Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Children’s Classics: Rainbow Series

This series of children’s classics was designed by Kate Forrester, and first released in late 2011. It is fondly known as the ‘Rainbow’ classics series. All the silhouette designs are printed directly onto playful (bonded) leather hues, and feature embossed foil finishes, pretty end papers and silver edged pages. The book are unabridged, and illustrated throughout with color reproductions of the illustrations that accompanied the book’s historical first printing. Most of these illustrations are drawn from the period known as the ‘golden age’ of illustration and are really delightful.

The books in this series are no longer in print and are relatively uncommon, but they are a fun and achievable challenge to chase down if you’re interested in building a set. Completist collectors should note that a couple of the volumes have slightly different colored cover designs depending on which printing they are, as noted below (as a general rule of thumb, the earlier printings have less gilt, and feature the title in a contrasting spot of color, while later printings do not have the spot highlight).

The books in this series were also later reprinted with different cover designs (the B&N Illustrated Children’s Classics series), and the number of available volumes was expanded . If you are looking for the other collections, check out the Guide to collecting Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions.