.
☞ Part of the Barbara Heller Correspondence series
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
Sanditon: Lady Susan, The Watsons and the Complete Juvenilia - illustrated by Marjolein Bastin
Austen's unfinished novels: in Lady Susan, a seductive widow schemes through lovers and alliances until her manipulations backfire; In The Watsons, Emma returns to her poor family and faces harsh marriage-market realities; and the outline for Sanditon observes romance, ambition, and speculation in a fledgling seaside resort.
The books is decorated throughout with Bastin's delicate watercolour flowers and garden animals, with removable ephemera items including letters, a newspaper excerpt and a family tree.
➤ Find it at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
☞ See the Marjolein Bastin Classics page for more in this series.
Jane Austen - Word Cloud Classics
Canterbury Classics (2025).
This elegant, colorful flexibound set includes Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. Specially designed spines and images painted on the page edges both form delightful scenes across the set whichever way you display them.
➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells | Abes | eBay
The Cambridge Jane Austen Set
“Prefaces and explanatory endnotes supplied by Janet Todd illuminate the cultural, historical and literary context, bringing Jane Austen's world to life.”
University of Cambridge. UK hardbacks, released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth. The set includes illustrations drawn by Austen's sister Cassandra to accompany her childhood piece ‘The History of England', as well as Austen's poems, unfinished novels and a selection of letters in which she offers advice on writing fiction. .
➤ Buy boxed set from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells (individual volumes also sold separately)
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