- Whatabouts (noun): the matters which one is occupied with
Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover?
Penguin Classics (via: Viri Good Design)
Penguin has started releasing a new collection of amazing cloth bound books including such novels as Little Women and Emma. I have to say, they are exquisite! Coralie Bickford-Smith is the creator, and her combination of fantastic modern color pairings with old worldly nostalgia makes for great design. Her obsession with detail is apparent in the covers, the designs of each representing central themes of each story: wheat sheaths for the pastoral Tess and prickly thistle thorns for the thwarted love between Bronte’s Heathcliff and Catherine. My take? What better excuse to revisit these timeless tales!
I first bought myself 3 of these from Modcloth, simply because I LOVED the designs – and desperately wanted them on my bookshelf (I didn’t realize that these were part of a series at the time):
- Emma
- Pride & Prejudice
- Sense & Sensibility
They are so gorgeous! They also have a lot of explication in the front and back, which will be much appreciated, as there are a few with which I am not familiar.
On my list for this year:
- The Woman in White
- Oliver Twist
- Little Women
- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (my favorite book!)
- Jane Eyre
- Great Expectations
I’ve never read The Woman in White and I’m super curious because it is basically the first modern mystery novel and was a huge sensation when it was published. Like, adults had parties to dress up like the characters and read the book out loud. In 1860! (A.K.A. - J.K. Rowling in today’s world!)
You can find the entire collection from Penguin or Amazon. I want the entire collection…and will surely be purchasing one every now and again until my bookshelf is full of amazing colors and designs!
What is your all-time favorite book?
