Signature Gilded Editions: Illustrated List

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Signature Gilded Edition Classics

On this page: About the series | Complete List of Titles

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About the Signature Gilded Editions

This new series of classics is published by Union Square & Co (formerly known as Sterling Publishing). The books feature gold sprayed page edges, color endpapers, a built-in ribbon bookmark, and foiled cover designs that also feature delicate embossing. The floral cover designs have been drawn from the Victorian ‘language of flowers’ as inspired by the themes of the text.

Click on images for closeup examples of the embossed cover, gilded edges and ribbon bookmark.

The books are on the smallish side (7″ x 4.85″ – think pocket book), reflecting the size and format of the original books when they were printed in Victorian times. I would say they are the American equivalent of the pretty Chiltern Classics series that I have also reviewed on this site – with slightly less ‘busy’ cover designs, and more US authors – and they are about the same size as the Chilterns, if you want to mix and match editions.

There are a few different cover designers, noted below where possible, with the interior design of the volumes by Rich Hazelton and Kevin Ulrich. Several of the texts include a disclaimer that they ‘represent the attitudes’ of their time, suggesting they present the original text (I haven’t checked them all yet). Most of the books appear to be printed in India.

Complete List of Signature Gilded Editions

Jump to release year: 2024 | 2023

2024 releases

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454952893. Cover illustration by Em Cunningham.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein never considers the consequences of his obsession as he labors to create a new race of intelligent beings.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454952879. Cover illustration by Kendar Huspaska, design by Igor Satanovsky.

As fledgling English lawyer Jonathan Harker treks into the Carpathian Mountains to complete a real estate transaction, frightened peasants warn him of horrible dangers that await him.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N | Waterstones | Blackwells

Aesop's Fables by Aesop

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957621.

For nearly three thousand years, the fables of Aesop have amused people of all ages as they provide common-sense lessons in the conduct of everyday life.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

Grimm's Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957638.

This edition brings together the best-known fairy and folk tales set down by the Brothers Grimm, including “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Frog-Prince,” and “Rumpelstiltskin”.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957645.

In writing his Narrative, Frederick Douglass, a fugitive slave, revealed his slave name, the names of his masters and overseers, and the locations of his servitude. This volume also includes eleven selected essays and speeches.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

Walden and Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957669.

Henry David Thoreau reflects on life, politics, and society in these two inspiring masterworks.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

The Art of War Sun Tzu

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957263. Translated by Lionel Giles.

More than 2,000 years old, this classic of Chinese philosophy lays out a systematic, rational approach to tactics and strategy that leaders worldwide have applied not only to the military, but also to business, law, martial arts, and sports. Includes Giles’s extensive annotations and commentary on Sun Tzu’s aphorisms and proverbs.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957287.

Stevenson’s classic tale of the duality of human nature and his iconic presentation of what would come to be referred to as the “split personality.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

The Odyssey by Homer

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957652.

Ten years have passed since the fall of Troy. The surviving Greek warriors who destroyed that city have returned home. All except Odysseus, whose wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, await him.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

Meditations Marcus Aurelius

Released Sep 1, 2024. 9781454957270.

A compendium of ruminations and reflections by the second-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, a staunch adherent to the Stoic philosophy.

➤ Find it at Amazon | B&N

2023 releases

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952923. Cover design by Grace Kim.

Follows the lives of the March sisters, four young women growing up in Civil War–era America.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952909. Cover design by Jenna Madden.

Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, New York, it tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy, mysterious, and complex man driven by an obsession with his past, and Daisy Buchanan, a married woman he loved in his youth.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952916. Cover design by Erin Burke.

A coming-of-age novel about a young woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood and falls in love.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952961. Cover design by Kana Wakai.

Wuthering Heights follows the story of two generations of the Earnshaw family in Yorkshire, England and is considered a classic exploration of revenge and forgiveness.

Emma by Jane Austen

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952886. Cover design by Erin Burke.

Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse delights in interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée, Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952930. Cover design by Erin Burke.

Eight years ago, Anne Elliot followed the advice of Lady Russell, her only true friend, and broke off her engagement to the dashing young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. When Anne and the now wealthy Captain Wentworth cross paths years later, it is clear that he has neither forgotten—nor forgiven—their past.

Sense and Sensibilty by Jane Austen

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952954. Cover design by Taylar Piers

Explores themes of passion, propriety, and social conventions through the experiences of the Dashwood sisters.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

First released Dec 19, 2023. 9781454952947. Cover design by Erin Burke.

The story is set in late nineteenth-century London and follows the life of Dorian Gray, a young man enthralled with himself. Wilde’s first and only novel delivers a scathing critique of Victorian society’s superficial judgments and hypocrisy.