Penguin Clothbound Classics | An Illustrated Bibliography
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Penguin Clothbound Classics: Collector's Guide and FAQ
What is the Penguin Clothbound Classics Series?
The first ‘official’ books in the Penguin Clothbound Classics books were released in 2008 by Penguin UK (more about this below) and were initially only offered through the UK-based bookstore Waterstones. These ten earliest editions can be identified by numbers on the spines. All the books in the series have distinctive covers with each being designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, and featuring a repeating pattern made from a motif from the story stamped in foil onto a linen-like cloth cover. Coralie has said her intent in designing the series was ‘to hark back to the world of Victorian bindings and a golden age of book binding’. The books also feature coloured endpapers and an integrated ribbon bookmark.

How many books are in the series?
This is an ongoing series, so the book count changes every year. As of 2022, there are around 93 volumes in the series, with 3 more expected next year. I can’t give an exact number, because there is some disagreement amongst collectors on whether you count the India Special Editions (which were published by Penguin India and match the series design in most respects, but they do not have the ribbon bookmark and were not designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith); the faux leather-bound classics which have similar cover designs and overlapping titles, but are bound in a different material; the boxed sets; the clothbound poetry series; the clothbound children’s classics; the pocket philosophy classics; the original ‘precursor’ clothbound classics and other out-of-series volumes published in the early years; and/or the reprints with different cover colours. (There is even some debate over the inclusion of The Pearl, as this was a separate commission by V&A, but it was produced in the same design as the rest of the series and I tend to think it counts.)
Complementary series include the Leatherbound Classics, Clothbound Children’s Classics, Clothbound Poetry, Penguin Pocket (Philosophy) Hardbacks, and the new “Little” Clothbound Classics series featuring short stories and novellas.
Are there any rare volumes?
Yes! The rarest volume is the first printing of Crime and Punishment, one of the first 10 titles released in 2008. The red foiled design on fawn covers for this initial print run caused problems at the printing press, and so it ended up having to be hand-foiled. Because of this, there was only a limited print run of this volume and it is the rarest volume in the series. The title was later reprinted in 2018 with a black linen binding (which is not a rare edition). The 2008 edition of Madame Bovary also went out of print and a newer edition was reprinted in 2014. Several of the India Special Editions are currently out of print, as are the Proust series. If you include the out-of-series volumes, the Tibetan Book of the Dead is also very hard to track down. In addition, some books were reprinted with slightly differing cloth covers (e.g. Great Expectations covers can look navy or blue-black), and the earliest printings on the first 10 books are differentiated by having numbers on the spines (as you can see in the image above) which later printings lack. Where possible, the relevant isbns for these rare editions are listed below to help you find them if you’re completing a collection.
Another rarity of interest to collectors is the ‘Clothbound Jane Austen’ bookend set, which was available at the Penguin shop for a while but are sadly now sold out.
These lovely pieces were handcrafted from a solid piece of Prime Grade English Oak in a Surrey Hills workshop, and engraved with the intricate flower design that features on the Sense and Sensibility volume.
How well are the books made? What is the binding like? Can you clean the covers?
The books in the Penguin Clothbound Classics series have lovely cloth covers, which have a nice linen-like texture, but the foiling/printing on the cover is a little fragile and will likely rub off if you have them tightly stacked in the shelf. Unfortunately, the internals are not particularly high quality (they use Forest Stewardship Council-approved paper, but earlier volumes were not acid-free so may brown over time) with a glued binding. I would estimate with the most careful of handling, the glue will probably last for about 40 years at the most. It is also worth noting that the covers can be hard to clean because the surface is textured cloth, and the cover design can come off if you are not careful.
Did Penguin change the printing process for the covers of this series?
In December 2021, Penguin trialled a new process of screen printing the design on the clothbound classics, with the first volume released in this style being The Little Prince. The indentation is lost with this new process, but the cover design is more durable.
Where are the books made? Are the US and UK editions different? What size are the books?
The books are “B format” hardbacks: 204mm x 132mm. The titles in my collection (UK first printings) were printed by Penguin UK in St Ives, England. The US editions (Penguin Random House) are sometimes printed / released later than the UK editions (I have given UK publication dates below), although they have the same ISBN and usually available during the same calendar year. Dye colours on the fabric can be slightly different between countries and printings. Also, the books are harder to find in the US, so even though they may be out of print there it is worth checking the UK for books that are on the verge of going out of print as they usually do a larger print run.
Is there a cheaper way to buy them? Are they available in boxed sets?
Prices of the books go up and down, but they are generally pretty affordable. There are a few boxed sets available for selected authors, namely Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Charles Dickens. I have included these below at the end of the book list.
Penguin Clothbound Classics - The Complete List
Jump to: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 (including the India Special Editions) | 2009 | 2008 | Out-of-Series | Boxed Sets
→ there are separate lists for Penguin’s complementary series, including the Leatherbound Classics | Clothbound Children’s Classics | Clothbound Poetry | Penguin Pocket (Philosophy) Hardbacks | Little Clothbound Classics
2023 (forthcoming)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
Notes: Anticipated Jan 5, 2023. ISBN 9780241552667.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Notes: Anticipated March 2, 2023. ISBN 9780241552674.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
2022 (4 titles)
Ulysses by James Joyce
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Notes: Published March 3, 2022. ISBN 9780241552643.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Notes: Published June 2, 2022. ISBN 9780241554401.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
2021 (7 titles + 1 companion)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Notes: Published January 7 2021. ISBN 9780241453513.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
Monkey King by Wu Cheng’en
Notes: Translated by Julia Lovell. Published 11 February 2021. ISBN 9780141393445.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Notes: Published December 2, 2021. ISBN 9780241508664.
The cover design for this book is the first to be screen printed – it loses the indentation, but the foiling is more durable.
The Aeneid by Virgil
Notes: Introduced by David West. Published November 30, 2021.
ISBN 9780141996332
*Delayed release from 2020 schedule, originally 9780141994222.
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Notes: Published November 21, 2021. ISBN 9780241468654.
*Delayed release from 2020 schedule.
*The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories edited by Jessica Harrison
Notes: Released October 7, 2021. ISBN 9780241455654.
* This book is slightly smaller than the usual volumes – similar in size to the poetry series.
2020 (2 titles)
Grimm Tales for Young and Old by Philip Pullman
Notes: Translated by George M Towles. Published October 1, 2020. ISBN 9780241472729.
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Notes: Introduced by Elaine Showalter. Published November 5, 2020. ISBN 9780241468647.
2019 (3 titles)
2018 (5 titles + 1 reprint)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Notes: Published September 6, 2018. ISBN 9780241347782.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (*reprint)
Notes: Translated by David McDuff. Published October 9, 2018. ISBN 9780241347683.
*Original edition published November 6, 2008.
2017 (1 title)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Notes: Published April 27, 2017. ISBN 9780241198773.
2016 (12 titles)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Notes: Translated by Andrea Ashworth. Published October 6, 2016. ISBN 9780241281901.
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Notes: Introduced by Sandra Gilbert. Published October 6, 2016. ISBN 9780241284643.
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Notes: Introduced by Barry Langford. Published October 6, 2016. ISBN 9780241284674.
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 1 by Marcel Proust
Notes: Translated by C. K. Scott. Published November 24, 2016. ISBN 9780241205921.
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 2 by Marcel Proust
Notes: Translated by C. K. Scott. Published November 24, 2016. ISBN 9780241205945.
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 3 by Marcel Proust
Notes: Translated by C. K. Scott. Published November 24, 2016. ISBN 9780241205969.
2015 (1 title)
The Travels by Marco Polo
Notes: Translated by Nigel Cliff. Published February 26, 2015. ISBN 9780141198774.
2014 (8 titles + 1 reprint)
Metamorphoses by Ovid
Notes: Translated by David Raeburn. Published April 3, 2104. ISBN 9780141394619.
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Notes: Published August 7, 2014. ISBN 9780141394688.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
The Iliad by Homer
Notes: Translated by E.V. Rieu and Peter Jones. Published November 6, 2014. ISBN 9780141394657.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (*reprint)
Notes: Published August 7, 2014. ISBN 9780141394671.
*First published November 6, 2008.
2013 (8 titles)
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
Notes: Introduced by John Carey. Published March 7, 2013. ISBN 9780141199542.
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Notes: Introduced for Andrew Delbanco. Published September 26, 2013. ISBN 9780141199603.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Notes: Translated by Nevill Coghill. Published September 26, 2013. ISBN 9780141393216.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Notes: Published October 3, 2013. Re-released December 1, 2020. ISBN 9780141393391.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Notes: Published October 31, 2013. ISBN 9780141199573.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Notes: Published November 28, 2013. ISBN 9780141393407.
→ Buy from Amazon | Book Depository
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Notes: Introduced by Richard Pevear. Published November 28, 2013. ISBN 9780141199610.
2012 (3 titles)
Jabberwocky and Other Nonsense by Lewis Carroll
Notes: Published September 6, 2012. ISBN 9780141195940.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Notes: Translated by Norman Denny. Published October 25, 2012. ISBN 9781846140495.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Notes: Translated by Robin Buss. Published November 29, 2012. ISBN 9780141392462.
2011 (8 titles)
2010 (7 titles, including the India Special Editions)
A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens
Notes: Published September 25, 2010. ISBN 9780141195858.
Inferno: The Divine Comedy I by Dante
Notes: Translated by Robin Kirkpatrick. Published September 25, 2010. ISBN 9780141195872.
The Qu’ran
Notes: Translated by Tarif Khalidi. Published September 2, 2010. ISBN 9780670084173. India Special Edition.
The Ramayana
Notes: Translated by Arshia Sattar Valmiki. Published September 2, 2010. ISBN 9780670084180. India Special Edition.
The Mahābhārata
Notes: Translated by John D. Smith. Published September 2, 2010. ISBN 9780670084159. India Special Edition.
→ OOP. Check availability at Amazon | Book Depository | Abes | eBay
The Bhagavad Gita
Notes: Translated by Juan Mascaro. Published September 2, 2010. ISBN 9780670084166. India Special Edition.
2009 (10 titles)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Notes: (Includes Good Wives). Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192413.
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Notes: Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192437.
The Odyssey by Homer
Notes: Introduced by Peter Jones. Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192444.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol
Notes: Illustrated by John Tenniel. Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192468.
Emma by Jane Austen
Notes: Introduced by Fiona Stafford. Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192475.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
Notes: Introduced by Doris Lessing. Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192482.
The Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint by William Shakespeare
Notes: Published October 1, 2009. ISBN 9780141192574.
2008 (10 titles)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Notes: Introduced by Tony Tanner. Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780141040349.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Notes: Introduced by Tony Tanner. Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780141040370.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Notes: Introduced by David Trotter. Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780141040363.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Notes: Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780141040318.
*Reprinted August 7, 2014.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Notes: Introduced by Patricia Ingham. Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780141442549.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Notes: Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780141040332.
*Reprinted January 1, 2021
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Notes: Translated by David McDuff. Published November 6, 2008. ISBN 9780140455687. OOP.
*Reprinted October 9, 2018 .
Out-of-series clothbound classics (6 titles)
Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
Notes: Translated by Tiina Nunnally. Published September 30, 2004. ISBN 9780713996418.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Notes: Translated by Gyurme Dorje. Published October 27, 2005. ISBN 9780713994148.
Penguin’s Poems for Life selected by Laura Barber
Notes: Published November 1, 2007. ISBN 9780713999617.
Penguin’s Poems for Love selected by Laura Barber
Notes: *Only quarter clothbound, so not really part of the series but included here as a companion to the Poems for Life. Published November 24, 2009. ISBN 9781846141690.
Tales from 1001 Nights: Aladdin, Ali Baba and other favourites
Notes: Translated by Malcolm and Ursula Lyons. Abridged. Published February 22, 2011. ISBN 9780141191652.
Penguin Poems for Weddings selected by Laura Barber
Notes: Published June 5, 2014. ISBN 9780141439457.
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Notes: Translated by Richard Pevear. Published October 5, 2006. ISBN 9780713999525.
Boxed Sets
The Bronte Sisters Box Set
Notes: Published November 22, 2016. ISBN 9780241248768.
*Reprinted Jan 2021
Proust Box Set
Notes: Published December 1, 2016. ISBN 9780241300695.