How long has the series been going?

Barnes and Noble brought out their original series of collectible ‘exclusive’ leather-bound classic editions in 1992. The contents were mostly omnibus editions (with several titles by the same author in a single book) and the bindings were very traditional, with dark (bonded) leather covers featuring plain gold text and simple foiled borders, along with raised bands on the spine, gilt page edges, decorative endpapers, and a sewn-in ribbon bookmark. In 2005, they released a highly decorative edition of The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll and its popularity sparked the beginning of the ‘Collectible Classics’ as the series is better known today. Visit this page on the Barnes & Noble website to see everything they currently have available in the series.

Are the books covered in ‘real’ leather?

The majority of the books in the collectible classics series are covered in ‘bonded’ leather. This is basically a mix of both real leather (leftover scraps and fibres from processing genuine leather) and fake leather (typically a polyurethane binder), rolled together using an adhesive glue and bonded onto a paper backing. In some cases, a second coating of polyurethane can be added and embossed to create a texture closer to real leather. Basically bonded leather is to leather what chipboard is to wood. So yes, most B&N book covers are comprised of about 20% real leather. The Flexibound Editions, on the other hand, are pretty much completely faux leather.

What’s the quality like?

Okay, this is a difficult question. For the price, I think they are amazing. Do they compare in quality to publishers selling fine press leatherbound editions? Of course not. They are definitely very decorative shelf candy with their gorgeous cover designs and bright colored covers, and I personally think that anything that makes people more likely to pick up and read a classic novel is a great thing. Most of the books have decorative head and tail bands, gilt or stained page edges, bound-in silk ribbon bookmarks, and decorative hubs on the spine. They are all relatively durable hardbacks except for the Flexibound Editions (and even these are way more durable than your average paperback). The proof is in the bookshelf, and I have a large number of B&N collectible classics in my own shelves, holding their own against my much more expensive Folio Society and Easton Press books. 

But I do have a few caveats. Internally, I’d classify them as on par with a decent book club edition – they are hybrid bound, with most having sewn signatures glued into the spine, which means they will lay flat, but the glue doesn’t last for a long time. The translations used for foreign language classics are older ones that are in the public domain, and there are often newer ones available that are easier to read (if translation is important to you, I recommend the Penguin Classics, which additionally also have great notes). And some of the volumes have also had really disappointing errors in the text that are often fixed up in later printings, but that’s not much use if you have an earlier edition (where I am aware of these issues, I have noted the details below). The illustrations are often scanned from reprints, not originals, so they are not as sharp as they could be. And although they look gorgeous, I personally am not a huge fan of the massive omnibus editions because they are really quite unwieldy to read when they get above 600 pages or so. (I made an exception for that very pretty 2018 Alice omnibus though. I am a big Alice fan if you’d like to see my collection. Please don’t judge me…)

Are some of the books the same just with different covers?

Yes, the books in this series are often re-released with the same internal content and a different binding – many of the titles from the Illustrated Children’s Classics collection, for example, have the same content as the now out-of-print Rainbow Classics collection, but have different cover design. The Signature Editions collection were produced as hardbacks between 2011-2012, and then re-released using almost the same cover designs a few years later but with flexibound covers instead. It works the other way as well – The Arabian Nights was released in 2009 with one set of illustrations, then again in 2016 with different illustrations, but the cover design is almost identical (if you look closely, you can see that some tiny Arabic symbols on the corner of the front cover were replaced with decorative elements for the later edition). For books published before about 2005, several volumes were re-released several times with different covers but using the same ISBN number (if you check the original series page with more details about this collection, I have all the different covers there). Later volumes have unique ISBNs associated with different publication dates. For online listings, people sometimes get confused between the text copyright date and the B&N publication date – the later date is the correct one.

Do they keep their value?

Actually, since the books are really reasonably priced to begin with, and they are relatively robust, B&N collectible classics are one of those rare series where they actually do mostly keep their value. (That said, I wouldn’t suggest collecting this series with visions of making your fortune as a reseller down the line. They are printed in high numbers and most titles are readily available.)

Which books are worth the most?

The volumes that are the most valuable at the moment are primarily children’s books that hold emotional value and for some reason have been out of print for some time (although there is no guarantee they won’t suddenly come back into print since the contents are out of copyright and B&N presumably own the cover designs). The most coveted out-of-print volumes at the moment are probably Audubon’s Birds of America (with its stunning bird paintings) and The Chronicles of Narnia (which has a particularly lovely cover and includes the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes) followed by Little House: The First Five Novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Emerald City of Oz omnibus is also relatively expensive at the moment, but with a new cover design for the first five novels (and no commitment to printing the final five in the older design), I’m not sure if this will remain high. The Signature Editions are also relatively expensive on the second-hand market, because the leather binding material on these is nicer than the flexibound editions that replaced them.

What are the different collections within this series?

B&N often put different sets of books in different parts of their stores, and previously they have marketed sub-series through other booksellers using different identifiers. Mostly, you can identify these loose collections by their different sizes and binding designs. I have begun creating separate pages with more detailed information about these sub-series if you’re a really keen collector (or just irredeemably curious), so if you’re interested, you can check out pages specifically dedicated the original series, the Signature Editions, the Pocket Classics, the Rainbow Children’s Classics Series, the illustrated children’s classics, and the deluxe children’s treasuries. If you’re a keen collector, I’d really love to know what your favorite volumes are! (And also if this list is at all helpful – I couldn’t find the information collated anywhere else on the web which is why I decided to build this page in the first place…)

How many books in the series?

There are a couple of hundred volumes in the complete series. I am hesitant to be more specific, because as noted above many titles have been reprinted several times with the only difference being cover designs, others have been reprinted with the same cover design but different contents, a couple of titles were included in the series on the B&N website but are made of different materials and really don’t seem to fit – it’s all a bit of a mess really. But I do have every single title listed below, so you can decide which ones you think are ‘in’ and which are ‘out’ as you build your own collection. 

But now, on to the list. It’s a monster, because I wanted it to be exhaustive and complete. Hope it helps!