My Penguin English Library Collection

Today’s book post is all about the gorgeously produced Penguin English Library classics. These are a series of books produced by Penguin Random House which began in 2012 with the first collection and has since been followed by three more production phases.

Penguin English Library Collection

Alongside my Vintage Red Spines and Oxford World Classics, these have pride of place on my shelves. Not only because they’re bright and colourful, but because they’re well-produced and tactile. Perfect for reading on the train, before you fall asleep, or simply from the comfort of your sofa.

I’ve only ever bought them second-hand from charity shops or online stores like eBay and World of Books. But you can currently get 5 for £25 on the Penguin Random House website.

Here are the Penguin English Library Classics I own:

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
2. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
5. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen
7. Emma by Jane Austen
8. Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
9. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
10. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
11. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
12. The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
13. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
14. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
15. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
16. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad*
17. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
18. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
19. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
20. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
21. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
22. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
23. Howard’s End by E.M. Forster
24. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
25. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
26. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
27. Silas Marner by George Eliot
28. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
29. Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
30. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell*
31. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
32. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
33. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell*
34. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
35. Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy*
36. Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy
37. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
38. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
39. Passing by Nella Larson
40. The Monk by Matthew Lewis*
41. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
42. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
43. The Confidence Man and Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville
44. The Murder in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
45. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
46. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
47. The Life and Times of Tristam Shandy by Laurence Sterne
48. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louise Stevenson
49. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
50. Dracula by Bram Stoker
51. The Warden by Anthony Trollope*
52. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope
53. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
54. Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Van Armin
55. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells*
56. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
57. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
58. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
59. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Out of 125 books – many of which, from the original run in 2012 are hard to come by – I have 59. I added an * to the titles that are ‘rare’ and harder to find.

I plan to add to my Penguin English Library collection in 2022. I’ll specifically be looking for Charles Dickens editions in the future, although these are extremely rare. We’ll see if I get lucky in charity shops.

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