The way I envied those who owned this book was completely insane, considering I’m not such a great fan of the white modern classics. The lack of introductions and forewords is a wasted opportunity in my opinion. Besides I’m more of a black Penguin classics person. Still it was no great surprise that the great Waterstones half-price sale at the end of last year saw me make a beeline to my favourite Waterstones on Sauciehall Street in Glasgow to haul myself a copy (along with a few other bargains, it has to be said.)
Once I got home, I then spent a good couple of hours happily browsing the pages. This book catalogues every title in the Penguin Modern Classics series from April 1961 to April 2021, including those that are out-of-print or by authors whose lists have moved to other publishers; in total over 1800 books by more than 600 authors. Each title is illustrated with its first modern classics cover, and so a browse through this book is also a trip through memory lane. It’s like meeting old friends after a long absence. “Oh you haven’t changed at all!” “There’s the edition I read 4 decades ago, etc, etc.” (Paperbacks come and go in my house, especially when they fox, which is why those older editions are no longer in my possession.)
The catalogue is organised geographically by country within continent. And then not alphabetically by author, rather by – actually I’m not sure. But this just makes the book more interesting. There is an index to help find a specific title, and another in which titles are listed in original publication date order. Prefaces give an overview of the development of the imprint and the aesthetics of the jacket designs. There are also helpful suggestions on how to use the book, given that very few, if any, will want to read it from cover to cover. A box on page vi works as a springboard to 75 mini lists based on theme, another on page xviii to 65 based on literary movement. (I immediately turned to Young Vienna.)
I’m going to use the book to help this year’s objective of reading 50% from my pre-2022 TBR. I may not have many Penguin Modern Classics in my library, but I own many titles in other editions. With 1500 TBR (an accurate figure, I’ve just brought my librarything catalogue up to date), it shouldn’t be too difficult to find at least one book a month to dovetail with my whims or social reading events. Let’s test out the theory, right now. See what I can find … You know, this is a plan that might just work out.
| January | #NordicFinds | The Birds | Tarjei Vesaas |
| February | #ReadIndies | The Hopkins Manuscript | R C Sheriff |
| March | Reading Ireland | The Riddle of The Sands | Erskine Childers |
| April | #1954club | I’m Not Stiller | Max Frisch |
Lizzy's Literary Life (Volume One) 
I agree that this is a beautifully browsable treat of a book.
This was a present to myself for Christmas, and dipping through it made for nostalgic Proustian reveries about the enjoyment of past reading and bookshop browsing, as well as minor surprises, such as that:
• The edition of Ulysses that I read was the first “B” format PMC, which is now the standard size for paperbacks
• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, which I first read in a King Penguin edition, was not published as a PMC, probably due to copyright (similar for Milan Kundera’s books, which I first read as King Penguin)
• Olivia Manning’s The Levant Trilogy is published as a PMC, but the preceding The Balkan Trilogy isn’t, again probably due to copyright
• The large number of books that I read which have now been published in a PMC edition, some of which I was surprised had not been PMC editions when I read them, such as Sartre’s Road to Freedom trilogy
Wonderful experiences – thanks for sharing.
I was surprised at the number of Penguin Classic imprints/iterations there are, have been. I’m itching to hunt the stacks to see many are actually represented on my shelves, and work out which I prefer and why.
I read the Wuthering Heights pictured on page xv, which was the first title in the Penguin English Library. I longer have it – it foxed and was was replaced by a Folio Society edition – as indeed were many others. So the reading project mentioned in my post is likely to result in me reading more FS editions than PMCs this year.
Thanks for signing up for Reading Ireland Month Lizzy. Love the look of this Penguin book, the inside images are gorgeous.
It’s a glorious thing, isn’t it??? I received it as a gift and I’ve been making my through it, with a notebook by my side. I’ve been wonderfing if the entries are ordered by the dob of the author but I may be wrong… It’s obvs a wonderful reference source when wanting to track down something to read from a particular country or era or theme. I know it’s going to be bad for my TBR though…
I really fancy getting hold of this but I don’t NEED to yet and hope I will then find a second-hand copy or can use a load of book tokens on it. I should really have asked for it for my big birthday that’s coming up, actually, but I have put my requests in now!