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Puffin Clothbound Classics

puffin clothbound classics

On this page: Introduction | List of Titles

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*Updated to include the new 2024 publications.

Penguin began publishing this series in late 2019, with decorative series bindings created by Penguin designers. The books in this series have been selected by Penguin’s editorial team to include classic children’s stories to inspire a lifelong love of reading – they focus particularly on English and American novels. To date, many of the titles include reprints of novels in the earlier ‘Puffin Hardback Children’s Classics’ series in a more deluxe binding.

The series features the full unabridged texts of each book as originally published, full cloth covers with generous gilt accents and bound-in satin ribbon bookmarks. (Unfortunately they still have glued bindings, but this does help make them more affordable.) 

Many of the books also include black and white illustrations from earlier editions, as well as thoughtful introductions from contemporary children’s authors. The cover designs are pretty (they include repeating motifs drawn from the story), and they present a delightful glittery and brightly colored rainbow of spines on the shelf, but do take care shelving them as the gilt is less robust than the cloth cover.

Because the books are produced by Penguin UK, newer titles are typically available from UK bookshops before they can be sourced from other countries. 

puffin clothbound classics 2019

Titles in the Series

2024

The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241663578, 12 Sep 2024. 50th Anniversary Edition.

“The original magical boarding school series.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241663554, 20 Jun 2024. 130th Anniversary Edition.

“Young Mowgli escapes the vicious jaws of the growling tiger Shere Khan and is adopted by Father Wolf.”” 

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241688250, 20 Jun 2024. 

Soaring over a sleepy London and through twinkling stars, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell lead Wendy, Michael, and John Darling on a brilliant adventure to Neverland, where pirates, mermaids, and the Lost Boys play.” 

➤ Buy from AmazonWaterstones | Blackwells

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241688243, 20 Jun 2024. 

Together, through love, heartache, and a ‘misplaced’ manuscript, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy learn that growing up and into the ‘little women’ society expects them to be is going to be much harder than they thought.” 

➤ Buy from AmazonWaterstones | Blackwells

Chinese Cinderella - Adeline Yen Mah

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241688236, 20 Jun 2024. 25th Anniversary Edition.

When her mother dies shortly after her birth, lonely Adeline is marked as ‘bad luck’ and treated as an outcast by her own family, shown kindness only by her grandfather and Aunt Baba who encourage her to follow her dreams.” 

➤ Buy from AmazonWaterstones | Blackwells

The Railway Children - E. Nesbit

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241688267, 20 Jun 2024. 

“Father is in trouble, and Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis have to leave their home in London and go into hiding in the countryside.” 

➤ Buy from AmazonWaterstones | Blackwells

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241663547, 5 Mar 2024. 175th Anniversary Edition.

“As David recounts his experiences from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, Dickens draws openly and revealingly on his own life.” 

➤ Buy from AmazonWaterstones | Blackwells

The Neverending Story - Michael Ende

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241663561, 5 Mar 2024. 45th Anniversary Edition.

“Bastian is nobody’s idea of a hero, least of all his own. Through the pages of an old book he discovers a mysterious magical world – a world of dragons, monsters, witches and giants. A world that is doomed unless a human can save it.

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

2023

Watership Down - Richard Adams, illustrated by David Parkins

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241655702, 26 Oct 2023.

“Sandleford Warren is in danger. Hazel’s younger brother Fiver is convinced that a great evil is about to befall the land, but no one will listen. So together Hazel and Fiver and a few other brave rabbits secretly leave behind the safety and strictures of the warren and hop tentatively out into a vast and strange world.” 

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales - retold by Naomi Lewis, illustrated by Jan Pienkowski

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241425145, 14 Sep 2023

“A delightful selection of stories from Hans Christian Andersen, translated by the eminent writer and critic, Naomi Lewis. All the best-known and most-loved stories are included – ‘Thumbelina’, ‘The Snow Queen’, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ etc, as well as the less familiar – ‘The Goblin at the Grocer’s’ and ‘Dance, Dolly, Dance’.

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Grimms' Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm, illustrated by George Cruikshank

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241621196, 14 Sep 2023.

“From classics such as ‘The Frog-Prince’ and ‘Hansel and Grettel’ to the delights of ‘Ashputtel’ or ‘Old Sultan’, all of these tales from the Brothers Grimm hold a timeless magic which has enthralled children for centuries.” 

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Stig of the Dump - Clive King, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241623909, 13 Apr 2023.

“Barney meets a boy wearing a rabbit skin and speaking in grunts in a cave. He names him Stig. Nobody believes Barney when he tells his family all about Stig, but they become great friends, learning each others ways and embarking on a series of unforgettable adventures.” 

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241623916, 23 Mar 2023

“It’s Midwinter’s Eve, the day before Will’s eleventh birthday. But there is an atmosphere of fear in the familiar countryside around him. This will be a birthday like no other. Will discovers that he has the power of the Old Ones, and that he must embark on a quest to vanquish the terrifyingly evil magic of the Dark.

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

2022

Charlotte's Web - E. B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 1 Sep 2022.

“Wilbur the pig’s life has already been saved by Fern, but when he is sold to her uncle, he realises his life is in even more danger. Enter Charlotte A. Cavatica, a beautiful large grey spider. Charlotte is determined to keep Wilbur from the chopping block, and comes up with an ingenious way to do just that.” 

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Tales of the Greek Heroes - Roger Lancelyn Green

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241425107, 1 Sep 2022

Discover the mysterious and exciting legends of the gods and heroes in Ancient Greece, from the adventures of Perseus, the labours of Heracles, the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts, to Odysseus and the Trojan wars.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, translated by T. V. F. Cuffe

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241444313, 17 Feb 2022 (delayed from 2020).

“The timeless, enchanting story of the little prince who lives on a tiny planet with three volcanoes and a haughty flower, which he must protect from the baobabs, the bad seeds.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Tales from Shakespeare - Charles and Mary Lamb

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241425114, 17 Feb 2022 (delayed from 2020).

Charles and Mary Lamb retell Shakespeare’s most famous stories, including Hamlet, Othello and As You Like It.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

2020

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241425121, 3 Sep 2020

“Gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein gives life to a being of his own creation, who is rejected by mankind.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241425138, 3 Sep 2020

“Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, where he learns the tragic tale of the intense passion between foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241411155, 3 Sep 2019

“Jonathan Harker travels to Castle Dracula to see the Transylvanian noble, only to have his beloved wife Meena and other lost souls fall under the spell of Count Dracula.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum, introduction by Cornelia Funke

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241411209, 3 Sep 2019

“Dorothy must follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City and find the wonderfully mysterious Wizard of Oz in order to get home to Kansas with her dog Toto”.

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, introduction by Anthony Horowitz

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241411193, 3 Sep 2019

One cold Christmas Eve, three ghosts take Ebenezer Scrooge on a scary journey to show him the error of his nasty ways.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell, introduction by Meg Rosoff

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241411148, 3 Sep 2019

Black Beauty is a handsome, sweet-tempered colt whose strong spirit is tested when he goes from a life of comfort and kindness to one of hard labour and cruelty.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Puffin Clothbound Classics, 9780241411162, 3 Sep 2019

“Orphaned Mary Lennox is sent from India to live in her uncle’s gloomy mansion on the wild English moors, where she finds a key to a secret garden.”

➤ Buy from Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

 See also the loveliest editions of The Secret Garden page

Beautiful Books