PRH launches new classics range, Pocket Penguins

[Waylander]

I like the new designs of these pocket classics. Also, A-format is so much easier to hold, and Penguins usually have an ok sized typeface. There are a few titles in the list I'd read as well.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/pr...enguins-322900

[Dr. Drib]

They look like books marketed for toddlers!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

They look like books marketing for toddlers!

They actually look exactly like "Penguin Classics" used to look before they introduced the black covers with reproductions of paintings on them. That design was introduced in 1961; prior to that, Penguin Classics looked just like these new ones do: spartan covers in bright colours.

[pdurrant]

I quite like the cover design, but at "between £5.99 and £8.99 each" they sound rather expensive considering that all but two of them are out of copyright.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I quite like the cover design, but at "between £5.99 and £8.99 each" they sound rather expensive considering that all but two of them are out of copyright.

Penguin Classics do have superb introductions and notes, though. If you just want the "bare bones" text, there are plenty of other paper editions available, such as "Wordsworth Classics", which sells such texts at £1.99 each. Penguin Classics have always been sold as "scholarly" editions and priced accordingly.

[pdurrant]

I wonder how much the ebook versions will be. We'll find out in due course, I expect.

[Waylander]

Harry's right on the "premium" nature of the classics. You also have to bear in mind that when people actually buy classics, they probably tend to buy them in p-form, as they want to show off their intellectual tastes. This could of course be complete rubbish but it's based on anecdotal conversations I've had.

[Waylander]

Also, I wonder how the new colour scheme works? I mean, which book gets what colour?

[murg]

Penguin’s art director, Jim Stoddart, who was tasked to produce the "approachable and contemporary" new design, said: "The new range blossoms from black into the technicolour of Penguin’s heyday. While this is a comforting nod to past Penguin, this is very much a series of books for the modern age."

Translation: "We're cheap bastards, and are only paying for one colour printing now (plus black)."

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

They actually look exactly like "Penguin Classics" used to look before they introduced the black covers with reproductions of paintings on them. That design was introduced in 1961; prior to that, Penguin Classics looked just like these new ones do: spartan covers in bright colours.

The Pink Penguins have the spartan design and are quite recent, too.

https://www.penguin.com.au/pink-popular-penguins

[FizzyWater]

Wow. Looks more to me like a way to save on cover design. Don't have to pay those pesky artistic types if all the covers look the same.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Wow. Looks more to me like a way to save on cover design. Don't have to pay those pesky artistic types if all the covers look the same.

Now if only the authors would all write the same book!

[doubleshuffle]

The ugliness of marketing blather:

Winder said: "We want to highlight a mix of the famous and the unjustly overlooked – these books are intimate, grand, funny, widescreen, painful, visionary – and we have been put on earth to make you want to read them."

Man, you're selling books, not used cars. You make me want to get those classics from anyone but you. Ugh.

[murg]

Winder said: "We want to highlight a mix of the famous and the unjustly overlooked – these books are intimate, grand, funny, widescreen, painful, visionary – and we have been put on earth to make you want to read them."

Translation: "One of our summer interns put together the mix. She basically just did the books she was interested in. We only found out about all of this after she went back to Sarah Lawrence"