Harper Muse Painted Classics

About the series

This is a limited edition collection of classic literature published by Harper Muse. Each hardback book features wraparound artwork painted by artist Laci Fowler on glossy, sculptured boards, with an interior treatment that includes full page decorative pull quotes. The books also come with a matching ribbon marker and gold sprayed page edges. 

The series was originally marketed as the “pretty books” series but that was later changed to the more helpful “painted editions” moniker. As you will see in the video review, I think the books look and feel lovely, but I did have a small issue with the out-of-order placement of the quotes in some of the books.

From the look of the design, I would hazard a guess that this series was inspired by the success of the Seasons Classics, which also reproduce the classics with a distinctive cover design and have similar pull-out quotes throughout the text.

How many books in the Painted Editions series?

They first released 12 hardcover books in total across three ‘series' as outlined below. Four titles were released in paperback with sprayed page edges in 2025, and a new series of four new titles was also announced.

Cover Artist Laci Fowler

It's nice to see the cover artist getting love and appreciation from the publisher – so often we are drawn to books because of their cover designs yet the details of the artists are often hidden in tiny print on copyright pages. Laci Fowler, a painter based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the artist behind the primarily landscape focussed covers for this series (check out her website and Instagram for more).